ACC Daily Fever: Embattled Bowden Sees FSU Fall To 0-3 In League Play

Posted: Oct 12, 2009

We wrote before the weekend about the concern for Florida State having to prepare for Georgia Tech’s running offense amid the Bobby Bowden distractions.

Despite the Noles scoring touchdowns on their first five possessions and getting a banner performance from quarterback Christian Ponder, FSU fell to the Yellow Jackets 49-44 in front of a stunned Doak Campbell audience. Paul Johnson’s squad piled up 401 rush yards and piled up more frustration for a divided Seminole fan base.

The debate will continue in Tallahassee on the future of their legendary coach as FSU stares at their first ever 0-3 ACC start. It seems like the end is near for Bowden, but many ex-players and long-time fans still feel a ton of loyalty to the man who built them into a superpower in the ‘90s. How long that loyalty lasts will be at the heart of the decision whether Bobby Bowden is still the right leader for the Florida State program.

Bowden was again selling the idea of the "future" after the Georgia Tech loss in his talk to the media:

In 1986, we go 6-4-1. That's with Deion [Sanders], that's with Odell [Haggins], that's with Dexter Carter, that's with Marion Butts, that's with Sammie Smith. That's with a bunch of guys that went first round. We go 6-4-1 and play in a bowl up in Birmingham and win it. And that team wins 11 the next year and ends up No. 2 in the nation. That's why you hate to give up. When's it going to turn around? When's it going to turn around? And it eventually will. I wish it would turn around with me.

That last sentence may be the problem. If Bowden is stuck on the idea that he wants to go out a winner, the situation could become more difficult. FSU has been in decline for many years now. There's little evidence, especially with their start this season, that they are only a year away.

Waiting for Bobby's wishes may be a ruinous option for a program that has is one Gator loss away from being the fourht best team in Florida. That's a long way to fall for a program that used to field one of the best teams in America.

Honorable Mention ACC Headlines:

Wake Forest leads Atlantic Division with victory

Virginia Tech flexes muscle over BC