Seminole seniors hit especially hard by loss to rival Miami
TALLAHASSEE — The hearts of those wearing garnet and gold ached after Florida State’s 28-27 loss to Miami on Saturday, but none more than center Alec Eberle.
“Any time you’re playing your rival and you know it’s your last time playing it ever in your whole life, you want to come out with a win — especially when you’re on top like that and you kind of feel it slipping away from you,” Eberle said after Saturday’s loss.
The redshirt senior adjusted his baseball cap front to back, showcasing the Orange Bowl logo. It was the hat he received when FSU beat Michigan 33-32 in the 2016 Orange Bowl.
He had happy memories of Hard Rock Stadium. The same year as the Orange Bowl win, FSU beat Miami 20-19.
This year the Seminoles were the ones who left Miami Gardens in a dizzy haze.
Eberle understood what happened. He had seen it far too often during the past year, but experience did not make the loss sting any less.
“We lost last year and this year we had it, then we let it slip through our fingertips,” Eberle said, fighting to hold back tears. “It hurts a lot. It hurts more so because it feels like we beat ourselves rather than them beating us.”
Florida State’s 20-point lead, its largest of the day, quickly dwindled in the third quarter. The Hurricanes surged once safety Sheldrick Redwine sacked FSU quarterback Deondre Francois and stripped the ball, allowing defensive lineman Gerald Willis to recover the fumble.
Eberle can’t make up for his missed blocks, nor can he erase the defining turnovers.
“You can’t get it back,” Eberle said. “You can get upset, get mad, do whatever you want, but at the end of the day, it’s the past and you can’t go back to it.”
Forty-two seconds later, Francois’ pass was intercepted at FSU’s 17-yard line and Miami scored its third touchdown of the day on the next play.
Eberle’s teammates entered their postgame press conference aggravated, disappointed and heartbroken, still trying to comprehend how they let the 20-point lead slip away.
“It is a Florida State versus Miami game. You either die or you win,” FSU redshirt senior defensive lineman Demarcus Christmas said. “We just came out on bottom. It was tough.”
For Eberle and his fellow seniors, Saturday was their last dance in this heated instate rivalry, and they knew it.
“Some guys are hurt for the older guys because it’s their last time playing,” Eberle said. “The older guys are hurt. The young guys listen to older guys saying you can’t lose to this team.”
It happened last year. The Seminoles were 1-3 after suffering a last-minute 24-20 loss to the Hurricanes. It was one of many losses that weighed down the team.
FSU coach Willie Taggart acknowledged it was a brutal loss, but his job is to avoid letting it snowball into a losing streak.
“They’re hurt,” Taggart said of the emotion in the locker room after the Miami loss. “We came here to win and we lost the game when we were up. They’re hurt, crying. The seniors are upset they don’t have the chance again to play against Miami and the younger guys are upset we didn’t do it for them. And they should be.”
As hard as it is to accept the loss, the Seminoles will spend part of their upcoming bye week studying film and reflecting on the plays that helped them nearly upset a Miami team expected to beat them.
“I feel that was the best game we’ve played all year,” Christmas said.