I know the second half was rough, and I know that 23-point lead came really close to being blown. But you know what? I don't care.
That was a great, great, great win for Mike Norvell and his Florida State Seminoles.
We can get into the details of the second half later, and we will, but let's stay focused on what matters most. The Florida State Seminoles, fresh off their most emotional and physically exhausting win in a half-decade, rolled into Boston College on Saturday and got themselves yet another W.
That's now five in seven games. And incredibly, improbably, a team that started out 0-4 is one win away from qualifying for a bowl.
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This is Norvell's most impressive win as FSU's head coach. Not his most important. No, that came last week against the Hurricanes. But this was a win that says so much about the culture and belief he has started to instill in this program again.
"We're 0-4 to start the season," Norvell said. "Not many people gave us a chance to go into this last week with this opportunity. ... And that's special. These guys have tremendous heart, they've got tremendous character. They continue to battle.
"Its a special group in there."
He's not wrong.
It's easy to get up for Miami. In your own stadium. With an electric crowd cheering and standing for four quarters.
It's a whole other matter to go on the road and play with passion in front of mostly disinterested fans for two hours -- fans who got REALLY interested there in the fourth quarter -- against a physical, bowl-bound team that hadn't lost a game when it had its starting quarterback.
Well, they've lost one now.
The Florida State defensive ends were relentless. Phil Jurkovec, who is an incredibly tough kid, will be seeing No. 4 and No. 11 in his nightmares tonight.
Jordan Travis once again threw the ball well. For most of the afternoon, he was the better quarterback.
And the Seminoles did just enough ... and I mean JUST enough ... to hold on for a terrific road win in Chestnut Hill.
It's been a remarkable turnaround. One that will be talked about for ages if the Seminoles pick up one more regular-season victory next Saturday in Gainesville.
And even if they don't, this was a remarkable win.
Because everything went against Florida State. And by everything, I mean ... the officials.
I'm not one to criticize officiating all that much. And if the Seminoles had lost, that wouldn't have been the only reason. But they would have been the biggest. (Well, that and FSU's inability to cover a kickoff, return a kickoff, or ever convert a third down.)
Florida State was robbed of seven points in the first half when Jordan Wilson was called for a phantom pass interference. Boston College had a field-goal drive extended because of a terrible pass interference call on Omarion Cooper.
The Seminoles were called for illegal formation because the side judge ruled Darius Washington wasn't lined up on the line of scrimmage -- a call I can't remember seeing in years. That call cost FSU a fourth-down conversion that would have likely ended in points and made the finish much less dramatic.
Oh, and don't forget the ridiculous personal foul called on an FSU player who had the audacity to be blocked in the back and into the punt returner. Or your best secondary player getting kicked out of the game for a tackle in which he had no idea the big, burly QB was going to slide late.
"We had some challenging moments that we had to overcome," Norvell said. "But our guys just continued to believe. I told (the players) afterwards that I probably let my emotions get the best of me a couple of times throughout the game. And that's something that I'm going to improve on.
"But some things just need to be said, too."
Mike, buddy. I can promise you if you want to rip the officials after this game, you can start a GoFundMe and FSU fans would gladly, gladly, gladly pay your fine.
Because the officiating was terrible. And worse, it was one-sided.
Florida State made sure it didn't matter.
This team really does have character, man. A lot of it.
Because, for the second week in a row, late in the fourth quarter, I thought they were going to lose. I bet you did, too. In fact, I was so convinced Boston College was going to score on that final drive I was watching the clock to see how much time would be left when Travis got the ball back.
Florida State teams of recent years fold in that spot. Just like they would have folded against Miami.
Since 2017, every time it seemed the Seminoles were on the ropes, they usually got knocked clear out of the ring.
Times, they are a changing.
Florida State is almost always the tougher team now. Florida State always has a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. And the last two weeks, Florida State has found a way to do just that.
It wasn't perfect. The offense sputtered way too much in the second half, and Norvell has to know quicker what he wants to do on fourth-and-1 so he doesn't get a delay of game.
And the Seminoles are going to have to figure out a way to be better on third downs, because they were once again terrible on Saturday. And the defense, on third down, has to do a better job of containing mobile quarterbacks.
I'm not sure Boston College scores more than 7 points if Jurkovec doesn't scramble for all those first downs.
And I'm not going to even address special teams, other than to say Alex Mastromanno and the punt coverage team were terrific.
These are all minor complaints though. And I'm not going to use this space for that.
Because you know what? Florida State was 0-4 two months ago. It was the darkest days this program has seen in my lifetime.
Florida State is now 5-6. Two of those wins were as underdogs on the road. Another was over a red-hot rival.
Appreciate what is happening here.
Appreciate this coaching staff. And most of all, appreciate how hard these guys play ... every ... single ... snap.
After that Jacksonville State game, I wasn't sure I could ever have fun watching this team play football.
But the last two months have been incredibly enjoyable.
And the win today, with your best defensive back kicked out in the first quarter, with the officials seemingly in a contest to see who could screw you the most, with all of the momentum against you in the final quarter, was maybe the most impressive victory of all.
Now let's go see if they can get one more and turn this remarkable turnaround into a historic one.
Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.
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