Bush Declares this "National Hate FSU Week"

The loss to NC State last Thursday was tough to take. Coughing up a 10-point lead against a young Wolfpack offense that absolutely caught fire in the second half put me in an existential funk for a couple days, but that was nothing compared to the soul-scarring experience of perusing the college football media afterwards:

- Here Ivan Maisel delivers his eulogy of the Florida State program. I love Ivan and he's been a supporter of the 'Noles for a long time, so reading this was...unpleasant. Especially from a guy who wrote a column last year in which he promised to write "I will never doubt Bobby Bowden again" 100 times after the ACC Championship Game.

- Mark Schlabach leads off his Hot/Not list by absolutely trashing FSU, on the heels of his chat last week where he absolutely trashed FSU. If that wasn't painful enough, his body-slam is right next to a glowing report of UF's hot start. I don't love Mark and only recently started reading his stuff. He's not getting a Christmas card this year, I can tell you that.

- Pete Fiutak take not one, not two, but FOUR shots at FSU in his weekly column. I like Fiu and read his column weekly, so I don't begrudge him for his take on the loss. But still, four shots in one column? The horse is dead man, no need to keep beating it.

- Even the good guys over at Atlantic Coast Chronicles are calling for Bobby to step down.

- Shockingly, EDSBS is less than complimentary about the state of FSU's program. "Giddy" would be a more accurate description. After the Choke in Doak and all the times we used UF as our personal launching pad to the National Title game I guess you can't blame them.

- Here's a fun game: try and navigate ESPN's front page without finding sixteen stories drooling over UF. I've tried, and it's not possible.

Look, I've never been one of those guys who thinks the media has it out for FSU. If anything I think we've received an inordinate amount of support from guys like Maisel, Gene Wojchiekowski, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstriet over the years. We continually reaped the rewards of our high profile when we were winning, so I have no problem with the program taking a heap of criticism when we struggle. But DAMN it's hard ou here for a 'Nole! Surfing the web has become an exercise in landmine avoidance, as seemingly every columnist on the planet jostles for position to pound in the last nail in FSU's coffin. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but did Penn State get this much grief when they went 3-8? Did Nebraska get this much grief when they jumped the shark? Did UF get this much grief after losing to Mississippi State? I don't know, I'm asking...

Keep your head held high 'Nole Nation. You're never as good as your last win or as bad as your last loss. We'll get this thing turned around - either under this regime or the next - and then our friends in the media will start calling us again, inviting us out to parties, and saying how they never doubted us for a second.