Posts from the Florida State Football Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Bobby Bowden is close to last on the list of people to know what's going on with his football team.

The last: his staff. Which obviously includes "Head Coach In Waiting" Jimbo Fisher.

And that doesn't particularly bother him.

As long as he doesn't know about it, and didn't have anything to do with it, the actions of his players are apparently of no concern to him.

Sound incredible? If you find it hard to believe that a head coach of a national football power could say such a thing, you're not alone. But you can easily imagine Bowden's familiar southern drawl as he speaks on FSU's academic cheating scandal:

Q: There was an academic cheating scandal at Florida State that involved a significant number of football players. As the head coach how did that affect you and did you feel responsible?

A: It didn't bother me because I knew there was no involvement by me or my staff. But I didn't know about it until the president told me. My staff didn't know about it until I told them. I know some people will say 'you're the head coach' but there are a number of things like this that the head coach does not know.

So many levels... so many layers. Where to begin?

Welcome news for beleaguered Florida State fans who have seen their team decimated by academic scandal and other off-field issues:

The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office on Monday formally charged Parker with a felony for carrying a concealed firearm and a misdemeanor for marijuana possession. But a resolution is in the works that could reduce the felony charge.

"That probably is what we are looking at most strongly," Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson said. "We will have an offer out there. A perfectly appropriate resolution to this case would be a reduction in charges."

If Parker's charge gets dropped to a misdemeanor, he'll be free to rejoin the team. Bobby Bowden said he would be suspended for "a few" games at the beginning of the year, like a dozen other players implicated in an academic scandal.

Previously on Fanhouse:
Florida State Rapidly Running Out of Football Players
FSU Linebacker Marcus Ball Is Gonzo
Preston Parker Surprisingly Caught With Non-Musket

Books may be Florida State's most formidable 2008 opponent.

Potential starting linebacker Marcus Ball announced plans to transfer a couple days ago, bringing the carnage wrought by the Florida State academic scandal to seven players. Make that eight:

An already-thinned Florida State offensive line will be without starting tackle Daron Rose this season.

"He will just have to dig down and get refocused on his grades," his mother, Ann Miller, told the Tampa Tribune on Monday evening. "He'll be back at Florida State (the next year)."

Rose started eleven games last year; redshirt freshman Antwane Greenlee is his projected replacement. At least Greenlee was a highly touted recruit. Seminole fans are predictably overwrought, but at least they can compare themselves to the Marines or... uh... colon cleansing.

It'll be interesting to see what the mass outflux does to Florida State's APR, currently comfortably above sanctions at 954. FSU's unlikely to see a drop big enough to cause problems next year, but further bad luck/poor performance could cause problems once next year's score is an anchor two or three years back.

Dadgummit.

A blow for the Seminoles:

Florida State announced on Monday that linebacker Marcus Ball has asked for a release from his football scholarship and that request has been granted.

Ball had 24 tackles last year and was projected to start this fall once he served a three-game suspension for being part of the online cheating scandal that gutted the Seminoles late last year. No word on where he's going to transfer to.

With the questionable status of gun-charge bearing Preston Parker, Florida State now finds its vaunted linebacking corps whittled down significantly.

"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.

Step back in time with me, college football fans, to an earlier era. Here we have the Seminoles of Florida State taking on the Florida Gators in 1973.



This is pre-Ben Hill Griffin stadium stuff, so that's just Florida Field. Note that the Swamp is highly recognizable. Back then the stadium was painted blue rather than orange but "This is... Gator Country!" is still scribed on those trademark vertical walls rising out of the east and west stands. The press box was a tad smaller back then, too, as you might notice.

Florida's mascot was in a woeful state in those days. "Albert E. Gator" looked like an inflatable green jalapeno with teeth and a tail.

As for the game itself? Florida routed the Seminoles 49-0. For the rivalry, it was an era which favored the Gators, who won 9 straight from 1968-1976. Today, Florida leads the overall series, 30-19-2, but FSU is 17-15-1 against the Gators under Bobby Bowden.

"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.

The 1994 Orange Bowl was a classic between Florida State and Nebraska -- and yes, envisioning those schools as long-ago national powers does make me feel old, thank you for asking -- that came down to the final second, twice. Nebraska took a 16-15 lead on a 27-yard field goal with 1:16 left; Florida State made it 18-16 just 55 seconds later.

A 15-yard celebration penalty ensued. Florida State is kicking off from the 20 with 21 seconds left in the game. Those 21 seconds take nearly ten minutes, with the final second occupying the vast bulk of those minutes as the referees accidentally let the final second tick off and the teams flood the field, thinking the game over. It is not:




...all that, and he missed. Favorite moment is ABC cutting to a sideline camera just in time for that camera to get told to get off the damn field.

Florida State won the national title. Eventually.

Not pictured... but he totally could be that guy.

"Preston Parker" is the sort of name that conjures up images of ascots and yachts and golf clubs and maybe the sort of fraternity you get in because your grandfather's grandfather's grandfather was a member of the Continental Congress.

So this is kind of surprising:

Florida State star Preston Parker was arrested late Monday and charged with carrying a concealed .45-caliber pistol and a small amount of marijuana.

The 21-year-old receiver was released Tuesday from the Palm Beach County Jail, Palm Beach Gardens Police spokeswoman Ellen Lovejoy said. The gun charge is a felony.

Personally I would have bet on an heirloom blunderbuss and Macallan 20, but life is weird sometimes.

Those who didn't watch much of a mediocre ACC team last year might also be surprised that Preston Parker is a pretty excellent wide receiver. Last year he led the team with 62 catches and over 1500 total yards. He's now suspended until the gun charge is cleared up.

Former Florida State Seminoles quarterback Peter Tom Willis has been sacked again, this time by his alma mater. Willis has been an analyst on Noles radio broadcasts since 1998 but won't be heard this season because of his criticism of FSU's performance over the past few seasons.

This naturally raises the question, "Whatchoo talkin' about, Willis?" Well, Willis has referred to the Seminoles' offense scheme as a "high-school offense" in recent, frustrating years, which strikes me as a rather apt criticism of their recent performance. But hey, it's FSU's network, and they are well within their rights to decide they don't want their analyst to be too critical of the team. Of course, Willis was only saying what was plainly obvious to anybody who has watched the Noles over the past few seasons. They aren't what they used to be, and nobody's really afraid of them any more.

Still, with Willis gone, things should get better in a big hurry. Or at least that's the impression you're going to get if you're listening to their radio broadcasts. As for Peter Tom Willis, I bet you'll find him hanging out with Jim Rose and Steve Stone.

If this year's Music City Bowl was remarkable for anything (and it really wasn't), it would probably have something to do with the nearly two dozen Florida State players who couldn't make the trip due to allegations of a cheating scandal in an online class. Perhaps this whole Indiana imbroglio is letting FSU slip under the radar a bit with this, but as a preemptive measure in light of their academic shakeup, they are putting themselves on "probation" for two years.

What that entails is up for debate right now, although approximately 60 athletes will have their eligibility affected. None of the names have been released, and let's not forget that the people who missed the Music City Bowl are also ineligible for the first three games of 2008. Before you get your headdress in a twist, let's take a look at this veritable minefield- the Noles don't leave Tallahassee until September 27 (and even that's a de facto homer in Jacksonville against Colorado), and start off with Western Carolina, UT-Chattanooga and Wake Forest. Not to overlook Wake's success over the past two seasons, but you don't exactly bolster your soon-to-be undeserved ranking with a three-pack of Catamounts, Moccasins and Demon Deacons.

More adventures in iffy scheduling. As for the culprit, where else but a school down south lightening the load.

Florida State has begun recent football seasons against the likes of Miami and Clemson, but because of an academic fraud scandal that will leave Coach Bobby Bowden's team short-handed, the Seminoles will open their 2008 season against two of the weaker teams they've played in recent memory.

FSU on Friday released its 2008 schedule, which features season-opening games at home against Division I-AA teams Western Carolina, on Sept. 6, and Chattanooga on Sept. 13.

I'm all for free enterprise so I'm not here to demand a banning of the whole scheduling of I-AA opponents thing. However, I am here to shame schools like Florida State and LSU who try, no matter their reasons. Money talks and a suitable opponent could have been found.

As made clear in the article, Western Carolina and Chattanooga are a helplessly impoverished man's Appalachian State. They combined to go just 3-21 last year in I-AA. To be fair, the Seminoles do face Colorado in Jacksonville this year after having tripped out to Boulder to play the Buffs last year.

Also: Miami fans already hold a grudge over Florida's general unwillingness to play them. Now Florida State's off the schedule. Not good. What has happened to the state of football in Florida when these schools can't get together? This is the stuff that creates real opportunity for UCF, Florida International and USF to emerge from the shadows. Retracted, amended . . . I know.