Florida State 31, Florida 7. Florida's descent into 7-5 madness has been well chronicled by the large anti-Addazian faction of the Gator fan base, and will be subjected to exhaustive postmortems in the coming weeks. Jimbo Fisher's debut in Year One of the post-Bowden era in Tallahassee, on the other hand, has been significantly quitter – one of the perks of diminished expectations and early flops in high-profile games. But as of today, Fisher's Seminoles…
• Snapped a six-game losing streak to Florida, and not only beat both instate rivals in the same season for the first time since Chris Weinke, Peter Warrick and Co. ran the table en route to the BCS title in 1999, but dominated them: The Hurricanes and Gators fell by a combined 76-24.
• Finished with nine regular season wins for the first time since taking the ACC title in 2003, the last year before the conference expanded with the addition of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
• Won six ACC games for the first time since 2004, and with N.C. State's loss to Maryland, wrapped up the ACC Atlantic and a trip to the ACC Championship Game for the first time since 2005, the first year of the two-division/championship game format.
• Transmogrified from an underachieving defense that allowed 30 points per game in 2009, 94th nationally, into a unit giving up a little under 18 points per game under first-year coordinator Mark Stoops, 15th nationally before stoning the Gators this afternoon.
At the beginning of the season, the prevailing question in Tallahassee – above specific goals like a division or conference championship, or even ending the losing streak to Florida – was whether a stagnant program could regained momentum toward its birthright as ACC overlord and perennial national contender under the new administration, or whether it would come to the sobering realization that the malaise of the last five years didn't leave with the old man.
It's a little early still for a final verdict when there's still a conference championship game to play. But you know, there is a conference championship game to play, at a place that's been defined for years now by its consistent failure to compete for the ACC crown despite continuing to dominate in-conference recruiting. Since being eviscerated at Oklahoma on Sept. 11, the 'Noles' only two losses have come by a combined six points in the dying seconds against N.C. State and North Carolina. If Christian Ponder doesn't put the ball on the ground on a routine play-action fake with the winning touchdown in sight in Raleigh, FSU could be 10-2 and on the verge of the top 10.
As it is, the 'Noles are a win away from the BCS, which certainly beats another funeral dirge.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
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