By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

It’s pretty difficult in sports, or really any profession for that matter, to be a dominating force for an extended period of time.

The Boston Celtics nine straight championships will never be duplicated.

North Carolina’s men’s basketball team made it the Sweet Sixteen for some absurd stretch of time, like 25 years in a row, and I may be actually shortchanging them on that.

If you want to look outside of sports, “All My Children’s” Susan Lucci was nominated for an Emmy over 30 straight years. Of course, it took her that long to actually win an Emmy, but that’s ok, I was more of a “One Life to Live” fan anyway.

I mention all this because what Florida State has done over the past 30 or so years makes it all the more easy to take their success for granted.

Since 1987 the Seminoles have finished in the AP’s Top 25 poll every year, except for three. From 1987-2000 they finished in the Top 5 every single season.

Just think about that for a second; their string of consecutive Top 5 finishes is basically the length of Michael Phelps’ Olympic career. And for those of you that aren’t FSU fans, besides a few less than stellar season towards the end of Bobby Bowden’s career, they are showing no signs of slowing down.

Part of Florida State’s continued success is due to the recent struggles of both Miami and Florida in recent years. There’s obviously a bevy talent coming from the Sunshine State, and excluding Urban Meyer’s short tenure in Gainesville, FSU has been the most prominent program in Florida.

It also doesn’t hurt when you make the right hire at head coach. What Jimbo Fisher has been able to do in Tallahassee is one of the more impressive coaching jobs, outside of Tuscaloosa.

It’s extremely difficult to follow a coaching legend, just ask Bob Davie or Matt Doherty, but it’s even more challenging when that coach is leaving after the worst four year stretch of his career.

When Bowden left the Seminoles, Florida State was struggling and it would have been easy for the program to have nosedived completely when Fisher took over.

Six years in, with one national title and a winning percentage of .829, I’d say Fisher has more than kept the ship afloat.

Now, this is probably around the time when you start thinking about the fact the ‘Noles play in the ACC, and how that plays a part in their success too.

Honestly, I can’t really argue with that either. I can’t say they would’ve had the same success had they played in the SEC, but it would be disrespectful to take too much away from they’ve accomplished just because of conference affiliation.

Florida State has a pretty difficult schedule this year, relatively speaking, with Ole Miss, Clemson, and Florida on their slate. (You could even include UNC if you want to go by rankings).

The one positive though is that all those games will be in Tallahassee, except for the Ole Miss game, which might as well be a de facto home game since it’s being played in Orlando.

Florida State could easily lose any of those four games mentioned above, and more than likely they’ll lose at least one of them.

I would be surprised though if they’re not in the playoff mix at the end of the season, which is more or less where they’ve been for the past 30 years. That’s the type of run that most programs can only dream about. I bet you even Susan Lucci would be impressed.