Florida State Football: Noles extend bowl streak to 36 seasons

Sans Jimbo Fisher, Florida State football extended their nation-leading bowl streak to 36 consecutive seasons with a win over Louisiana-Monroe.

Florida State played a football game on Saturday with a 35-year bowl streak on the line, but you wouldn’t have known it by the turnout. It’s been a wild week in Tallahassee with eight-year head coach Jimbo Fisher bolting for College Station on Friday. There was an element of distraction hanging over the contest, but the talent disparity kept Florida State from being tested too much.

The game was scheduled to take place earlier in the season, but Hurricane Irma tabled the game until it became apparent that the Seminoles would need it to make the postseason. Florida State named defensive line coach Odell Haggins the interim coach for the game.

Even in the midst of tremendous distractions the Seminoles defeated the Warhawks with relative ease. Jacques Patrick (155 yards, two touchdowns) and Cam Akers (117 yards, two touchdowns) were electric. With those two running with such fury it didn’t take much creativity for the Seminoles to pull away from their overmatched opponent. FSU’s running game tallied 305 yards on 45 carries.

As the offense churned out yardage the defense smothered ULM. They held the Warhawks to 38 yards on the ground on 22 carries, just 1.7 yards per carry with a long of 14 yards. ULM quarterback Caleb Evans completed 59.6 percent of his passes for 262 yards with one touchdown.

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The 45-10 win brings Florida State to 6-6, extending their nation-leading streak of consecutive bowl appearances. Florida State intends to announce a new coach prior to their bowl game. Early rumors indicate Oregon’s Willie Taggart is their No. 1 target. For now, the Noles will await their final bowl destination and there’s a chance they could be paired with Texas A&M. That would make for an intriguing finale and another month of Fihser-Aggie drama.