Gosh, why would Florida State fans be excited about their 2014 season? (USATSI)
Gosh, why would Florida State fans be excited about their 2014 season? (USATSI)

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Not surprising: that Florida State has sold out its "entire seven-game season ticket allotment for football," as it announced Monday in alerting fans to six-game packages (the Seminoles' full home schedule, minus Florida) that are still for sale.

More surprising: that per that announcement, this is the first time since 2003 that Florida State has sold out of season tickets. The renewal rate, FSU says, is "over 95 percent for the first time in more than a decade."

It's true that Doak Campbell is large, that the expectations after Bobby Bowden's 1990s dynasty were sky-high, that ACC home schedules aren't always super-enticing. (Minus Miami, the 2013 home slate consisted of Nevada, Bethune-Cookman, Maryland, N.C. State, Syracuse and Idaho.) And the 'Noles are far from alone among major programs that have had to work harder to sell tickets.

Still, it's not like the Seminoles haven't had selling points to offer over the past 11 years: Bowden's final ACC championship season in 2005, Jimbo Fisher's promotion, the Chick-Fil-A Bowl victory over Steve Spurrier's South Carolina, his 2012 ACC title, etc. And it's not like every other program has struggled to sell its season tickets -- Mississippi State is riding a four-year sellout streak, for instance.

As it turns out, all it took for the 'Noles to sell out was to become the defending national champions, boast a returning Heisman Trophy winner (and another two-dozen top-drawer NFL prospects), and put together a home schedule with Notre Dame, Florida and Clemson. Who knew?

Then again, hey, 'Noles fans could have passed on that, too. Better "late" than never, and we mean that sincerely.