In the last BCS Championship ever, the Auburn Tigers missed its chance at a Cinderella season with a loss to freshman Heisman winner Jameis Winston and the undefeated Florida State Seminoles.
After having an awful first half, Jameis Winston turned it around in the third and fourth quarter, culminating in a 7 play touchdown drive with just 1:19 to go. Winston's 2 yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin cemented the win for the 'Noles. (Via Naples Daily News, Dothan Eagle, St. Lucie News Tribune, The Florida Times Union)
According to the Huffington Post it was the last touchdown drive by Winston that helped the "'Famous' quarterback for No. 1 Florida State [attain] 'Legendary' status in Tallahassee."
And it seems the freshman sensation agrees. He said during the post game press conference, "I'm pretty sure I got more respect from my teammates and the people around me on that last drive than I got the whole year." (Via Florida State Seminoles )
Close games and comebacks are two things the Seminoles were not very familiar with going into the BCS Title game Monday.
Deadspin outlines just how good the Noles have been all season. FSU's average margin of victory hovers at around 42 points per game, the Noles' won every game this season by two touchdowns or more, and the new BCS champs never entered the second quarter up by less than ten points.
But Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher says that's what makes victory so sweet and Winston's performance so special.
"When you can go back like the great ones do, ... it's in the fourth quarter, I've got one or two touches left and you can take your team down the field and lead them to victory, that's what a great player is to me." (Via CBS)
With the college football finally switching to a greatly desired four game playoff next year, many felt the FSU Auburn thriller was a perfect way to end the often imperfect BCS era.
" ... the much maligned system finished its runs by getting it right with the two best teams in America playing one of the best games of any season, a game so wildly dramatic and intense that it left at least one competitor walking in circles on the cluttered field in a daze." (Via Los Angeles Times)
With the win Monday night Jameis Winston becomes the only freshman to win the Heisman trophy and the national title in the same year.
