Florida State dominated opponents over 13 games this season, pummeling them by a winning margin of more than 42 points per game. What were they thinking?
The fact the Seminoles were untouchable in the regular season could be to their detriment in the BCS title game on Monday night against Auburn, which has played nothing but nail-biters its past three games and most of its season to make it to Pasadena.
“They’ve never been in that situation and that’s the concern,” said ESPN analyst and former Florida State quarterback Danny Kanell.“When they get to the third, fourth quarter and they are down seven, how do they respond?”
It’s a question Florida State has not had to answer this season — at all.
The Seminoles and Heisman winning quarterback Jameis Winston have not trailed in the second half this season and haven’t been behind at all since spotting Boston College a 17-3 lead on Sept. 28 before rallying for a 48-34 victory — by far their biggest challenge of the season.
“I’ve never prepared for a championship game where a team’s won this lopsided all season,” said Kirk Herbstreit, who will call the game with play-by-play man Brent Musburger.
“There’s always an ugly game or one you just don’t show up for at all … I think it’s big because I am a big believer in that this will be a competitive game. … I don’t think it’s fair to say Florida State won’t handle playing in a close game very well, because we just don’t know. Is there an advantage to Auburn? Yeah, because there’s evidence that Auburn has become a team that believes in themselves. They know if they get into that second half they know it’s not a problem.”
Long before 12-1 Auburn had miraculous back-to-back wins against Georgia and Alabama, there were battles against Washington State, Mississippi State, Mississippi and Texas A&M to go along with its lone defeat at LSU.
“They were just feeling their way early,” Herbstreit said. “I don’t think they knew who [quarterback] Nick Marshall was early in the year, much the way they didn’t know who Cam Newton was in 2010. … They took strides each week and grew. It took that for them to look around and be like: ‘Hey, this isn’t last year [when they were winless in the SEC]. We can compete.’ ”
Auburn’s success largely has been because of the innovative rushing style authored by coach Gus Malzahn and executed by Marshall and Heisman candidate Tre Mason.
“It’s the uniqueness of the attack and the tempo in which they run it,” Kanell said of Auburn’s triple-option shotgun attack.
“They are going up to the line of scrimmage and snapping it before the defense is ready half the time. So, the defense is trying to communicate with each other, but the next thing you know the ball is coming at you. … Even with the extra practices, Florida State will not be able to simulate the pace. That’s the biggest adjustment they’ll have to face.”