2014: Florida State vs Oklahoma State

helmetshistory2014

2014: No. 1 Florida State Seminoles 37, Oklahoma State Cowboys 31

For the first time ever, the Cowboys Classic hosted the No. 1 team in the land when Jameis Winston’s top-ranked Florida State Seminoles held off the upset-minded Oklahoma State Cowboys, 37-31.

The Seminoles were the reigning national champions and Winston was the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, but the win was a hard-fought effort to launch another undefeated regular season and a College Football Playoff berth for the Seminoles.

Winston threw for 370 yards and scored on an electrifying 28-yard run in a game where he was far from perfect. It was enough, however, for Florida State to tie a school record with its 17th straight victory. In his encore to a freshman season where nearly everything went right for Winston, the sophomore quarterback struggled at times in completing 25 of his 40 passes while tossing two interceptions and just one touchdown. But he made plays when it mattered to help the Seminoles hang on after almost squandering a 17-0 lead.

The Cowboys pulled to within 3 points early in the fourth quarter, as Florida State never could put them away. Oklahoma State quarterback JW Walsh scrambled and scored from 24 yards out to close the margin, but a 37-yard Roberto Aguayo field goal extended the Seminoles’ lead to six points before Winston put the dagger into the Cowboys with his only scoring pass of the game, a 50-yarder to Rashad Greene with 3:58 left in the game. Greene finished with 203 receiving yards.

The win propelled the Seminoles to another ACC championship, but their dreams of starting and finishing the season in Cowboys Stadium were dashed in the first installment of the College Football Playoffs when they were upset by the Oregon Ducks in the semifinals played at the Rose Bowl, ending their road to a repeat national championship.