Why was Jimbo ranting? The legacy of a saloon queen

Nov 1, 2016, 10:27 AM

Jimbo's railing during and after the 37-34 loss to Clemson wasn't because he was defending his player or even his team.

It was Jimbo's realization that the jig was up. The tide had turned. The beauty queen was now a second-tier saloon gal.

He was trying to defend his legacy.

Jimbo sees the future ... and it's not pretty for FSU.

As the FSU coach, he had a right to protest the call at the time. Heck, I'd have been unhappy if Dabo had been in that position and NOT protested. But that's where it should have ended.

Obviously, it didn't. Jimbo went into full warpath mode, earning a flag from the refs and well-deserved mockery from the football world. And, years from now, when people look at the decline of Florida State football this may well be the moment they point to.

This was the moment Jimbo could see it all slipping away.

Remember that FSU has been hanging around the pinnacle of college football for a lonnnng time. Three national titles and handful of top 3 finishes, year after year of domination and bullying and getting the calls. In the mind of Nole fans, it's the way things are supposed to be.

So, here comes Clemson, the fresh-faced country-come-to-town sweetheart into Tally. Pert, pretty, smart, knows all the dance moves but won't let her date get too gropy without laying him out with a haymaker. FSU got her clock cleaned earlier by the upstarts from Louisville but that was different. That was on the road.

This was Tally, where FSU is still the Queen of the Silver Dollar. Or at least she was.

When Jimbo saw his team the way the rest of us see it ... a tired, painted lady getting by on memories and old tricks ... the realization was crushing. All the young boys his tired old queen could lure into her clutches with the same old promises could no longer hide the fact that his program was doomed to second-tier status in the ACC. They have become Lily von Schtupp, the so-tired strumpet that may titilate the saddle-weary cow punchers in the hinterlands ... but there's nothing in the future.

His legacy will not be the man who carried FSU on its storied path, but the man who saw her fall. He's seen the path littered with the corpses of once-proud programs ... Miami, Notre Dame, Texas, Southern Cal. And all are noted by the coaches who were there as the architects of their disaster.

The Noles have fallen behind L'il ol' Clemson. And Jimbo will be remembered as their downfall, rather than their savior.

And that is what fueled his rage.