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Sunday, December 02, 2012

Florida State Crowned ACC Football Champions

Stubhub is a good gauge of how important a football game is. Look at the prices that tickets to the championship games of the SEC and ACC were drawing.

Some of the people in Tallahassee were at Tully Gym watching the FSU volleyball team get eliminated in the NCAA playoff. More of them were downtown for the Winter Festival and Parade. The rest of us were at home watching their beloved Seminoles on television playing the 6-6 George Tech team for the ACC championship.  Very few made the 8 hours drive north to Charlotte to see the football game. The stadium appeared half full on the big screen.

Lulu's brother Jackie was there. He drove 2 hours from his home in Virginia because it was a cheap date. He was able to get 2 VIP tickets - a parking pass - and a Renaissance suite within walking distance of the stadium for under $100. He kept beckoning us to come up - but after an 11 day trip north last week - we chose the volleyball game.

FSU won 21-15 - but the game was not decided until the last minute when Carlos Williams intercepted a pass for FSU and returned it to the 4 yard line where the Noles ran out the clock. 

The Seminoles shot out to an early lead 14-0 and later seemed comfortable at 21-9. But the tempo of the game changed. It seemed that the Noles were more concerned with running out the clock than attacking the Ramblin Wrecks.

Although Coach Jimbo Fisher is proud of his 11-2 season and an ACC crown - locals seem more concerned with the way he frittered away the lead in his 2 losses at NC State and home against the Gators. Many of those victories came over weak ACC sisters and even weaker out of conference scheduling of second division patsies. The word is out that AD Randy Spetman was given a one year contract because of the poor scheduling. 

Jimbo seems to be only concerned with a "win is a win" attitude. He seems to want a job in the SEC conference - and will take an offer at Tennessee or Auburn - whichever one comes calling. This was his year.

The SEC championship game played to a sold out Georgia Dome - where tickets were selling for several hundred dollars. Alabama came from behind to beat Georgia and will play Notre Dame in the NCAA Championship game in the same stadium in Miami where FSU will play Louisville as a warmup game a few days before. Louisville will become a member of the ACC in 2014.

The Orange Bowl provides a very fat check that must be divided among the ever growing list of ACC basketball schools looking for football money to keep them going.

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