Has your blood pressure returned to normal? You can bet Jimbo's hasn't. There must be 50 ways the OMG win over B.C. could've gone the other way. A holding call here, a ref's different judgement on a call there, maybe a pass that wasn't knocked down, and the Noles would've had a major black eye.
But (duh) these gifts happen every week in college football -- though usually not to Florida State. So maybe we should all be content with this good fortune from the celestial dieties that control which way the ball bounces. FSU was due a little luck from above. And no matter how ugly it was today, it'll soon be perceived as a respectable "W". So damn right we'll take it.
It may even be a sign of a charmed season with the stars continuing to align for this team. Now, to our regularly scheduled Boo-Ya's and Bummers.
• Players read their press clippings. FSU went from being ridiculed after the OU game to the Flavor of the Week. All the naysayers and critics (except maybe Beano, but nobody's listening) were annointing the Noles as the best in Florida and cool new kids on the block. Too bad the guys in Garnet & Gold totally bought it. Reality Check: This team is neither as bad as the one that lost in Norman or as devastating as the one that shocked Miami.
• Ponder, Ponder, Ponder...(shaking our heads). If any player shouldn't buy the hype and take B.C. lightly, it's no. 7. Is it his arm? Update: Reportedly a bum elbow. Apologies in advance for some serious sacrilege here, but there were moments when we were ready for E.J. -- if only for a series or two so Christian could shake off the stink.
• WTF!? Sorry, Jimbo, you don't get a pass for calling a screen that just hung out there for the picking on FSU's own two-yard line.
• WTF!? #2: What's with running compact-size Chris Thompson up the middle against a physical, aggressive D? Glad to finally see Ty Jones again, a bigger back who was able to break tackles that no. 23 couldn't.
• B.C. is the new Wake. Even a decade ago, beating an outmanned Wake Forest was a major roadblock. The Deacs always found a way to out-coach FSU, after which, the Noles spent days in the hot tub nursing nasty aches and bruises. Well, now that speed bump is Boston College. Forget the records and scenario, Jimbo needs to mark it on the calendar as a trap game -- every year.
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• Game Ball to Terrance Parks. He was the Mac Daddy defensive stud of the game, and his pass break-ups saved the day more than once.
• Ten pass break-ups in all merits a second Game Ball to Mark Stoops for his dramatic transformation of a secondary we're still trying to forget.
• A negative becomes a positive. Once again (#$&!) the Noles were gashed by Montel Harris. Obviously, B.C. coaches saw something they could exploit. BUT, after those two long runs, Stoops adjusted and Harris got small change. Yep, that's what a good D-Coordinator is supposed to do. But, as we all painfully know, it didn't always work that way in recent years.
• Were those really ACC refs!? If so, FSU should have this crew every week. First time in years we've had a feeling FSU wasn't playing against the zebras as much as the other team. If they hadn't made some of those favorable calls and spots...ugh.
• BOO-YA, Nole fans! 'Ya nearly filled up Doak (75,301 official attendance) for a Noon game that wasn't supposed to be exciting or even close. A final Garnet & Gold Game Ball to you all.
Comments? Questions? Kudos?