Florida A&M, Florida State football teams chasing history in conference championship games

The Capital City may get two new sets of hardware in its football trophy case this weekend.

The Florida A&M Rattlers and Florida State Seminoles are playing for conference titles Saturday.

The Football Championship Subdivision fifth-ranked FAMU will host the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship game versus the Prairie View A&M Panthers on Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium.

Kickoff is at 4 p.m. on ESPN2.

Meanwhile, FSU will travel to Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium for the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship against Louisville, with a chance at the College Football Playoffs on the line for FSU.

The Seminoles and Cardinals play at 8 p.m. on ABC.

FAMU (10-1) and FSU (12-0) have combined for a 22-1 season, with the lone loss being the Rattlers faltering 38-24 to NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision opponent South Florida in Week 3.

If both the Rattlers and Seminoles claim victory on Saturday, it will be the seventh time Tallahassee’s college football teams concurrently won conference titles. The teams brought trophies back to the Big Bend in 1948, 1949, 1950, 1995, 1996, 1998, and most recently, 2000, when FAMU won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference while FSU won the ACC.

FAMU head coach Willie Simmons is from Quincy, a former All-American quarterback at Shanks High School. He grew up watching the Seminoles during eras of star quarterback Charlie Ward, followed by electric FSU wide receiver Peter Warrick.

Simmons, 43, calls Tallahassee the greatest football city in America.

“I’m extremely proud of Florida State bringing excitement back to the city just like we have,” Simmons, the 2023 SWAC Coach of the Year, said.

“I told [Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey] he might be the only mayor in the country to have two championship football teams in the same city. The SWAC and ACC championships belong in Tallahassee. We’re going to make sure we do our part to bring it here. And I know the guys across the street are committed to doing the same.

“It’s a great time to be in a Tallahassean, and we’re looking forward to continuing to build on this magical season.”

FSU head coach Mike Norvell is relatively new to Tallahassee as he arrived in 2020.

Norvell, 42, has led a Seminole resurgence, building his team as a legitimate contender to compete in the College Football Playoff, as they’re currently ranked No. 4.

During his three years at FSU, he’s watched FAMU consistently have winning seasons under Simmons’ leadership.

“I obviously have a lot of respect for Coach Simmons and the FAMU program. They have done a remarkable job [of] what he’s done in his time there," Norvell said after FSU’s Tuesday practice.

“Football is important here. We have an obligation of how we play and who we represent. I know FAMU has the same ideals, thoughts, and philosophies when it comes to that. We talked before the season, and I am obviously rooting for him and their team.

“It would be huge for our community and city just to have both the colleges here to push and achieve at a very high level. Hopefully, both of us can get that done.”

FAMU hosting postseason game for the first time since 1998

Saturday will be a quarter of a century in the making for the Rattlers.

FAMU hosting the SWAC Championship is the first postseason home game at Bragg Stadium since it defeated Troy State 27-17 in the 1998 NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) First Round.

This season, a perfect league record with a nine-game winning streak fueled the Rattlers’ SWAC title hosting bid. Moreover, FAMU can move its second-longest active home winning streak in the FCS (behind Montana State, 26) to 20 games by beating PVAMU on Saturday.

FAMU boasts the best offensive player in the SWAC, quarterback Jeremy Moussa, who won the honor on Tuesday. Linebacker Isaiah Major got the SWAC Defensive Player of the Year nod after leading the Rattlers’ Dark Cloud Defense best total defense in the FCS.

Additionally, FAMU had a SWAC-most 13 all-conference selections this season.

The Rattlers-Panthers SWAC title game determines who will play for the HBCU Celebration Bowl, also known as the Black College Football Championship, versus the MEAC champion Howard on Dec. 16 in Atlanta.

Tate Rodemaker set to lead FSU post Jordan Travis' season-ending injury

The Seminoles’ potential bid for their first College Football Playoff berth since 2014 hit a significant speed bump against North Alabama on Nov. 18 when starting quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury.

Backup Tate Rodemaker entered to help FSU overcome a 13-0 first-quarter deficit and push for its 17th straight victory.

Rodemaker again rose to the challenge in a 12-0 deficit on the road against rival Florida last week in the Swamp. The victory in Gainesville was FSU’s first since 2017.

FSU’s 18-game win streak ― dating back to last season ― is the longest active streak in the ACC and the third-longest active streak in the country.

It’s a far cry from the team that won just three games in the first 13 games of the Norvell era.

Despite his injury, Travis was named the ACC Player of the Year and the ACC Offensive Player of the Year. He led FSU with a group that set a program record of 25 selections for All-ACC honors with eight first-team selections, six on the second team, four on the third team, and seven honorable mentions.

A win against Louisville on Saturday in Charlotte would assure the Seminoles a spot in the College Football Playoffs, something that many probably felt was unachievable when Norvell first took reigns of a program that had fallen.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: College Football: FAMU, FSU aims to get trophies in same year since 2000