Garnet & Great

He calls himself an average player, but Rick Stockstill QB'd FSU to road wins over Nebraska, Ohio State and Notre Dame—victories that shocked the college football world and started a Seminole dynasty. Rick tells what motivated a good team to play great, and the things that Bobby Bowden did to turn Florida State into a Top 10 power.

As one of Bowden’s first recruits, Kurt Unglaub saw first-hand what the legendary coach did to resurrect FSU Football from the bottom tier of college football. And lately, Kurt’s been inside the locker room and on the field to observe how Mike Norvell is turning things around. Here’s how he compares their efforts.

From year one of the program til the early 60s, Florida State never had a pure passer. Even Lee Corso, best-known of the early signal-callers, ran for twice as many yards as he passed. Then Bill Peterson installed an NFL-style offense to compete against an increasingly tougher schedule of big time opponents. To pilot his aerial circus he chose Steve Tensi, a lanky kid from Ohio with a howitzer for an arm. Tensi connected—both on the field and off—with a sure- handed receiver named Fred Biletnikoff. Together, they led the upstart Seminoles to wins over the gators and Oklahoma, on the way to number 11 finish in 1964. After moderate success in pro football, Tensi retired to become a contractor in North Carolina. He passed away in mid-March at the age of 81. We’re proud to have known Steve and to have recorded this conversation recalling his football career and memories of his time at FSU.

It was late 1973 and FSU Football was 0 - 11. Fans were either unhappy or apathetic. The program was in shambles and Larry Jones resigned as coach. What's more, the deck was stacked against whoever replaced him.
Enter Darrell Mudra, fresh off rebuilding programs at Arizona and Western Illinois. Now if he could just work that same magic in Tallahassee...Sorry, he wasn't the savior FSU was looking for. But Mudra paved the way by leaving the program better than he found it. Taking baby steps in everything from a strength program to becoming competitive again. In 1975, his second and final year, FSU lost 5 games by a total of 15 points.
And how about a little respect for coming within 1:27 of beating Alabama on its home field?
Mudra passed away last week, though the news was lost in headlines about the Noles resurgence. So we thought it right to dust off this rare interview from a decade ago as Mudra talked about nearly upsetting Bama and the challenges he faced in resurrecting FSU's program almost 50 years ago. Back when he had far less to work with than every coach who came after him.

Arguably the most impressive win of the pre-Bowden era was actually a tie. The year was 1967 and FSU had lost its opener to Houston. Next up: Alabama, riding a 21-game win streak.

Here's the story, told by FSU players who shocked the college football world that night at Birmingham's Legion Field. Including original radio play-by-play as the Noles scored more points than Bama gave up the entire previous season.