The Florida State Seminoles are going bowling and it’s not at their new Student Union. Their blowout win against the Miami Hurricanes brought the team to a total of six wins which is what is needed to make them eligible for a postseason bowl game. This will be the first time the team has been eligible in the Mike Norvell era and with three games left in the regular season the Noles are on their way to experiencing a year that fans and players alike have missed the feeling of: a winning season. With the bowl game in the mix, the Noles could see a 10-3 record in 2022.
The Noles haven’t been to a bowl game since 2019. That year was Willie Taggart’s last with the team as he was fired in November of that year. Longtime assistant coach Odell Haggins stepped in as the interim head coach for the final three regular-season games and the bowl game. The last time fans got to see some postseason action the team traveled to El Paso, Texas for the Sun Bowl. Here the Noles faced off against the Arizona State Sun Devils. In this New Year’s Eve face-off, the Noles fell short of the win leaving Texas with a 14-20 loss. The 2019 season’s final record was 6-7.
2022 will be different. The Noles have been on a climb these last few years and while it hasn’t been the easiest journey, they have done the work this season. They’ve earned their bowl game and now they have to finish the job by bringing home more wins. The three regular season games remaining are against Syracuse, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and the University of Florida. All three of them are very winnable games for the Noles. Syracuse and UF will put up the biggest fight but neither team has experienced a season that makes them impossible to beat. Aside from being a great end to the season, winning against these teams affects where the team plays their bowl game.
There are 43 different bowl games this year and games start on Dec. 16 and run all the way until Jan. 9 when the College Football Playoff Championship takes place. Three games make up the playoffs: the Fiesta Bowl, the Peach Bowl and the Championship. These are played by the final four and final two respectively. Four more games are selection committee games: the Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl. Selection committee games are played by the winners of each Power 5 conference not already in the playoffs, the winner of the Group of 5 conferences, and the remaining spots are filled based on factors like rankings. These six bowl games are often referred to as the New Year’s Six bowl games because they are held on or around New Year’s Day and they rotate each year to be semifinal games for the playoffs.
Each conference then has agreements to play in a certain set of bowl games. Once all is said and done, there are about 12 games open to the Noles. This early it can be almost impossible to know where they could be going but it can be fun to speculate. A team from Jacksonville’s Taxslayer Bowl was present at the last home game against Georgia Tech. The Gasparilla, Cheez-It and Tampa Bay bowl games also take place in the State which makes them ideal games for the Noles. Games like the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina and the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California can’t be ruled out though. Those are only half of the possible games they could attend. All the Noles can do is play hard for the rest of the season and wait to find out where they will be playing in the postseason.
The official announcement for the bowl game matchups will come after the conclusion of the regular season and conference championships games on Dec. 4. Until then, fans get to enjoy knowing that no matter how the season goes from here, their Noles are going Bowling in December.
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