Bobby Bowden has forgotten he once owned the SEC

Jimbo Fisher is 6-1 against SEC (one in the national title game).

Me thinks Paul Finebaum used an 85 plus year old man to take cheap shots at a program that threatens his conference.  Pathetic little man Paul F is......he represents the SEC perfectly.


Bobby Bowden has forgotten he once owned the SEC

"Former FSU football coach Bobby Bowden continues to make news. In addition to his comments about Jameis Winston being an embarrassment to Florida State fans, the revered Bowden also added this explanation to Paul Finebaum as to why the 'Noles remained in the ACC instead of joining the SEC:

This is nothing new for Bowden, though, who admitted, in 1990: "I like to win games, and I can't think of a tougher place to do that than the SEC. Most conferences have got two really strong programs, but top to bottom there isn't one close to them."

What did he proceed to do against the SEC? Win games. Thus, history shows that he may have capitulated rather unduly, and inaccurately, on Finebaum's SEC Network call-in show, because the Seminoles' ACC -- and championship year -- record against the SEC demonstrates no such SEC dominance as perceived by the rest of the country, or Bowden, for that matter.

Florida State officially joined the ACC in 1991 and began participating as a football member in 1992. From that point on, the 'Noles actually boast a winning record against current SEC teams, at 18-14-1. One of those wins, a 2007 FSU victory over Alabama, was vacated, but the 'Noles nevertheless topped the Tide by a score of 21-14 in Jacksonville.

And, unlike the elite SEC programs, Florida State didn't register these wins over perennial conference basement dwellers. Of the 33 games the 'Noles have played against current-SEC teams since 1992, every single one has come against a team that went to a bowl game the year FSU played them, with the lone exception being the Seminoles' 37-7 dismantling of a laughingly bad 4-8 2013 Florida team. Those SEC squads that did make postseason play competed in overwhelmingly premier bowls, 18 of which are now included among the big six that presently rotate as hosts of the College Football Playoff (Orange, Sugar, Rose, Fiesta, Cotton, and Peach), and another seven played in New Year's Day games.

Perhaps Bowden's recollection is tainted by the fact that, during the heart of what FSU fans remember as the "lost decade," when Bowden was struggling to hang on to the coaching reigns in Tallahassee from 2003-2009, he lost his last eight games against SEC opponents (not counting that Alabama win that the NCAA has wiped from history), including his final six contests vs. rival Florida as well as games against Georgia and Kentucky.

Enter Jimbo Fisher, who has proceeded to right the ship while posting a 6-1 mark against his former conference. That run includes a national title over, yes, SEC-foe Auburn, that halted the SEC's streak of seven-straight national championships.

But that's nothing new, as the Seminoles have never dodged the SEC en route to a national title. In its championship years of 1993, 1999, and 2013, FSU faced an SEC opponent each time and amassed a 4-0 record, with none of those games being played in Tallahassee. The Auburn win, of course, came at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, while the other three victories, over Florida, all went down in SEC territory at The Swamp. And the first two championship-season wins for Florida State, in Gainesville, took place over a period of time (1993-1999) when the Gators captured the SEC championship on four of seven occasions.

All of this is to say that, frankly, Bowden's comments don't quite add up. Ignominious finish aside, his ACC-affiliated Seminoles beat the SEC more often than not. And now, with Jimbo Fisher at the helm, that success has been rekindled, in the form of sheer domination. "