Florida State finds itself on the wrong side of history

An 0-2 start for Florida State in 2024 is unimaginable. Nobody expected the Seminoles to start this year on such a deflating note. If you had told people this would've happened, they probably would have laughed you out of the room.

But here we are. It's certainly real. As ESPN's tweet states below, Florida State had made some history with their dismal start. It's not the kind of history you want to be associated with.

FSU got the dubious distinction of being in the rare company of teams starting 0-2 as a double-digit favorite. However, there's much more beyond that. The Seminoles also became the third team in the last 35 years to go from being a top-10 team to not being ranked after opening weekend. There are just 13 teams since 1950 to do that.

Even though the AP poll era started in 1936, 1950 was the first year when the AP put out preseason polls. Every year before that the rankings started in the middle of the season. Let's go back and look at each instance of that happening.

The first team to suffer this fate was Tennessee, in the very first year when the preseason rankings came into effect. The Vols began the season ranked fourth in the preseason polls, which was released in August of that year. Tennessee began their year by playing two games before the Week 1 ranking was released, very similar to this year's Florida State team.

Unlike them though, Tennessee didn't start 0-2. Their first game was against Mississippi Southern College Southerners. Yes, the Southerners were the name of the team. How creative is that? It isn't but now we know them as the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. The Vols defeated them effortlessly, 56-0.

However, before the week one ranking came out on October 2nd, Tennessee still had to play one more game. They traveled to Starkville, Mississippi to take on the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. The Volunteers would suffer a shocking 7-0 defeat at the hands of Mississippi State. When the rankings came out a few days later, Tennessee dropped out of the polls.

It could be viewed as a little unfair, as they did win their opener the week before. However, the Vols would quickly bounce back the next week, with a road win over No. 14 Duke that put them back in the national rankings. The team would not lose another game that season and would defeat No. 3 Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Tennessee finished the season ranked fourth.

There was some controversy that did arise, as Oklahoma was crowned as the national champion by the AP, even though the Sooners had lost to Kentucky in the Sugar Bowl after going 10-0 in the regular season. Tennessee had beaten that same Kentucky team late in the regular season. The Vols ended the year at 11-1.