Not yet, America.
No. 2 Florida State (10-0) fooled you again. They teased you. They made you believe the nation’s longest win streak was over. They made you stay up until midnight again.
Then the defending national champions won in your face — again. The Seminoles escaped Miami with a 30-26 win and kept that streak at 26 games and counting .
Face it, America. Jameis Winston-led Florida State is the nation’s favorite television show right now.
The ratings alone prove that. Regular-season games with Winston the past two seasons averaged a 3.8 Nielsen rating and 6.2 million viewers heading into Saturday. That included the Clemson game this season in which some tuned in simply to watch a suspended-Winston on the sideline. Heading into Saturday, only six other games this season had at least 6.2 million watching, and half of those games involved Alabama.
Primetime is "Jameis Time." Since that season-opener against Pittsburgh in 2013, Winston is 9-0 and averages 337.8 passing yards per game in night games. He's also delivered signature moments. “The Speech” at Clemson. The BCS championship victory against Auburn. Sequential under-the-lights comebacks against Notre Dame, Louisville and Miami. You can appreciate the on-field brilliance.
But you can’t stand all the off-the-field mess. Winston’s disciplinary hearing is coming in December. A New York Times story says P.J. Williams and Ronald Darby fled the scene of a hit-and-run accident. You want them to lose so bad. Then Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher says something like this in the afterglow of the latest come-from-behind escape.
"I know those guys. I live with these guys every day,” Fisher said. “We love, trust and believe in each other. That's the way we do things at Florida State.”
Pick a villain, any villain. Florida State is Freddy Krueger. Florida State is Dracula. Florida State is a Kardashian. Florida State is ...
In a very-loose sense, Florida State is Tony Soprano. Stay away from the mob paralells to violence and thuggery. There's no doubt "The Sopranos" is the most-popular television show of this generation. We never knew for sure what happened to Soprano. Maybe we can get closure through this Florida State run, and we’ve sided with anybody ranging from Notre Dame to Miami to get there. Then Winston-led Florida State took out the Catholics and the Convicts.
It could've happened tonight. Miami owned the first quarter and took a 16-0 lead. Duke Johnson scored. Clive Walford scored. Deon Bush forced a fumble and picked Winston to end the half. Brad Kaaya averaged 24 yards per completion.
Social media jumped on again. You see, Tweetdeck spins like the “Wheel of Fortune” when the Seminoles are on in primetime. How many times did “Bye Felicia” get rehashed every time Kaaya completed a pass? That continued all the way into the third quarter with the Hurricanes up two scores.
Then running back Karlos Williams caught a pass that should’ve been intercepted by Tyriq McCord to cut the lead to 23-17 heading into the fourth quarter. From there, it’s elementary. The Seminoles got the ball down three with 5:11 remaining, but you knew what was coming. Dalvin Cook scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:05 remaining. Jalen Ramsey sealed the win with an interception in the final minute.
That’s 26-and-counting. It’s on to back-to-back home games against Boston College and Florida. It’s a fight for the top spot in the College Football Rankings with college football’s other super-villain in Alabama. It’s three or more chances to root for the moment when Florida State finally gets theirs.
You want to know the best part, America?
Chances are, it’s going to unfold in primetime.
