Seminoles turn attention to ACC championship game

By foxsports
Published

Associated Press
November 29, 2010

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Jimbo Fisher didn't have much time Sunday to savor a big victory over archrival Florida that capped his first regular season as Florida State 's coach.

He was, instead, preparing for the Seminoles upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference championship game against 12th-ranked Virginia Tech, which brings a 10-game winning streak into Saturday's game in Charlotte, N.C.

Ending streaks has been a big part of Fisher's first season.

The 20th-ranked Seminoles ridded themselves of their most annoying streak Saturday, snapping a six-year victory drought against the Gators with an impressive 31-7 win.

"We haven't had much time to really think about that win," said Fisher, who hosted several recruits early Sunday before getting to work on video of Virginia Tech after catching a few hours of sleep.

"It does rank up there as one of the top things I've been associated with," Fisher said. "And then on top of that to get an opportunity to get a chance to play for a conference championship."

Thanks to Maryland's win over North Carolina State, the Seminoles (9-3, 6-2 ACC) have a shot at their first league title in five years.

"You want to win an ACC championship, you want to make yourself relevant," Fisher said. "As soon as you do that you're in a BCS bowl, now you make yourself relevant nationally. That's where you want to go."

In the ACC's inaugural championship game in 2005, an unranked Seminoles team upset fifth-ranked Virginia Tech 27-22 sparked by Willie Reid's 83-yard punt return for a touchdown and a swarming defense that continually harassed Hokies quarterback Marcus Vick.

"The one thing you better know about Florida State, I don't care what they look like or what their record is, you'd better get ready to play," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said Sunday on a teleconference with reporters.

But Beamer said he wasn't spending any time on the past.

"I don't think we'll have any trouble talking what Florida State's all about to our kids," he said. "They understand what a challenge this is."

Virginia Tech (10-2, 8-0 ACC) clinched its berth in the league title game a week ago and finished its regular season with a 37-7 rout of Virginia on Saturday to stretch its streak of 10-win seasons to seven straight. The Hokies are the first team since 2000 to go through the conference schedule undefeated.

"You have to be doing a lot little things right and what they're doing is amazing," Fisher said.

The Seminoles did some things right themselves down the stretch with three straight wins after nearly being knocked out of the ACC's Atlantic Division race from back-to-back losses to North Carolina State and North Carolina.

Florida State finished with wins over Clemson and Maryland before the Seminoles hammered Florida.