TALLAHASSEE – Florida State could’ve been in the SEC.

Dr. Gerald Turner was the Chancellor at Ole Miss and a key decision maker for the SEC in the early 90s when the conference planned expansion. Florida State was a top priority. 

But the Seminoles passed on the SEC’s invitation to avoid playing in the University of Florida’s shadow as conference mates. They wanted to make their own path in the ACC. South Carolina took the Seminoles’ spot.  

Over 30 years later, Turner, the recently retired SMU president, was in Doak Campbell Stadium to watch his Mustangs face the Seminoles in an ACC clash to start the year. Ironically, Florida State fought against SMU’s addition to the ACC and vocally want to move on to greener pastures, preferably in the SEC. 

Oh, what could’ve been. 

The Seminoles are cash strapped. They couldn’t afford to buy Mike Norvell out of his contract despite back-to-back disappointing seasons. They offered crumbs on the dollar while striking out on portal quarterback after portal quarterback in the offseason. And on Monday night, they couldn’t keep the power on. 

Florida State believes it is too good for the ACC. Monday night was another recent example of why it’s not. SMU, the little ole private school in Highland Park that bought their way back into the national landscape, added another scalp to its ACC resumé with the 27-24 win. 

The Mustangs are now 15-2 in regular season conference games as a Power Four program. They’ve beaten Florida State twice in three years. They’ve now won in Death Valley and Doak – the two hardest places to play in the ACC, historically. They’ve beaten Louisville and Miami. 

The elite ACC program wasn’t the home team. It was the road squad. And Vegas agreed because SMU was a road favorite against a team that won a national championship last decade. In the same year that Jameis Winston carried the Jimbo Fisher led Seminoles to the title in 2013, June Jones and the Ponies were playing home conference games against Temple. 

The opposing trajectories reveal the harsh truth of the revenue share era of college football. The helmets and the history matter less and less each cycle as the money rises. The recruits and the transfers don’t care how good Florida State was under Bobby Bowden or that SMU was floundering for 30 years post Death Penalty. 

Resources and optimism rule the day. Look at new bloods like SMU and Texas Tech compared to programs like Clemson and Florida State who are seemingly stuck in a rut without the funds or the coaches – or both. The Seminoles can’t afford to make a change. The Mustangs just ponied up to keep Rhett Lashlee from taking the job at Arkansas and Auburn. And that’s without the aid of television revenue. 

SMU did try and play with its food. The mistakes mounted and the Seminole crowd, which was on the verge of booing their team out of the building at times, found hope in the Mustangs’ mistakes. A fumble and a missed field goal early. An interception in the end zone. A muffed punt. An offside that extended an FSU drive that ended in a touchdown that tied it at 17 late in the fourth quarter. Another INT. 

The moment looked too big an SMU team still fighting for respect. The last primetime game with the whole nation’s eyes on the Ponies was against Penn State and that was over before it started. But SMU showed a budding maturity in the fourth quarter and escaped Tallahassee with a win and ACC Championship game aspirations. 

Some thought the billionaires on the Hilltop were crazy when the program took no money to join the Power Four. The outsiders saw it as a gamble. The donors saw it as a bet on themselves. Guys like Bill Armstrong and Dave Miller went to SMU when business was booming on the football field. They wanted a chance to give that back to the university. 

SMU used to play on the road in empty stadiums and lose. Now, they walk into the historic ones and leave with wins. 

While Florida State was building itself into a national power in the 90s under Bowden, SMU was reeling from the dissolvement of the Southwest Conference. While the Seminoles were winning a third national championship in 2013, the Mustangs were acres away from a rebirth. 

Go back five years and tell a Florida State fan that they’d be hosting SMU in a conference game and that they’d be the underdogs. Go back and tell an SMU fan the same thing. Neither would’ve believed you. 

College football is no longer a caste system. You must earn your spot at the top with institutional buy-in and competent leadership. Right now, SMU is much closer to the ceiling that Florida State. 

Lashlee's postgame shirt said it best. The phrase "blue blood" was crossed out, and under it, in red, "new blood" was written.