TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The accomplishment isn't nearly the same as what it once was in the years before conference championship games.
But for decades, it was a very big deal. And it still is quite rare.
A perfect regular season was something to be appreciated. Few teams could go 11-0 or 12-0. If you won every Saturday, it meant that your team would be playing in a top-notch bowl game. And maybe even have a shot at a national title.
No. 2 Florida State (11-0) is in a position to become the fourth team in program history to enjoy a perfect regular season. Of course, the Atlantic Coast Conference championship is still ahead on Dec. 7. But if the Seminoles defeat Florida (4-7) at The Swamp on Saturday, the 2013 team will join the 1979, 1996 and 1999 Florida State teams as those that were perfect in the regular season.
"Can you name the 10-1 Florida State teams?" said Keith Jones, a defensive back on the '79 team and a longtime Florida State analyst for Sun Sports. "We only remember the undefeated teams. That's the pinnacle. That's the top. You can't do any better than that. That's why they're so special."
In 1979, Florida State was a fledgling program trying to build itself up to respectability -- first in its own state. The Seminoles had fallen to Florida every season from 1968-76. Bobby Bowden had just arrived in Tallahassee in January 1976, Miami was not yet "The U" and there were no indications that the state would evolve from Florida-and-the-other-guys to the "Big Three."
But it soon did. And in many ways, Bowden and Florida State put themselves on the college football map in 1979. Florida State defeated Miami, No. 20 Mississippi State and No. 19 South Carolina, then finished the regular season with a 27-16 win at Florida to go 11-0 for the first time in school history.
"In 1979, we were like the Colorado States or the BYUs or whatever," said Monk Bonasorte, a defensive back on the team who now is a senior associate athletic director at Florida State. "No one even knew who we were. We were just under the radar having fun. … To beat Florida and then be undefeated, for a young team that no one even thought we were going to be that good, it was amazing."
Even with all of the success that Florida State had in the 1980s and 1990s, the program didn't enjoy a perfect mark again until 1996.
Florida State defeated No. 10 North Carolina and then No. 14 Miami. The second-ranked Seminoles slipped past No. 1 Florida at home 24-21. When the teams played again for the national title Florida won handily 52-20.
Three years later, Florida State was perfect from start to finish in claiming the 1999 national title. The Seminoles defeated top-25 teams such as Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Miami, then finished the regular season with a 30-23 win at Florida. Florida State outlasted Michael Vick and Virginia Tech 46-29 for the national title.
This is why a perfect regular season should be savored: They don't happen often.
Now, 14 seasons later, Florida State is a four-touchdown favorite to beat Florida and wrap up a 12-0 regular season.
"It is very tough," Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. "If it wasn't tough people would do it all the time."
Fisher should know. While Florida State was putting together a national championship run in 1993, Fisher was the quarterbacks coach at Auburn. The Tigers were on probation, but under first-year coach Terry Bowden, offensive coordinator Tommy Bowden and Fisher, they went 11-0. Auburn was banned from postseason play but finished No. 4 in the Associated Press poll, while Florida State went 12-1 and claimed the program's first national title.
That 1993 Auburn team is the only unbeaten program that Fisher has coached. Even his 2003 national title as LSU's offensive coordinator includes a regular-season loss to Florida.
An unbeaten regular season for the 2013 Seminoles would be a significant achievement along the way for a Florida State team that is clearly aiming for more.
"That's big -- but that's what we expect," Florida State linebacker Telvin Smith said. "That's what we work for. That's the standard that we set. It will feel great. We'll be happy.
"But at the same time, we'll say, 'Ok, this is what we are working for. Now let's get back to it.'"
Florida State has maintained its focus week after week, win after win. Even through the hype of top-10 showdowns at Clemson and against Miami. The past few weeks it's been through intense public and media scrutiny due to the investigation of star quarterback Jameis Winston.
Now, Florida State finds itself one win away from a perfect regular season, and one in which they are routing opponents, scoring 40 or more points in every game while allowing on average just 11 points. Jones said the Seminoles need to be very careful and not take the injury-depleted Gators lightly on Saturday.
"This is not a trap game -- this is a set up," Jones said. "You go in there you don't pay attention, you don't focus and you are going to be embarrassed. They got nothing else to play for. This is it. This is their bowl game, they're mad, they're angry. You are going to get everything they got left."
Contact Bob Ferrante at bobferrante17@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @bobferrante.
