Thrill is gone: Bowden needs to do FSU big favor

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Bobby Bowden and Florida State is a love story, but that doesn't mean it's a happy story. Bowden and the football program he created aren't headed for happily ever after. They're headed for Romeo and Juliet. Or Fatal Attraction.

You see, Bobby loves FSU football to death.

FSU under Bobby Bowden is 73-42 since 2001. (US Presswire)

And that's the tragedy, or irony, or whatever word you want to call Bobby Bowden's relationship with and Florida State. He loves FSU football so much that he can't bear to leave it in disrepair -- so he stays on, one tough year after the next, trying to fix things and only making them worse. FSU football was still a luxury car in 2004, underperforming at 9-3 but just one year removed from a BCS bowl bid. What FSU needed in 2004 was an oil change, maybe a tire rotation. Five years later Bowden is still under the hood, surrounded by some sheet metal, three tires and a bag of nuts and bolts. FSU football is screwed.

Bowden can't see it, but maybe he could hear it Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, where his team does what it always does against Florida. His team lost, the Seminoles' sixth straight loss to the Gators. The last three games have been blowouts, this 37-10 score coming on the heels of 45-15 and 45-12 routs for Florida. The series is so uncompetitive that the vibe at The Swamp was almost surreal. Thirty minutes before the game, the Seminoles jogged off the field and into the locker room for their final pep talk. The crowd watched FSU leave in silence, not bothering to boo. FSU football wasn't worth the energy. A few minutes later, though, the FSU band strutted onto the field and that had the Florida fans in a tizzy.

The FSU band was booed.

The FSU football team was ignored.

Says it all, doesn't it?

The two best things to happen to Florida football in the last decade were young Urban Meyer's arrival and old Bobby Bowden's refusal to depart. The two are linked, because Meyer has taken over the state of Florida -- and the nation, which comes with it -- thanks to the crumbling in Tallahassee.

Without Bowden posing a serious threat on the recruiting trail -- Florida State has fallen to the level of Miami; that's how bad it is -- Meyer has his choice of recruits. And every year Bowden stays, Florida State's memory fades some more. Right now, Florida and Florida State are trying to make inroads on recruits in the high school class of 2011. When Florida State was last a legitimate, top-10 program, it was 2000. The players in the class of 2011 were in second grade. You think the class of 2011 remembers Travis Minor and Snoop Minnis? No way. But they know all about Chris Leak and Tim Tebow.

The Gators love Bowden. After the game, Meyer pledged his devotion to Bowden, saying, "I have great respect for Coach Bowden and I want to make that public."

All Gators wanted to make it public Saturday night. Goofy former Florida running back Errict Rhett sought out Bowden on the field and posed for a picture with the FSU coach. Imagine that. Less than two minutes after a loss to arch-rival Florida, Bowden was posing -- and smiling brightly -- for a photo with Errict Rhett. Then he ambled off the field, tossed his hat into the FSU band and disappeared down a tunnel as the band chanted his name.

People really like Bowden, which is what makes this whole thing so hard. He won't leave, and nobody has the guts to force him out, which is why Bowden is allowed to say things like these comments after the game Saturday: "I want to coach next year, but let me say I want to go home and do some soul-searching. I've got to run this thing through my mind a few times."

Most places, when a coach underperforms as Bowden has underperformed since 2001 -- Florida State's record since then is 73-42, like FSU is Virginia or something -- the coach gets fired. At Florida State, the coach says he'll "do some soul-searching ... (and) run this thing through my mind a few times."

Bowden might surprise me. He might announce on Monday that he's finished "coaching" Florida State, as if that's what he's been doing these past few years. At one point Saturday, with the Seminoles on offense, somebody on the FSU sideline called a timeout but it wasn't Bowden. He was 20 yards away while his offense met with offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher. After a while Bowden ambled over to listen, just to see what was going on. He was curious, I guess. But he wasn't coaching.

But like I said, Bowden could surprise me Monday and announce he's done. Or he could do what I expect he'll do, and say he'll stay another year.

The biggest cheer would come out of Gainesville, where they're not afraid Bowden will stay. They're afraid he won't.