There is a season...and it starts Monday night!

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3 (1-8)

I don’t want to sound sacrilegious, but being an FSU fan is a bit like waiting for the Kingdom. We all know that the Seminoles are #1. It just takes faith in the face of what seems like competing evidence. But, to everything there comes a season…Maybe this year in Tallahassee!

The Seminole’s season begins with the annual Bowden Bowl this coming Monday night pitting Bobby Bowden and his son, Tommy from Clemson in FSU’s season opener. The Noles come off of a disappointing year.

Jimbo Fisher joins the coaching staff – he was the offensive coordinator for LSU 2003 National Championship team. He will be working with the quarterbacks.

Of course, the hot competition is between Drew Weatherford and Xavier Lee. Coming off of two years and 23 starts, Weatherford has the advantage, but Xavier has passion. QB Drew Weatherford enters his junior season having thrown for more yards (5362 yards) than any other ACC quarterback at this stage of his career other than former NC State All-America Philip Rivers...

Florida State returns 14 starters including 6 on offense and 8 on defense...The Seminoles suffered through an injury-plagued season in 2006 but return no fewer than 36 players who started at least one game in 2006...

"I'm being coached by a legend every day," Florida State nose tackle Andre Fluellen said not long ago. Bowden will begin his 42nd season as a head coach. It says something about his longevity that his 2007 opener will come against a Clemson team coached by his son, Tommy. The FSU "legend" will be seeking his 367th career victory against the Tigers. At the rate he's going, who knows how long Bowden will continue to coach - long enough for 400 wins?

"That's in range, but I'm not losing any sleep over it," the 77-year-old coach said last month at the ACC Football Kickoff. "I'd rather coach than retire. But I also understand that I have an obligation to win." Bowden has won at a spectacular level during his 31-year tenure at FSU, especially in the years since the Seminoles joined the ACC as the league's ninth member in 1992. His first 14 ACC seasons produced 10 outright ACC titles, two shared titles and two second-place finishes.

That's what made last season so hard to take for the FSU faithful. The 'Noles lost five times in ACC play and finished fifth in the Atlantic Division. "You never see anybody reach the top and stay there forever," Bowden said. "We stayed 14 years. Has anybody else lasted that long?"

No one was more disappointed by last season's performance than Bowden himself. He responded by shaking up his coaching staff. He added five new assistant coaches, including new "Executive Head Coach" Chuck Amato, who returns to Tallahassee after seven seasons as head coach at NC State. Amato helped build the Bowden dynasty as an FSU assistant from 1982 to 1999.

I don’t want to sound sacrilegious, but being an FSU fan is a bit like waiting for the Kingdom. We all know that the Seminoles are #1. It just takes faith in the face of what seems like competing evidence. But, to everything there comes a season…Maybe this year in Tallahassee!

Go Noles!