RIP Bobby Bowden

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And exactly what do they eat up there and where do they find water? Guess they're out for a day hike before returning to the plush valley below.
Usually they're after salt from stones. They are quite accomplished scalers.

 

Spurffelbow833

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And exactly what do they eat up there and where do they find water? Guess they're out for a day hike before returning to the plush valley below.
They never return. They are the escapegoats. Steering this back to Bobby, Guss Scott was last seen up there 18 years ago.
 
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78

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I met Bowden along with Pell at a Clearwater Beach fundraiser in ‘83. The only difference between the two was Bowden smiled a lot and told jokes. The man is congenial to the bone, a schmoozer. They both came from the Bear Bryant school of if-you-ain’t-cheatin’-you ain’t tryin’.

I do have to say, Bowden had King Kong balls with the independent schedule earlier in his FSU days. He went all soft when the SEC opportunity arose.
 

LagoonGator68

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I met Bowden along with Pell at a Clearwater Beach fundraiser in ‘83. The only difference between the two was Bowden smiled a lot and told jokes. The man is congenial to the bone, a schmoozer. They both came from the Bear Bryant school of if-you-ain’t-cheatin’-you ain’t tryin’.

I do have to say, Bowden had King Kong balls with the independent schedule earlier in his FSU days. He went all soft when the SEC opportunity arose.

Clay Stapleton made that schedule long before Bowden arrived. It was a last gasp effort to keep the program from having to drop football due to money and attendance problems.
 

soflagator

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I met Bowden along with Pell at a Clearwater Beach fundraiser in ‘83. The only difference between the two was Bowden smiled a lot and told jokes. The man is congenial to the bone, a schmoozer. They both came from the Bear Bryant school of if-you-ain’t-cheatin’-you ain’t tryin’.

I do have to say, Bowden had King Kong balls with the independent schedule earlier in his FSU days. He went all soft when the SEC opportunity arose.

I always thought that was way overblown. They were a girl school trying to break onto the scene. Playing a soft schedule wouldn’t have accomplished that. If he stayed home and beat nobody’s, he was going to be safe. If he went on the road to play the big guys and lost, he was going to be safe. There was no down side at all. And as you mention, once there was something to lose, he didn’t have the testicular fortitude to risk it and step into the challenge, validating that point.

But back to more important things, those goats are fantastic.
 

Swamp Donkey

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I always thought that was way overblown. They were a girl school trying to break onto the scene. Playing a soft schedule wouldn’t have accomplished that. If he stayed home and beat nobody’s, he was going to be safe. If he went on the road to play the big guys and lost, he was going to be safe. T.
exactly. they were in the Metro conference, the predecessor to Conference USA and akin to UCF being in the American.

They had to swing for the fences. As soon as he had another option he started feasting on cupcakes.
 

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Clay Stapleton made that schedule long before Bowden arrived. It was a last gasp effort to keep the program from having to drop football due to money and attendance problems.

That makes sense. They were a perpetual joke when I arrived on campus. Bowden hit the recruiting trail running. Jimmy Jordan, Woody Woodward, Ron Simmons, et al. They had the young talent to take on some of those Goliaths on the road.

They came out of nowhere. One by one, the upsets racked up. Bowden put FSU on the map. I hated it. To this day, they are to me UF’s most heated rival. The series during the ‘90s was as good as it gets in college football.
 

LagoonGator68

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exactly. they were in the Metro conference, the predecessor to Conference USA and akin to UCF being in the American.

They had to swing for the fences. As soon as he had another option he started feasting on cupcakes.

The conference never sponsored football, although most of its members throughout its history had Division I-A football programs (from 1983 to 1991, all Metro schools had independent football programs). In 1995, it merged with th
 

van Go(gh) Gator(s)

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One of my favorite moments is when SOS brought out the team to go for it on a 4th and short and caused Bowden to use a timeout. Then Steve punted. Proved to be a critical mistake by Bowden as when he needed the timeout at the end of the game he didn't have it. Can't remember which game though.
 

soflagator

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One of my favorite moments is when SOS brought out the team to go for it on a 4th and short and caused Bowden to use a timeout. Then Steve punted. Proved to be a critical mistake by Bowden as when he needed the timeout at the end of the game he didn't have it. Can't remember which game though.

Not sure if this is what you were thinking, but in 1997 we stopped them on third and goal and he used his last time out to contemplate going for it. It may not have been something Steve did specifically, but the indecision was clearly out of concern that we could go down and score a touchdown. We weren’t our usual offense that year, but he still had a healthy fear of what could be. And of course his concern wasn’t misplaced as we saw. So their last drive, they had no timeouts and couldn’t balance things with the ground which quickly got them behind the chains and led to Thomas’ pick.

That previous stand was vintage UF defense. Guys like Kelsey and others came up huge, and oft criticized Mike Harris made a huge play to keep Minor out on the long run inside the 10 forcing them to grind it out instead. If he doesn’t take that angle and get him out of bounds, not only do they go up 8, but even if we managed to go down and score as we did, then got the 2-point conversion, they would’ve still had plenty of time(plus that TO) to drive and set up Janikowski for a heartbreaking final kick. Massive moment in UF history.
 

Swamp Donkey

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Not sure if this is what you were thinking, but in 1997 we stopped them on third and goal and he used his last time out to contemplate going for it. It may not have been something Steve did specifically, but the indecision was clearly out of concern that we could go down and score a touchdown. .
I can almost guarantee that if SOS got a good look out of the defense he would have gone for it.

You could see it on his face that every punt felt like a defeat.
 

G. Gordon Gator

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I can almost guarantee that if SOS got a good look out of the defense he would have gone for it.

You could see it on his face that every punt felt like a defeat.
Chump after a punt:

giphy.gif
 

Joegator96

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I know this is ridiculous, and I'm probably just being a nervous nelly. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least slightly concerned that this thread could take an unintended turn, in a direction far removed from its original premise.

Give it time, we will be having a coke and talking about firing Mullen some more
 

LagoonGator68

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That makes sense. They were a perpetual joke when I arrived on campus. Bowden hit the recruiting trail running. Jimmy Jordan, Woody Woodward, Ron Simmons, et al. They had the young talent to take on some of those Goliaths on the road.

They came out of nowhere. One by one, the upsets racked up. Bowden put FSU on the map. I hated it. To this day, they are to me UF’s most heated rival. The series during the ‘90s was as good as it gets in college football.

Twelve assistants at FSU became head coaches. They include Bowden, Bill Parcells (New England Patriots, New York Giants), Joe Gibbs (Washington Redskins), Don Henning (Atlanta/San Diego), Don James (University of Washington), Joe Avezzano (Oregon State), John Coata (Wisconsin) and Vince Gibson (Kansas State, Louisville). Two others are current Redskin assistants coaches - Don Breaux and Parry Peccatiello. Additionally, two of Peterson's players at FSU became head coaches - Joe Avezzano (Oregon State) and Gene McDowell (Central Florida).
 

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