FanHouse FloridaState

With the exception of injured Tim Tebow, the top-ranked Florida Gators are right where they want to be one month into the college football season. The same could be said further South, where the Miami Hurricanes survived a brutal four-game stretch to merit top-10 consideration.

The mood in Florida's Panhandle, however, is far different. Slumping Florida State and its iconic coach, Bobby Bowden, are off to their worst start in more than a quarter of a century, creating an uncomfortable predicament that has left Bowden defending his program and fending off critics who are demanding immediate change in Tallahassee, Fla.

Florida State tight end Brandon Warren moved home to Tennessee this January, withdrew from school, and announced plans to transfer to UT. He did this either to be at home with his sick mother or because he's plain homesick, depending on whether you're listening to UT or FSU fans at the moment. But Bobby Bowden is playing hardball:

FSU coach Bobby Bowden on Tuesday denied Warren's request to be released from his scholarship, meaning Warren will have to pay his own way if he transfers to the University of Tennessee as widely reported.

(Note this telling follow-up paragraph:

Warren, FSU's fifth-leading receiver as a true freshman, left school and returned home to Alcoa, Tenn., earlier this month. He has missed all of FSU's conditioning drills in preparation for the start of spring practice.

What about "he has missed a month of classes?")

Warren will appeal for a hardship waiver but seems unlikely to get one. Is this a coach protecting his turf, a player who's broken a commitment he made to the school, or just plain bad behavior on Bowden's part? It's hard to know without further details, but I lean towards the latter.

The scourge of the decommit has been on the rise in college football recruiting for years now, but I think it'll be hard to top this particular reversal. South Carolina WR prospect Markish Jones has been a Clemson commit for a while now, but some academic issues brought his scholarship status into question (or Clemson was using that as a smokescreen in the hopes of spending his scholarship on someone else). Jones publicly started wavering, considering Florida State.

However, this morning Jones had one of those irritating self-glorification press conferences wherein he announced he was going to Clemson, signed a letter of intent... and then never faxed it. An hour later:

According to Broome head coach Quay Farr, wide receiver Markish Jones has changed his mind and will sign with Florida State today. Shortly before 10, Farr said Jones, after signing with Clemson at a 9 a.m. ceremony, changed his mind and didn't send in the LOI. Instead, he is signing a letter of intent with Florida State and preparing to fax it in.

As you can see, this bizarre saga has officially warranted the Fanhouse Duck of Inexplicability.

After years of pressure from FSU faithful, Jeff Bowden finally announced that he was resigning as offensive coordinator of the Seminoles on Tuesday. The resignation is effective at the end of the season (the official end of the season).

It took nearly 6 years of an underachieving offense for this to happen, but not a moment too soon. It is painfully obvious week-after-week that our offense is not prepared going into every game. 90% of the time our running game is nonexistent, even though we have 2 running backs that were ranked #1 in the nation coming out of high school. Just think about how pathetic that is.

Baby Bowden leaving Tallahassee is just the first step to a return to glory. There are more changes that must be made. Next up: QB coach Daryl Dickey. With him teaching our signal-callers, the position will never improve to be at the level it should. Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke would not have ever made even all-conference learning the position from this clown. Like I've said before, FSU QBs have only gotten worse the longer they are tutored under him.

I could go on about the things that need to be done in this program, but we'll take things one step at a time. This is truly a great day for Florida State fans, players, and their families. There will be much rejoicing tonight throughout Seminole Nation. However, there is one member that might not do too much celebrating. After the announcement, Bobby Bowden had this to say, "I am disappointed in Jeff's decision. This is a big loss to me personally. His decision is an emotional one for me." Sorry Bobby, but at least one Bowden was willing to do what it took to get this program headed back in the right direction.

FSU lost 30-0 at home Saturday night to Wake Forest. That's right, 30-zero. As in not one single frickin point. I don't even want to talk about the actual game itself. The score says it all: We are terrible. Things need to be done. QB changes are not the answer. We have the players most coaches would give their first born for (insert Bobby-Jeff joke here). Both QBs were less than unproductive in this game, but I've seen enough FSU football to know why that is. They both have the goods to be great college QBs. They were both top QB recruits coming out of high school. The problem lies in that no QB here since Mark Richt and Chuck Amato left have improved even one little bit from the time they step on campus to when they leave. Chris Rix? He looked pretty good his freshman year. . . never improved. Fabian Walker? Never improved. Wyatt Sexton? Well I'm not even going to go there. Drew Weatherford looked good for a freshman last year. While his numbers haven't been all that poor, his play seems more disappointing than that of a year ago. Like with Rix, he may actually be getting WORSE with FSU coaching. I wish I was joking. Lee seems like he has only learned one thing since he arrived on campus as well. That he made a mistake. These players and their families have trusted their futures with the coaches. It is their job to develop their outstanding talent and get them to be the best football players they can be. That just is not happening. Hasn't been since 2000.

We know that changes need to be made. Everybody in the country can see that. However, Bobby Bowden has insisted that he will not fire Jeff. When asked this week about the situation, he responded that he does not believe in firing people. This is honest to God the first thing that came to my head: What he just said was the most stupid statement I have ever heard in my life. Well what the hell do you do when someone can't do something right? If they can't perform the job that they get paid to do then what do you do Bobby? We just got shut out at home while compiling a total of 139 yards with a bunch of 5 and 4 star recruits. If you get paid to do something and don't do it, well that's as good as stealing. And it's not just Jeff. He doesn't deserve all the blame. Daryl Dickey has not done his job as QBs coach. He simply can't develop talent. Billy Sexton (RBs) hasn't seemed to have done too great of a job either. Some of that is probably due to other factors on offense, but we have to clean house and only a select few should stay in my book. But of course this all falls from the top. Bobby, if you don't believe in firing people, you will get fired. Here's why. If changes are not made VERY soon, boosters will stop giving their money (they've already said so), obviously we will not be getting the $14 million each year for making a BCS bowl game, and oh yeah, the top recruits will no longer come here. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if we had good coaching (see Wake Forest), but then again that's why I'm writing this. And if we have only mediocre talent with this horrible coaching staff then 1-11 and 2-10 seasons would not be out of the question. Our stadium will only be half full each home game. The money FSU football generates for the university each year would take an incredible hit from a number of areas. And we all know that money is power so if you are holding the school back from receiving tens of millions of dollars each year while you are making over $2 mil a year yourself. . . well, I think you know what happens then.

Florida State's defense finally looked like the dominating crew most thought they would be this year in a 33-0 smackdown of Virginia. Even with all of the injuries to key players, the defense only gave up 190 total yards to the Cavs.

Xavier Lee didn't look quite as good as he did last week against Maryland, but he did enough to get the job done. He had a 37-yard TD toss to Chris Davis in the 3rd quarter and accounted for a team-leading 48 yards on the ground. Drew Weatherford saw a little time at the end of the game as well.

But this game was all about the defense for the Noles. On the first drive of the game, Tony Carter stepped in front of a Jameel Sewell pass and took it 35 yards for a score. Carter was on top of his game all day long. He is really stepping up as one of the elite shutdown corners in the country. LBs Buster Davis and Lawrence Timmons were making their presence felt all afternoon as well. Buster had 9 tackles and a sack for a safety. LT also finished with 9 stops and a sack of his own. Freshmen DE Kevin McNeil and S Myron Rolle had big days. McNeil had his breakout game with 2 sacks. Rolle joined Buster and the Law with 9 tackles, including 2 in the backfield. 2nd year CB Michael Ray Garvin played tough with 9 tackles and a sack.

Walk-on DE Eli Charles was a nice surprise, getting 2 tackles and blocking a punt in the 1st quarter which gave FSU the ball on the 1-yard line. Lorenzo Booker made it a 1-play drive as he jumped over the line for a TD. Antone Smith finished the game's scoring with a 3-yard run in the 4th.

I was very happy to see the cut back on the amount of penalties we commited. Only 4 flags for 35 against us on the day. I almost mistaked us for a disciplined team.

FSU plays a very tough Wake Forest team next week in Tallahassee. If the defense shows up like they did today, there's a good chance we can put a dent in Wake's dream season.

FSU lost yet another conference game this week against Maryland's football - not basketball - team 27-24. Even though the loss is very disappointing to see, there were a lot of positive things to take from it.

Former 5-star QB Xavier Lee found out he was going to make his first collegiate start about an hour before game time because Drew Weatherford had tendinitis in his ankle (or so they say). The sophomore made the most of his opportunity as he looked great all night. Lee threw for 286 yards with 2 TDs and no interceptions. He made all the throws and played well enough to win, but numerous drops by his receivers hurt the Seminoles again. Lee also contributed 50 yards on the ground and used his mobility to move around until a teammate would break open somewhere. His performance was very encouraging and definitely has opened up a true QB controversy. I would like to see him start again next week against Virginia.

This is very rare, but I really liked the play-calling by whoever that was in the booth. ESPN kept saying that it was Jeff Bowden when they showed FSU's box, but honest to God I didn't see him in there. And from seeing the plays we were running throughout the night, especially in the ground game, I really do question who was calling the shots. In the past, we would abandon the running game as soon as we fell behind. And when I say abandon, I mean absolutely zero running. However, last night we fell behind very early and still ran the ball the entire game and with success. As a team, we had 34 carries for 172 yards. That is over 5 yards a carry. The type of running plays we ran is also what surprised me. There was a lot more misdirection and plays that allow the line time to move guys out of the way. This balance allowed us to rack up 458 yards of total offense. Let's see more of this in the future.

I was thinking about this game and I realized that none of the Terps players would ever underestimate this game against Florida State. This could be the win that helps them find a bowl game. Plus, after years of humiliation, save one, against FSU, there's no way they'll look past this game. It's the Terps fans that may do that.

It's easy for fans to forget to get pumped for a game against a team with a worse record when a ranked team waits next week. But let me remind you all, this is Florida State. If you've ever been to a Maryland vs FSU game -- once again save 2004 -- you'll know how it feels. You remember the pain of disappointment, loss, and humiliation. Focus on that for tonight.

Maryland is starting to finally get some recognition as a football program again. Of course, they aren't ranked. They shouldn't be. They're not even getting those additional votes that ESPN will show you below the rankings. They shouldn't be getting those either. However, ESPN has given them another shot not to get their arse's whipped on national television.

Maryland is winning the game they should, which they have all year since their two losses are to ranked programs, and that scored them the 7 PM game on ESPN2 next Saturday. That's right, people. The Terps are back in prime time! For all you displaced Maryland fans like myself, you know longer have to sit in sports bars where you can't really hear the game.

This is a must win game if the Terps want any national respect. The last thing the nation remembers was that thumping West Virginia delivered the Terps week three on ESPN. But since then, they've been competitive in every game and lost only one game that went down to the wire against Georgia Tech. They're now 5-2 and 2-1 in the ACC and ESPN is giving the Terps another chance. This is the perfect game for the Terps. Even though Florida State is only a shadow of what it was just a couple years ago, their name still carries enough weight so it will be impressive if the Terps beat them. It's in College Park so it's a winnable game for the Terps.

If they win, they probably won't be ranked, and once again, they probably shouldn't be. But they'll probably start getting those "additional votes." Only with a win over Clemson and some Top 25 losses can the Terps sneak into a ranking. So let's not think about anything but earning back that national respect that would come with beating Florida State. This is a perfect time for Maryland to change their image again and remind the world that they're a football team that should be taken seriously.

FSU lost to Boston College today 24-19, which pretty much ends any chance we had at making it back to the ACC Championship Game in December. It wasn't a loss that was unexpected, but it still stings once it becomes official.

The Eagles' 3 TDs all came thanks to big Seminole mistakes in the first half. Freshman TE Caz Piurowski had a fumble that was returned to the 1-yard line, resulting in BC's first TD. Then FSU had a personal foul roughing the punter that led to their 2nd TD. And as though that wasn't enough, Drew Weatherford threw an interception returned for a TD with less than a minute left in the half to give BC a 21-10 advantage.

The defense played very solid considering how many injuries they have and how many true freshmen started today. BC only scored 3 points in the second half.

The offense almost pulled out a nice comeback in the 4th quarter, but a long drive was stopped deep in BC territory with just over 2:00 left and a last second hail mary was intercepted in the end zone.

I did like the look of the new all-black uniforms we came out with, but unfortunately the tribute to the Seminole tribe of Florida still ended in defeat. It really is ironic since the left leg of the uniforms read "unconquered." I guess the designing of the new gear began last decade sometime and they forgot to make a few updates. Yep, FSU's season really means nothing the rest of the way except for the Florida game. What a disappointing season.