Bowden and Stockstill Created the Florida State Brand in 1980

Anyone, anytime, anywhere. That was the mantra of coach Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles. Bowden was trying to build a top-notch football program.

To be the best, you had to beat the best. During the 1980 campaign, the Seminoles did exactly that.

That season, the football brand known as Florida State was established.

In his fifth season as head coach, Bowden had his team ready. He coached the Seminoles to victories over the No. 3 Nebraska Cornhuskers and the No. 3 Pitt Panthers, in back-to-back weeks.

That Pitt team, coached by Jackie Sherrill, was loaded top to bottom with NFL talent. 23 players from that team would go on to NFL careers.

In a 2013 story by Skip Foster of tomahawknation.com, writer Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was quoted as saying that Panthers team “could have been the greatest assemblage of talent to ever play the college game.”

In 1980, Pitt traveled to Tallahassee to take on the Seminoles.

Interim head coach Rick Stockstill quarterbacked the Seminoles that season.

Future NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino quarterbacked the Panthers.

Other future NFL stars on that Pitt team included:

OL Jimbo Covert

OL Mark May

OL Russ Grimm

DL Hugh Green

LB Rickey Jackson

Once the game kicked off, the Panthers wasted no time finding the end zone on a Marino touchdown pass to take an early 7-0 lead.

It was Pitt’s only lead of the game, and it was the Panthers’ only score in the first 30 minutes.

The Seminoles converted three field goals, including a 50-yarder, and Stockstill threw two touchdown passes in the first half to take a 23-7 lead into halftime.

Two more field goals and Stockstill’s third TD pass of the game in the second half sealed a 36-22 victory for Florida State.

Pitt was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.

The Seminoles defense forced seven Pitt turnovers, including three interceptions by Marino, who finished the game with 300 yards passing and two passing touchdowns.

Florida State committed zero turnovers in that game.

Pitt finished with 11 victories that season as the No. 2 team in the country. The Seminoles finished 10-2 with a No. 5 final ranking.

In five seasons, Bowden, with Stockstill as his quarterback at the dawn of the ‘80s, put the Florida State football brand on the college football map.

In yet another road game Friday night, Stockstill is preparing his Seminoles for a tough Pitt defense.

The Panthers allow opponents 68 yards per game rushing with the football. That is a huge challenge for a Florida State team that is down to two true running backs and a quarterback who prefers to run than throw the ball.

Seminoles’ starting quarterback Ashton Daniels has rushed for 413 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns.

Running back Amari Thomas gained 98 yards on the ground and scored two touchdowns in the win over Boston College.

History has a way of repeating itself.

Just like Stockstill beat Pitt with the forward pass 46 years ago, the pass defense of Pitt is suspect this season. That unit allows 252 yards per game through the air.

That could be the path to victory for Florida State against Pittsburgh Friday night.