The final two spots have been claimed for the Sweet 16 of our Warchant Bracket Challenge, with placekicker Sebastian Janikowski and return specialist Greg Reid advancing via second-round victories.
Janikowski defeated fellow kicker Roberto Aguayo with nearly 85 percent of the vote, while Reid sprinted past Tamarick Vanover with 58.2 percent of the vote in their battle.
The action continues today with two epic Sweet 16 battles in the Offensive Playmakers bracket.
No. 1 seed Charlie Ward vs. No. 5 seed Warrick Dunn
No. 2 seed Jameis Winston vs. No. 3 seed Dalvin Cook
If you need more information and insight, we present bios on each player below:
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All voting will be done on our Tribal Council message board, and the voting window is 24 hours. Each round offers an opportunity for Warchant subscribers to win a $25 e-card to Garnet & Gold. That prize will go to the person who makes the most compelling and/or original argument for their vote.
If you already know who gets your vote, click here to make your picks on the Tribal Council:
The Matchups
No. 1 seed Charlie Ward vs. No. 5 seed Warrick Dunn
Charlie Ward left Florida State as the most decorated player in college football history. He won just about every possible individual award in 1993 and also led the Seminoles to the school's first-ever national championship. The dual-threat quarterback won the Heisman Trophy by one of the biggest margins in the history of the award and finished his career 22-2 as a starter. One of those losses came on a missed field goal at Miami, and the other was at Notre Dame in the national championship season. Ward's game-clinching 78-yard TD pass to Warrick Dunn in the 1993 Florida game is one of the biggest plays in program history. He also was the team's punter in 1989 and became a first-round NBA draft pick after starring for the FSU basketball team.
Warrick Dunn was asked by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' coaching staff during a pre-draft workout what he did best on a football field. His answer was simple: "I score touchdowns." And he wasn't lying. Listed at 5-foot-8, Dunn was one of the smallest running backs in FSU history. He also might've been the best. The Louisiana native came out of nowhere in 1993 -- he started out the preseason fifth on the depth chart -- to lead the eventual national champions in touchdowns with 10. He then proceeded to rush for over 1,000 yards each of the next three seasons, finishing his legendary FSU career with 3,959 yards rushing, 1,314 yards receiving and a school-record 49 total touchdowns. In his final regular-season home game, he rushed for 185 yards in a 24-21 win over No. 1 Florida. In fact, during his four years at FSU. he always seemed to save his best games for the rivals -- he also rushed for 163 yards against Miami in 1996, 121 yards against the Gators in 1995, 184 against the Hurricanes that same year and then helped the Seminoles storm back in the Choke at Doak in 1994 with 10 catches for 96 yards against the Gators (he then added 182 all-purpose yards in the rematch in the Sugar Bowl).
No. 2 seed Jameis Winston vs. No. 3 seed Dalvin Cook
Jameis Winston was a prized recruit of Jimbo Fisher and a member of FSU's No. 5-rated 2012 class. He burst on the scene as a redshirt freshman in 2013, leading the Seminoles to an undefeated season and national championship. The consensus All-American finished the season completing 76 percent of his attempts and throwing for over 4,000 yards with 40 touchdowns. He would go on to earn numerous personal honors that season including being named AP Player of the Year, winning the Davey O'Brien Award, Manning Award, Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and the Heisman Trophy. He also led FSU to a perfect 13-0 regular season in 2014 and another ACC championship before suffering his first and only loss in college versus Oregon in the college football playoff. He finished his FSU career with a 26-1 record as a starter and would go on to be the No. 1 overall draft pick in the 2015 NFL draft.
Dalvin Cook was a five-star recruit and the nation's No. 2-rated all-purpose back when he signed with Florida State in 2014, and he certainly lived up to that billing. Cook busted onto the national stage as a true freshman, breaking the school's freshman rushing record with 1,008 yards, and he seemed to get better every year. The Miami native set a new school record with 1,691 rushing yards in 2015, and he also broke the FSU mark for all-purpose yards with 1,935. Cook finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting that season and racked up at least 150 yards in six different games. But it was during his junior campaign that Cook might have solidified himself as the greatest running back in school history. He finished that year with 1,765 rushing yards, 488 receiving yards and 20 total touchdowns. For all of his impressive statistics, Cook will perhaps be best remembered for his dominant performances against his hometown Miami Hurricanes, rushing for more than 450 yards against them in three games. He left early for the NFL following the 2016 season and has emerged as one of the top running backs in the game.
Winner of $25 eCard from Garnet & Gold - d-ronanole
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About the tournament
We've broken down the field of 64 into four 16-team brackets:
* Offensive Playmakers
* Defensive Playmakers
* Linemen (offensive and defensive)
* Legends/Special Teams
The first three "regions" are pretty self-explanatory. The final one is a combination of eight Seminole "legends," which we've defined as players who graduated by 1985 (just before the Dynasty era really began), and eight special-teams players.
The special-teams players were broken down further into two four-team brackets -- kickers/punters and "specialists" (return men or players who specialized in blocking kicks).
* CLICK HERE for a printable bracket -- updated with Round 1 & 2 results
(Note: Players who already held a spot in one of the other categories were not eligible to also be selected as specialists. That is why Deion Sanders, Peter Warrick and Terrell Buckley are not listed there.)
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