Review The Rivalry: The Florida State Seminoles
by Winfield Featherston on Aug 19, 2011 7:00 AM EDT
in Georgia Tech Football
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Rivalry Overview: Florida State leads the all-time series 12-9-1. The Seminoles joined the ACC in 1992 and had a strangle hold on not only Georgia Tech but the entire conference for years. The late 1990's was an especially heated time for the rivalry but more on that later. When the conference expanded, what was soon becoming a heated contest between the two schools, took a break as FSU went to the Atlantic Division and Georgia Tech moved into the Coastal Division. Finally, in 2008, the Yellow Jackets broke through the glass ceiling and beat 'em 31-28, commonly referred to as the Miracle On North Avenue:
Tech went on to prove that one game was no fluke and went to Tallahassee in 2009 to win a helluva game 49-44. We will meet Florida State next in the 2011 ACC Championship Game. ;-)
What Makes The Series A Rivalry: It's a rivalry for Tech fans because of how close we've always been but were never able to get it done and claim the victory. We have to go back to 1999 to properly understand the situation, back to the tail end of Joe Hamilton and the beginning of Ge orge Godsey. Things were finally starting to turnaround for Georgia Tech. George O'Leary was taking the program somewhere and accumulating victories. And Every year, Florida State was on the calendar surely circled. Starting in 1999, the games starting getting competitive, they started coming down to the last drive of the game. But, whether it was a failed 2-point conversion in 1999 or last minute interception in 2002, Florida State stole the game away time and again. It's the competitiveness and excitement that drove, and drives, this series.
Personal Rivalry: I was just coming into my comprehension of college football and learning about my love for these type of games right when Georgia Tech was starting to get better under O'Leary. The Florida State games back in the early 2000's was what the Virginia Tech games are like today: loud, intense, and exciting and the one that every fan looked forward to. I remember the game back in 2002 when Tech was down by eight and driving down the field. We started on our own 28 and drove the ball 63 yards in 1 minute 20 seconds to the FSU 9 yard line. I was sitting in the Upper West Stands, North Side, right in the middle of the FSU crowd (we had secured last minute tickets through the ticket office somehow) thinking that this game was finally going to be THE GAME we broke our FSU curse. And just as we expect to see a touchdown!!.....AJ Suggs throws an interception in the end zone. I've had a personal grudge against FSU football since. When expansion was announced, I was very disappointed to see Florida State on the opposite side of the conference. See you in 2013.
And this is just awesome:
What are your favorite FSU stories? Your best rivalry moment?
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GT v FSU 2008, Cooper Taylor's Hit...
Cooper may have left GT, but that hit that caused the fumble was a thing of beauty.
Thank you for that Cooper.
First time I ever saw it on TV...
I was at the game, never saw video of it before. It seemed to have taken a LOT longer in person. First the fumble, then the dogpile, and then an eternity before the zebra in the middle called it. I saw him lift one arm, and was thinking pleasepleaseplease don’t lift the other arm! Then he waved it towards the North Stands, signaling a Tech touchback, and the whole stands erupted.
My all time favorite GT play
is the Nesbitt steal. I love watching it and reliving the glorious moment that was. Thanks.
Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
that was a great game all around
the rain, the back-and-forthness, the absolutely no defense for either team….
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Aug 19, 2011 9:24 AM EDT up reply actions
Completely agreed
It was an epic, epic game that was an instant classic and should have it’s own special on ESPNC.
"You could spend the next fifteen seconds of your life watching a man and a tiger scream together, or you could be an idiot."
Fact.
Tech used to own Florida State
But on another note . . . if anybody is up for a wild goose chase see if you can track down the following.
The three note chime that has become the trademark nationally for NBC was actually first played by WSB during a broadcast of a Tech game. The national headquarters heard it and liked it and the rest is history.
What brings this to mind is that I vaguely recall somewhere that a televised game between Tech and Florida State was some kind of historical first. Not the first in the nation, not by a long-shot, but something of a first for Atlanta, or Tech, or FSU or the South. I can’t find anything about this anywhere so now I am wondering where I first heard this. My sources were ancient at the time I heard this so I can’t recover the information now that it is years later.
by Atlanta's original team on Aug 19, 2011 9:41 AM EDT reply actions
Everybody used to own FSU
But then they got good.
Interesting tidbit about the chime.
It was Tech and Miami in 1955
According to the Tech media guide, this was the first Tech regular-season game that was televised nationally (in this case, on NBC). #10 Tech hosted Miami, and won 14-6. Tech had appeared locally on WSB-TV before (at the time, WSB was an NBC affiliate), and the 1952, 1953, and 1954 season bowl games had all been televised (the 1953 and 1954 Sugar Bowls on ABC and the 1955 Cotton Bowl on NBC).
Perhaps a bigger first is, according to RCA (which owned NBC), this was the first college football game to be broadcast in color (http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/rca-nbc_firsts.html ). Truth be told, this was the first college football game to be broadcast in NTSC compatible color using the RCA standard that was used from 1955 until the digital cutover a couple years ago.
CBS had a previous color broadcast standard in use from about 1950 (http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/Color_Sys_CBS.html ), and broadcast many college football games (including Carowhina vs. Maryland) in that standard before abandoning it. Problem was, the CBS standard wasn’t compatible with existing black-and-white sets, which the RCA standard was—causing many CBS affiliates to not bother with the color. The CBS standard used a rotating RGB color wheel to generate the colors. Sounds like a kludge until you realize that DLP uses the exact same principle.
by jabbajacket on Aug 19, 2011 9:16 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
rec'd for research
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Aug 19, 2011 9:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Wow. Thank you.
I find all of this fascinating. I must be a closet nerd. Do we actually know which college football team in the South was the first to appear on television? I also wonder which Southern team was the first to be broadcast nationally?
by Atlanta's original team on Aug 20, 2011 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions
Nice dig Jabba
Rec’d
"You could spend the next fifteen seconds of your life watching a man and a tiger scream together, or you could be an idiot."
Fact.
The story on the NBC/WSB chimes
You are correct about the NBC chimes originating at WSB. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_chimes
I was at the 2008 game
Had a great time visiting and everyone was very nice… But sitting in the student section when FSU lost that ball… that was not a fun place to be. Heartbreaking… But after reading this I guess we were due for one of those.
I was at the 09 game too and that was like a rollercoaster ride. I think there was only one punt in that game (FSU) and that was the difference. Great article. When will FSU play you guys again? 2012?
2013
in Atlanta
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Aug 19, 2011 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions
I was also in the GT student in that end zone
People like to blame Sims for the fumble but we really shouldn’t have been in a position to win that game. I will never forget watching our defensive tackles diving at the feet of the center creating a huge running lane, and trying to figure out what our strategy could have been. I’m sure a lot of people would like to know what. The highlight of the trip was Friday night at the Sweetwater Brewery it was Halloween and lots of great costumes. Cheers to the A!
by NationWideNole on Aug 19, 2011 3:51 PM EDT up reply actions
For me, it really started in 1992
when Charlie Ward and the “fast-break” offense decided to have their coming-out party on Grant Field. As an FSU fan, it was great, but I remember thinking how from a Tech perspective, it had to suck. We sort of stole that game and if memory serves, there was a semi-controversial touchdown catch/fumble in the end zone. I knew a rivalry had been born.
On a side note, in 1994 I moved to Atlanta to work at Tech (until 1996) and have been a fan ever since. Great school. Still miss the french toast at Junior’s.
That 2008 game was a heart breaker!
It was my first time seeing a game in Atl. I enjoyed it and the Gtech fans were all gracious. It was a good time except for the loss. That was one of those games you just leave shaking your head.
Tech v. FSU
This game needs to happen every year. It makes no sense that the team FSU is geographically closet to is not in its division. 2013 is too long to wait. Maybe the ACC will correct this, but I doubt it.
if Miami gets the death penalty
we’ll have to restructure the ACC.
I write stuff From the Rumble Seat.
Even if the U escapes...
the ACC needs to restructure its divisions. No excuse why GT and FSU are separated. Heck, I’d like to see them done geographically with FSU/UM and GT all in the same one.
by Mike Bonfanti on Aug 19, 2011 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions
We need another team to step up to consistency to maintain any sort of balance.
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Aug 19, 2011 11:51 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
FSU vs GT in Jax???
I’m biased bc I live here but we already have GA vs UF… I bet if they had a game here in Jacksonville every year it would sell out and the rivalry would be renewed.
If GT's fans would travel for it
Then I think it would be huge. I don’t doubt many of those who post here would, but the ACC championship vs Wake Forest was a let down. Though if you could do it, that would be pretty awesome to watch
Don't give up, don't ever give up ~ Jim Valvano
Goosebumps
Going on three years later, I still get goosebumps watching the Miracle on North Avenue. I do prefer hearing Wes Durham on the call, however, as the excitement he expresses as it happens is great. I was in the student section when it happened, and there was a big group hug amongst my group. It was followed by “Do these undergrads realize how important this event is? Are they going to rush the field?” Fortunately, they did get it, and that was my first trip onto the field at BDS.
Bad read on the stolen fumble play?
It’s hard to say for sure from that video – and that’s the only video I’ve ever seen of the play – but it looks to me like the DE managed to defend both the BB and QB, thus forcing the pitch to the AB. In other words, the play wasn’t executed properly by Nesbitt, regardless of the fumble, since it appears that one player, the DE, forced both the keep/give decision and the keep/pitch decision. Also, since the ball was pitched so soon, it looked like the DE also had a play on the AB, though the fumble makes it unclear if the DE could have actually tackled the AB. In summary, it looks to me like one player, the DE, defended that play all by himself. I see the unblocked OLB and recognize that he may have been the dive key, but even still I can’t help but think that there was missed read on that play.
Regardless, that was a whale of a play by Nesbitt and, for a fan, perhaps one of the more memorable ones of Nesbitt’s college football career.
by Dive Keep and Pitch on Aug 19, 2011 2:30 PM EDT reply actions
2008 & 2009
I was at the 2008 game with a buddy. We were on the other end of the field, in the corner near the student section when the fumble happened and were confused as hell for what must’ve only been about 2 seconds, but felt like an eternity, before realizing we had recovered the ball. Truly amazing.
For the 2009 game I watched it at a friend of mine’s house up in Cumming. I was with 2 georgie fans and a fellow GT fan (sort of). All 3 of em fell asleep cause of the delays while I couldn’t keep my eyes off the TV. It was such a long, intense, incredible game. I loved every minute of it. Pure offense the whole time. I seem to remember it was like one team passed, the other just ran the hell out of it. I woke everybody else up after the Nesbitt fumble/recovery, and again after we finally won the game. Absolutely incredible. I’d love to see this game every year.
No hate in it for me
I really can’t make myself dislike FSU. I just love playing them. I know plenty of their fans who are all pretty cool. Does that make it a rivalry or just great ACC competition? They’re very close to us, and I’d love to see a lot of hype made about the games to steal some thunder from the common enemy (the SEC.) Speaking of which, don’t you bolt on us, FSU. Don’t even think about it.
Great Games
Im with a previous poster. Why isn’t this game happening every year!?!? Was at the 08 game and the time between Coop making that hit and the ref waving touchback I really believe my heart just stopped. Would def. trade Miami for F$U so we could get this game back.
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