Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher, center, is dunked in the second half of the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship football game in Charlotte, N.C.The Bowl Championship Series era of college football has been fruitful for the Southeastern Conference and downright glorious for the state of Alabama.
Alabama and Auburn have combined to make five consecutive appearances in BCS title games, with the Crimson Tide winning titles in 2009, 2011 and again last season. The Tigers won it all in 2010 and are back this season, but they are decided underdogs to top-ranked Florida State despite having rushed for 1,164 yards their last three games against Georgia, Alabama and Missouri.
“I think if you look at our entire schedule, I would like to think we are battle-tested,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said at a news conference last week. “We’ve been in some true dogfight games. We’ve been in some games where the pressure was on on the road, at home, and our guys have responded. In big games I know they are not going to panic, so I’ve got to believe that will help us moving forward.”
Florida State played in the first three BCS title games, losing the inaugural event to Tennessee but winning the next one over Virginia Tech and quarterback Michael Vick. The Seminoles fell from the national elite after losing the BCS championship to Oklahoma after the 2000 season, a slide that coincided with offensive coordinator Mark Richt leaving to become Georgia’s head coach.
FSU is back behind fourth-year coach Jimbo Fisher and Heisman Trophy quarterback Jameis Winston, but there are 16 other bowl games worth dissecting before the Jan. 6 showdown in Pasadena: