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Florida St. has misplaced its swagger
I went to Tallahassee, Fla., earlier this week to bone up on the Florida State Seminoles, in preparation for covering Saturday's game against Miami. It wasn't my first trip to Tallahasee. Or my 25th. I lost count years ago. Simply put, if you cover college football -- as I've done for much of the last 13 years -- you go to Tallahassee. The reasons are obvious, and if you clicked on this column you already know them. As I pulled into the overcrowded parking lot outside Doak Campbell Stadium, circling endlessly in search of a small spot for my rental (a privilege that will get me a parking ticket, because I lack the requisite FSU student or staff pass), something occurs to me. I feel like I know just about every inch of the Florida State football facilities -- the locker room, weight-training center, coaches' offices, meeting rooms, plus the press box, interview room and practice fields -- but I don't know where the visitors' locker room is. This alone speaks loud volumes. In addition to many visits to Seminole Country (that's what it says on the Pensacola Street overpass, anyway) for interviews and feature stories, I've covered numerous big games in Tally-town, as have most college football writers in this country. Miami games, Florida games, Georgia Tech games, Clemson games. Turns out Florida State has won all of them. At least those played in Tallahassee. At Sports Illustrated, we often write featurized game stories about the winning team, leaving little time to chase down the losers. So, to repeat, I don't know where the visitors' locker room is. I told venerable FSU coach Bobby Bowden about this and he laughed for about 30 seconds before stuffing an unlit cigar back into the corner of his mouth. Any humor in Tallahassee these days is dark humor. Florida State is sitting humbly down at No. 14 in the AP rankings, which is like Prince Charles sitting humbly at Wendy's, scarfing down a Triple with cheese and onions. It doesn't fit. But when you lose 41-9 to winless North Carolina, that's where you live. Like Bill Parcells used to say so often, "You are what your record says you are." Florida State is loaded with talent, but much of it is young and a lot of it is injured. Plus, the quarterback, Chris Rix, is a redshirt freshman, and that's a bad combination. The 'Noles are 3-1 ... that's what they are. People have been asking me all week how bad Miami is going to wax the Seminoles. I've been giving the same type of answer that first-year Hurricanes coach Larry Coker gave me when I sat in his office last week in Coral Gables: "Florida State is still Florida State." But as the game gets closer, and I think about Miami's Great Wall offensive line, led by senior tackles Joaquin Gonzalez and Bryant McKinnie, and about the Hurricanes' dead-reliable junior quarterback, Ken Dorsey, I'm not so sure. Maybe the 'Canes will blow them out. It is at the core of college football, circa 2001, that no team can cruise on reputation. Florida State has been the most consistent program in the country for more than a decade. But if you slip a little, you are going to lose a game or two. If you slip a lot, you'll drop like a stone (see: Notre Dame). I remember where the visitors' locker room used to be at Doak Campbell, back before tens of millions of dollars in renovations changed an erector stadium into Bobby's Taj Mahal. It was off in one corner, opposite the Florida State end. I went there after Wide Right I in 1991, when Miami players trashed the place in celebration. I think I'll see the visitors' locker room again Saturday. Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.
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