The Noles did not disappoint in their first 5 games.  We won by scores of:  42-0, 45-7, 57-0, 33-7, and 51-0 ... or 228 points for ... 14 points against.  That set up the first Game of the Century of the season ... Miami.  The Noles avenged back-to-back national-championship-stealing Wide Rights by pummeling the Canes 28-10 in Tallahassee.  That done, the Noles cruised past their next three opponents by a combined score of 143-34.  Next up for Bobby Bowden, Charlie Ward, and a surprising freshman running back from Baton Rouge was a date in South Bend.  This was billed as the second Game of the Century of the season.  The hype for this game between number 1 and number 2 was like no other football game short of the Super Bowl.  ESPN sent their college football analyst on-site for the first time (in what was soon to be a tradition).  Charlie Ward and the Noles could never get going in the high wind, and fell to the Irish by a touchdown as the game-tying pass to Matt Frier fell incomplete.  But, Matt contributed after the game by offering a well publicized plea to the media to keep the National Championship hopes alive for FSU.  That worked, as the Noles only dropped a couple of places in the polls.  When Boston College upset Notre Dame the following week, FSU was back in the race.  North Carolina State put up little challenge to the inspired Noles that same night, and suddenly the only thing that stood between FSU and the national championship game was the Florida Gators.  The Seminoles traveled to Gainesville to play the Gators in the newly anointed "Swamp", where the home team had won 23 consecutive games.

I was able to secure two tickets to this season's third Game of the Century, and invited my friend, Dan to meet me in Hog Town.  I had seen FSU win in Gainesville during the 1987 season, but that didn't prepare me for the insanity of this game.   Dan and I sat in the upper level of the stadium in the end zone.  Despite this, we actually had a good vantage point for the greatest play in Florida State history.  The play happened in the fourth quarter with the Noles precariously leading 27-21.  Earlier in the second half, we had actually built a comfortable 27-7 lead on our hated rivals, and had basically dominated the entire game.  At the point of our largest lead, the crowd had been of little consequence since the opening kickoff.  But, the Gators' offense regenerated their faithful by somehow scoring two very lucky touchdowns, and whittling the Noles' lead down to six points late in the 4th quarter.  As the Gators kicked off, the crowd noise was louder than I had ever heard before or since.  This adversely affected the Noles, and the first two passes were batted down.  With third down and ten yards to go from our own twenty-one yard line, we could feel the game and season slipping away.  But ......