Jimbo Fisher realized he had a special team at Florida State early on in the 2013 season. The signs were there from the season opener against Pittsburgh, when the Seminoles rolled to a 41-13 victory behind eventual Heisman winning quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston went 25-of-27 passing for 356 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, […]
Jimbo Fisher realized he had a special team at Florida State early on in the 2013 season. The signs were there from the season opener against Pittsburgh, when the Seminoles rolled to a 41-13 victory behind eventual Heisman winning quarterback Jameis Winston.
Winston went 25-of-27 passing for 356 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, one of many massive performances. But it wasn’t until a few weeks later that Fisher was convinced this team could win the national championship.
FSU was facing No. 3 Clemson on the road in a battle of ACC heavyweights in Week 8. Many expected a close, hard-fought game between two teams fighting for positioning in the race to the BCS Championship. Instead, they watched as the Seminoles steamrolled the Tigers to the tune of a 51-14 drubbing.
“I knew we had a good team, I just didn’t know how quickly we could gel,” Fisher said on the Trial to Triumph podcast of how the season began. “Then all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Bang, bang, bang.’ I felt really good. We got to go up to Clemson, which we knew was always a really tough place to play. They were actually ranked ahead of us. We were like No. 5 and they were No. 3 and we beat them 51-14 and called the dogs off at the end of the third quarter. It could’ve been 70. They’ve never been beaten like that before and they ended up being a top five team that year and won the Orange Bowl against Ohio State.
“When you walked off that field that day and as that game was going on I’m going, ‘This group’s different, man.’ After we started winning and even before that, I watched us winning and dominating people even before the Clemson game. But we come back on Monday and we act like we had just lost. Not confidence-wise, but work ethic-wise with something to prove. …I knew then there was something special.”
Florida State was hardly challenged at all in the regular season, winning every game by at least two touchdowns or more. The Seminoles further asserted their dominance in the ACC Championship against Duke, with receiver Kelvin Benjamin recording 119 yards and two touchdowns on five catches in a 45-7 win.
That earned them a spot in the BCS Championship against Auburn, where they would be tested for the first time all year. The Tigers jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the first half but Florida State refused to give in.
The Seminoles responded to score a touchdown right before halftime to make it a slightly more manageable 21-10 deficit heading into the locker room. They then scored the first 10 points of the second half to put themselves right back in it.
Auburn added a field goal with just under five minutes remaining to make it 24-20, but it didn’t take long for the response. Kermit Whitfield broke free on the ensuing kickoff to return it the length of the field and into the end zone to give FSU the lead for the first time since the opening quarter, making it 27-24.
The drama wasn’t over yet, though, as Auburn answered with another touchdown to retake the lead on the next drive. That put the pressure back on Florida State with under two minutes remaining.
The Seminoles drove 80 yards downfield in just seven plays, capping it off with a two-yard touchdown from Winston to Benjamin. That gave Fisher the first and only national title of his coaching career.
“It was just one of those teams,” he said. “What I always say is special about that team though, when it did face adversity in the national championship — you know that’s the biggest comeback in national championship history? We were down 21-3. To come back and win that and then how we faced it when we did face adversity, never blinked.”
That 2013 Florida State team was loaded with NFL talent, with 22 players going on to enjoy careers in the league. That included Winston, Benjamin, running back Devonta Freeman, defensive back Jalen Ramsey, safety LaMarcus Joyner and more.
Fisher moved on from Florida State to take the job at Texas A&M following the 2018 season. He is now out of coaching after the Aggies let him go following the 2023 season. However, he still has great memories of his time in Tallahassee, and the 2013 team is certainly up there as one of the best in program history.
Category: General Sports
