Think about the last good Saturday you had as a Florida State fan.
Think about how long ago that was.
In case you don't remember, the last time the Seminoles won a college football game was Oct. 17. That was two weeks before Halloween, 18 days before the presidential election (which seems like it was two years ago at this point), and exactly 56 days before today.
That's a looooooong time to go without a win. That's an interminable wait.
Which is why I hope you allow yourself to enjoy what you saw inside Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday evening.
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Understand, I'm not going to sit here and use this space to try and convince you that the 56-35 victory over Duke was some program-defining victory.
I'm not going to start an early 2021 Jordan Travis Heisman Campaign either. And I'm certainly not going to tell you the defense is fixed. Because, buddy, it ain't even close!
But I also don't think much of that matters right now.
What matters is that this team, which had somewhere in the neighborhood of 45-50 scholarship players available against the Blue Devils, gave you something to be proud of.
Florida State was legitimately missing roughly 35 scholarship players from the season-opening roster. That includes the likes of Marvin Wilson, Tamorrion Terry, Asante Samuel, Devontay Love-Taylor and Cory Durden.
And yet the players who are left -- the players who still come and work at practice every day, the ones that have done whatever has been asked of them, to stay healthy and keep this season afloat -- got to play football again. Finally. After a four-week absence. And they went out there and produced an actual victory.
I know it was Duke. I don't care. That's something to admire. Not just that they won, but how they played.
"These guys are sore, they're tired," FSU head coach Mike Norvell said. "It's been a long season. It's been a challenge on their bodies and their minds. ... We're pushing them as a coaching staff, but they made the choice to be here, they made the choice to get better."
