The Seminoles have one of the most recognizable, revered, and respected traditions of all time. At every Florida State home game Chief Osceola, clad in Garnet and Gold, leaps atop his valiant horse Renegade, gallops to the center of Doak Campbell stadium, and pierces the ground with a flaming spear, all the while, 80,000 fans are in unison screaming the "war chant." And thankfully, in an age where using an Indian as a mascot has become derogatory and unfashionable, Florida State has been able to maintain their mascot with dignity, respect, and the goodwill and wishes of the Seminole Tribe. When the energy in Doak Campbell Stadium is perfectly aligned, in a "frenzied harmony," some believe miracles can happen, if not in the stands, at least on the field of play.

	Florida State Fast Facts
	Location: Tallahassee Enrollment: 35,000 Founded: 1857 Nickname: Seminoles Colors: Garnet and Gold Stadium: Doak Campbell (80,000) Conference: ACC 1992-Current; Independent 1947-1991 All-Time Record: 394-185-17 (95th) .674% (11th) National Titles: 1993, 1999

Chief Osceola made his first appearance on the field at the Oklahoma State game on September 16, 1978, and has been thrilling the entire college football world ever since. That miracle I mentioned? Try 1994 on for size. When Florida State and arch rival Florida met in the season finale, both teams were sporting 9-1 records and high national rankings. (Both teams were in the Top 5 of the AP poll. ) The Gators, led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel, roared to a 31-0 lead before the Seminoles caught fire (literally like the flaming spear) and stormed back to tie the game, 31-31. That performance gained the Seminoles a Sugar Bowl rematch, much to Florida's dismay, where Florida State won the "Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter" 23-17.

The early years: Florida State before Bowden
The Seminoles we affectionately know today as "Bowden's Boys" are far from the Seminoles that took the field in 1947. In fact, Florida State College, as it was known when it opened its doors to students in 1857, actually fielded its first football team in 1902. The informal squads, not recognized today by the NCAA, played in 1902, 1903, and 1904 before the program was closed when then the school officially became " Florida State College for Women" in 1905. The men transferred to Florida University where the Gators fielded their first recognized team in 1906. The original school colors of Florida State College were Purple and Gold, worn by those early football teams. The students of the College for Women voted the color Crimson as the official school color in 1905, but the administration decided to blend Crimson with the Purple from the early football teams, and the now famous Garnet was born. Florida State opened it's doors to men again in 1946 after the educational desires of World War II's of returning veterans sky rocketed, which in turn led to the first "official" football team, fielded in 1947.

When Ed Williamson began his stint as Florida State's first head football coach the team had no stadium, no scholarships and no team name until after the second game. At that time, the students insisted a team symbol be selected and "Seminoles" won out over "Statesmen" by 110 votes of the student body. Williamson did not even receive a salary and the first team in Florida State history laid a big goose egg, 0-5, and was outscored 18-90. Unbelievable considering that Florida State is in the midst of college football's greatest dynasty, that of 14 consecutive 10 win seasons, 14 consecutive Top 5 finishes, two National Championships, and an overall record during that period of a remarkable 152-19-1. Florida State's stadium, named after Doak Campbell, the first President of the University, was built in 1950 with a capacity of 15,000. Several renovation projects have increased the current seating capacity to 80,000, giving Florida State the 19th largest stadium in the country.

The Seminoles hard times of the initial season were short lived as the next two seasons produced records of 7-1, 9-1, and their first undefeated season, 8-0, came in 1950. The schedule however, was not what we would call "major college" until the mid-1950's, a period that coincided with Lee Corso's arrival in 1953. Corso lettered in all four seasons from 1953 through 1956. Do you suppose Corso's cries of "bring on the big boys" had anything to do with the upgrading of the schedule? Nah, but Corso did lead the Noles to a winning 5-4-1 record in 1956 and his name still dots the Florida State record books for the 1955 and 1956 seasons. It was in 1964 that Florida State received its first national recognition as Bill Peterson's squad went 8-1-1 in the regular season and then whipped the Sooners in the Gator Bowl 36-19. That 9-1-1 record gave the Seminoles their first National Ranking, a No. 11 finish in the Coaches Poll. Interestingly, the sportswriters took a long time to warm up to the Noles. Although Florida State finished in the Coaches Top 20 three more times, No. 15 in 1967, No. 14 in 1968 and No. 19 in 1971, the Seminoles failed to even crack the Final AP poll until 13 years later, in 1977.

Imagine that, Florida State. NEVER appeared in the Final AP poll until 24 short years ago. Of course, they've practically LIVED there since, thanks to the arrival of Bobby Bowden in 1976.

The Bowden dynasty
Bobby Bowden came to Florida State after successful stints at Samford, from 1959-1962, and West Virginia from 1963-1975. Currently, Bobby Bowden's record at Florida State, which now spans 25 years, stands an amazing 244-55-4.

	Bobby Bowden has created a dynasty in Tallahassee.

Bowden's only losing season with the Seminoles was his first, a 5-6 campaign in 1976, and by 1987, Florida State was firmly established as a national power. That status didn't come easily, as one of Bowden's philosophies seemed to be that of playing opponents which would garner the Seminoles national respect. The respect came quickly as the Seminoles finished 10-2 in 1977, only Bowden's second season. Florida State played and defeated Texas Tech 40-17 in the Tangerine Bowl (now the Citrus Bowl). Later, in 1981, after consecutive 11-1 and 10-2 season's (both of which resulted in Orange Bowl losses to Barry Switzer's great Oklahoma teams), Florida State embarked on what is now called college football's great "Death March."

The march was a series of five consecutive road games to some of college football's most feared stadiums -- Nebraska, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and LSU. Not only were those games played consecutively on the road, but it was during season's when all of those opponent's were experiencing great success on the Gridiron. The first game, played in Lincoln, was against No. 17 Nebraska. The Huskers were out for revenge as Florida State had beaten Nebraska in Lincoln the year before 18-14. Additionally, Iowa had surprised Nebraska 10-7 in the opening game of the season. The Huskers were not happy campers and showed it against the Noles that day, winning 34-14. Next stop, Columbus, Ohio, where the undefeated, No. 10 Buckeyes were waiting to feast on the upstart Seminoles. Ohio State, 3-0, had run off impressive victories over Duke, Michigan State and Stanford. Fans in the Horseshoe could smell a National Championship before kickoff that day, but the college football world was shocked as the Seminoles pulled off a major upset, 36-27. Irish fans didn't quite no what to expect when Florida State rolled into South Bend. Could these Seminoles be for real? They were. Florida State 19, Notre Dame 13. Fueled from posting upset wins over two Top 25 teams, Florida State was packing momentum that rivaled a steam engine rolling downhill. All aboard for Pittsburgh where the No. 5 Panthers were experiencing their greatest success on the field since their great glory days from 1914-1938. The Panthers played like champions of old that day, crushing Florida State 42-14. Pittsburgh finished the 1981 season No. 2 in the nation behind eventual National Champion Clemson.

Bruised from the claw marks left by the Panthers, the Seminoles headed South, but hardly to friendly confines as LSU's Tigers, always on the prowl in Baton Rouge, were the final stop on the march. It was gut check time for the Noles who responded by handing LSU their worst home defeat in seven years, coming away with a 38-14 win. All told, Florida State posted a 3-2 record in that massive excursion, including wins over three of college football's most storied programs, Ohio State, Notre Dame and LSU. Florida State football has not been the same since. The courage shown, and the pride gained from the "death march" has sustained Seminole fans and players alike for the last 20 years.

The next item on the agenda for Bobby Bowden was, of course, a National Championship. Bowden's dynasty began during 1987 season when Florida State finished the regular season 10-1-0 (losing to Miami 25-26 in the now famous Wide Right I) and then beat Nebraska 31-28 in one of the Fiesta Bowl's most exciting games. But after five more seasons and 53 more wins, a National Championship seemed to still be just out of Bowden's reach. Single losses in 1988 and 1992 (both to Miami ) seemed to overshadow the string of six consecutive Top 5 finishes and six consecutive major bowl wins over Nebraska (three times), Auburn, Texas A&M and Penn State.

In 1993, the ball bounced a little differently. FSU handled Miami 28-10 in mid-season and rolled into South Bend in November undefeated and No. 1 to play Notre Dame. It was a dream game for college football fans who watched the No. 2 Irish squeak by Florida State. 31-24. All seemed lost for the Seminoles in their quest for their first National Championship, but the very next week, Boston College upset heavily favored No. 1 Notre Dame 41-39, opening the door once again for the Seminoles title hopes. Only a road trip to arch rival Florida, and a bowl game stood between Bobby Bowden and Florida State's first National Championship. Neither stood as an immovable obstacle on the course as Florida was downed 33-21 and Nebraska was beaten 18-16 in the Orange Bowl. The first 12 win season in school history proved to be enough for the pollsters, the Seminoles were named National Champions in both the AP and Coaches polls.

The string of Top 5 finishes and 10 win seasons continued on through the next five years, with the Seminoles rolling up major bowl victories over Florida in the 1994 Sugar Bowl, Notre Dame in the 1995 Orange Bowl and Ohio State in the 1997 Sugar Bowl. In 1998 Bobby Bowden seemed poised to capture his second elusive crown, but an early season, 24-7 loss to North Carolina State all but put the talk of a national championship on hold. Once again, fate intervened as two of the nation's top ranked teams fell in their last game of the season. UCLA lost a shootout at Miami, 49-45 and Kansas State lost a heartbreaker to Texas A&M 36-33 in the Big 12 Championship game. Florida State moved into the all important No. 2 position in the first BCS poll and played Tennessee for the national championship in the Fiesta Bowl. The Volunteer defense proved to be too much for the Noles and Tennessee prevailed 23-16.

A host of returning starters from a near championship run in 1988, including Chris Weinke at QB brought a lot of optimism to Tallahassee to begin the 1999 season. It was not unfounded as the Seminoles coasted through a tough ACC schedule -- including a victory over Clemson and Tommy Bowden in Bowden Bowl I, which featured college football's first ever father-son matchup. Even Miami and Florida could not stop the Noles this time. For the second straight year Florida State played in the BCS Championship game, this time prevailing over Frank Beamer's Virginia Tech Hokies, 46-29 in the Sugar Bowl. With two national championships and eight consecutive ACC crowns, what could Bobby Bowden possibly do for an encore?

How about a return trip to the national championship game. Amazingly, the Seminoles did it again in 2000, this time in spite of protests from rival Miami, a team that defeated the Seminoles in the regular season 27-24. However, a Hurricane loss to Washington, and a Washington loss to Oregon gave all three teams one loss on the season. As the BCS crunched the decimal points, the Seminoles came out No. 2, this time facing Bob Stoops' No. 1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma displayed one of the greatest defensive efforts in postseason history and shut down one of the most prolific offense's in college football history and the Sooners came out on top 13-2 over the Seminoles.

Loss aside, it's impossible to ignore what Florida State accomplished with their presence in last season's Orange Bowl: a third straight appearance in the championship game, five appearances in the last nine championship races (1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000), two national titles and nine consecutive conference championships. Florida State has gone to an NCAA record 19 consecutive bowl games with a record during that period of 16-3.

Overall, Bowden is 17-6-1 in bowl games. Also take into consideration Bowden's overall coaching record of 317-87-4 and will soon pass the legendary Bear Bryant of Alabama, and battle Penn State's Joe Paterno for the lead in all-time D-IA coaching victories. All being said and done, Bobby Bowden is a legend in his own time and the dynasty he has created -- and maintains -- at Florida State is one that may never be equaled.

Richard Billingsley is a BCS computer pollster and his website is www.cfrc.com.