Last Sunday the BCS held the annual bowl game announcements. The number one and number two teams in the BCS standings will play for the BCS National Title. The number one ranked Florida State Seminoles will take on the number two ranked Auburn Tigers. The game will be held on January 6, 2014, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
The Florida State Seminoles come into the game as the number one team in the country with a 13-0 record. They defeated Duke 45-7 in the ACC Conference Championship game. They are led by freshman quarterback Jameis Winston. “Famous Jameis” is the front runner for the Heisman Trophy. If he were the winner, he would be only the second freshman to ever win this prestigious award. They also have junior running back Devonte Freeman who was awarded first team all-ACC honors. The Seminoles faced a huge off the field distraction during their perfect regular season. Jameis Winston was being questioned on a charge of sexual assault and the rumors of possible suspensions were arising from the NCAA. The week of the ACC Championship, all charges against Winston were dropped and FSU was in the clear. Now Florida State is trying to make sure that the SEC does not win a National Title for the eighth year in a row.
The 12-1 SEC champion Auburn Tigers are the number two team in the nation, according to the BCS rankings. It is a Cinderella story; the Tigers went 3-9 last season in the rugged SEC, and with an early loss in week four to conference rival LSU, the hopes of a conference title and a national title seemed very far away. The Tigers regrouped, winning the rest of the games in the regular season. Two of these games were in dramatic style. Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall threw a 73 yard Hail Mary with 25 seconds left in the game to give Auburn a 53-48 lead against Georgia, a lead they wouldn’t lose. The very next week the Tigers hosted number one Alabama and returned a short field goal try 109 yards as time expired to win the game. Auburn then got past Missouri 59-42 behind junior running back Tre Mason. Mason is also a Heisman finalist.
The stakes are high for a shootout in Pasadena when these two high-powered offenses clash.