FSU Seminoles

Heather Dinich talks to Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher about preseason expectations after his team was picked to win the ACC.

With the sanctions levied against Penn State's football program Monday, former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden now owns the record for most wins in FBS history.

It's an honor his son, former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, said will be forever overshadowed by the circumstances in which Bobby Bowden overtook Joe Paterno in the record books.

"His record speaks for itself, and it's my father so you'd like to be happy for him," Tommy Bowden said. "But under the circumstances, it pales in comparison to how significant those problems are and the lives that have been affected."

Paterno, the longtime Penn State head coach, had 111 wins dating back to 1998 vacated from his record as part of the NCAA's sanctions announced Monday, which also included $60 million in fines, a four-year bowl ban and a loss of scholarships in light of the Jerry Sandusky sexual assault case.

That leaves Paterno with an official win tally of 298, well behind Bobby Bowden's official career tally of 377.

Of course, Bowden's actual record on the field included 12 additional wins that were also vacated due to an academic fraud investigation surrounding several FSU players in 2009.

"Even though he did not know about his (infractions), he was the head coach and, as the head coach, you're held responsible," Tommy Bowden said of his father's vacated wins. "The NCAA merited a just discipline for that infraction, and with Penn State they did the same thing."

Bowden said he believed the NCAA's sanctions against Penn State were fair, but he said it was important not to view the wins record as a victory for his father.

"It's such an insignificant thing," Bowden said. "You have to put it in context."

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Joe Paterno is no longer major college football's winningest coach.

As part of the punishment delivered to Penn State on Monday for its inaction in the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, the NCAA ordered the Nittany Lions to vacate their victories from the 1998 to 2011 seasons.

Paterno, who died of lung cancer in January, had a career record of 409-136-3 in 46 seasons at Penn State when he was fired on Nov. 9. Under the NCAA's decision, the Nittany Lions will have to vacate 111 victories, leaving Paterno with a career record of 298-136-3.

Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who went toe-to-toe with Paterno for the NCAA coaching record at the end of their careers, becomes major college football's winningest coach with a career record of 377-129-4. Bowden was forced to vacate 12 victories from the 2006 and 2007 seasons, after the NCAA ruled the Seminoles used academically ineligible players during those seasons.

Former Grambling coach Eddie Robinson is NCAA Division I's all-time winningest coach with a 408-165-15 record in 55 seasons from 1941 to 1997. John Gagliardi, who is still coaching at Division III St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., has a 484-133-11 record after 63 seasons.

Bowden and Paterno were close friends until Paterno's death.

Bowden, who was forced to retire as FSU's coach after the 2009 season, was playing golf with a former assistant coach on Monday morning, when the NCAA ruled Penn State would have to vacate the victories.

"He's not happy about what happened to Penn State and he's not happy that Joe's wins are being taken away," Bowden's wife, Ann, said. "Joe was very sympathetic when the NCAA took away wins from Bobby."

EJ Manuel probably answered the question a hundred times Sunday, but nothing about his response was rehearsed.

He knew what was coming, of course. The hype surrounding Florida State has been building for months, and even Manuel addressed this season's expectations in terms of national championships rather than conference titles.

But those are lofty heights, and so the amassed media Sunday at ACC Football Kickoff wanted to know: Why is this the season Florida State finally puts it all together?

"It has to be the year," Manuel said. "It's my last year."

There are more reasons to believe, of course, and Manuel heard them all Sunday.

His defense is dominant, his receivers are impressive, his leadership ties everything together. Manuel believes these things, too, so there was no point in downplaying the hype.

'Up to us to play'

Meanwhile, Clemson defensive end Malliciah Goodman simply shook his head.

The Tigers, after all, are the reigning champs, and they've got some pretty impressive talent returning for 2012, too. The ignominy earned in a 70-33 throttling by West Virginia in last season's Orange Bowl diminished much of that luster, however, and so Clemson gets to fly under the radar this summer.

"My opinion: I don't care who they pick," Goodman said. "It's up to us to play the game. Opinions don't make an impact on us."

Wake Forest barely warrants a mention in the conference title talk this time of year, but nose guard Nikita Whitlock remembers fondly how the Demon Deacons forced five turnovers in a win over the Seminoles just last season.

That ought to count for something, he said, but it's tough to overlook the talent on FSU's roster.

"If I was a betting man," Whitlock said, "I'd pick Florida State, too."

N.C. State quarterback Mike Glennon lauded the Seminoles' ferocious defense. Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas praised Manuel's leadership.

They all helped feed the monster, but Manuel knows what all the hype really means.

'Want to leave a legacy'

"When you sign a letter of intent to FSU, that's what you should expect," he said. "Playing for Florida State, people are always going to have their arrows pointed at your chest. They want to beat you."

So there's no sense in ignoring it. Instead, Manuel is embracing the role, and he's happy to answer the questions.

Is this the year for Florida State?

There's really only one answer Manuel can give, and he's not interested in tempering those expectations. After all, he expects to meet them.

"As seniors, we want to leave a legacy at Florida State," Manuel said. "We can say we helped bring back a national championship. We helped put Florida State back where it used to be. We have to make it that year."

During his address to open the ACC Kickoff event Sunday, commissioner John Swofford said there was strong support for a nine-game conference schedule beginning next season when Syracuse and Pittsburgh come on board.

“I think the (athletic directors) collectively voted for the good of the conference that teams see each other and play each other as much as they can in both football and basketball," Swofford said. "That’s why we went to a nine-game league schedule.”

That might be a problem, Swofford said, for teams like Florida State who play an annual non-conference rivalry game.

While FSU has routinely scheduled high-profile non-conference games in addition to their annual showdown with Florida, that might get tougher when the non-conference slate shrinks to just three games.

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Every Sunday, NoleNation will take a look back at the week that was around Florida State, recapping the top stories and shedding a little light on a few that might have fallen between the cracks.

1. Jimbo Fisher Camp signees

Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher relies heavily on his summer camps to evaluate recruits -- and his staff spent much of Wednesday through Friday working closely with dozens of top prospects. Offers and commitments might have seemed sparse as a result. But the Seminoles gained two commits for future classes: 2014 WR Jake McCrary (Miami/Coral Reef) and 2015 QB DeAndre Johnson (Jacksonville, Fla./First Coast).

McCrary becomes the fourth commitment in the Seminoles 2014 signing class. He chose FSU over offers from Clemson, Florida, Kansas State, Marshall and USF.

Johnson said he chose Florida State because he expects playing time to be available at QB when he arrives in 2015. Johnson led First Coast to the 7A state championship game, passing for 2,912 yards and 32 touchdowns and running for 212 yards with four touchdowns.

2. Noles' 2013 class slips to No. 8

When the latest RecruitingNation rankings came out Wednesday, they reflected the decommitment of DL Maquedius Bain (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./University School of Nova Southeast) from Florida State, which slipped two spots to No. 8.

Bain's status had been in question before his decision Wednesday: He had maintained a list of top schools other than FSU since his commitment in November.

The top-10 class, however, holds 17 commitments led by RB Ryan Green (St. Petersburg, Fla./Saint Petersburg Catholic), No. 34 overall and No. 4 at his position. Green is one of four ESPN 150 players and 10 ESPN 300 players.

3. OL Richy Klepal commits

A day earlier, FSU had picked up a commitment from ESPN 300 OL Richy Klepal (Tampa, Fla./Plant).

Ranked No. 218 overall and No. 15 at tackle, Klepal chose Florida State over offers that included Georgia, Miami and North Carolina. In his evaluation, ESPN's Craig Haubert said of Klepal:

"The four-star is a prospect who displays good flexibility, agility and balance and runs well and can be an effective blocker in space. He will need further physical development as he can benefit from more good mass and improved strength, but he is a big man with good athletic ability."

4. Bowden proves prescient

Sunday, Penn State said it would remove the statue of the winningest coach in NCAA Division I college football, Joe Paterno,

Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, the sport's second-winningest coach, had said earlier that the statue ought to come down.

Ultimately, Penn State's president, Rod Erickson, said the statue would be placed in storage: "I believe that, were it to remain, the statue will be a recurring wound to the multitude of individuals across the nation and beyond who have been the victims of child abuse," he said in a Sunday morning statement.

5. EJ Manuel visits Elite 11

On a day when the future of dual-threat quarterbacks was in focus, FSU passer EJ Manuel was among the college-football players who shared insight with recruits at the Elite 11 finals in Redondo Beach, Calif.

Said Manuel to ESPN.com's Mitch Sherman:

"You can't be upset that you're fast," said Florida State QB EJ Manuel, a former dual-threat prospect and counselor this week to the high school quarterbacks in Redondo Beach. "You're a defense's worst nightmare if you're somebody who can take off and run."

Manuel went on to say that the talent level among quarterbacks at a camp such as Elite 11 demands that each be a good passer, whether or not each can also run well with the ball: "What I think, is if you win games, you're a good quarterback."

The hype has been building for months, but on Sunday, the circus officially begins.

The ACC is holding its annual football kickoff event in Greensboro, N.C., and while it marks the start of a new season, it should feel awfully familiar for Florida State.

Jimbo Fisher has been here before, answering the questions about his team's preseason standing as a contender for a national title. He knows the drill, burnishing the hope of a fan base while tempering expectations just long enough to remind those same fans that it's been a long time since FSU won a conference title, let alone a national championship.

The two players Fisher brings with him will know the territory, too. Brandon Jenkins and EJ Manuel were the Seminoles' player representatives last year as well.

Jenkins was fresh off an outstanding sophomore campaign, and he provided the template for a defense that would dominate. Manuel was taking over the reigns for NFL first-round pick Christian Ponder, but his leadership skills were already firmly established.

The fact that both are back this year is something of a reminder -- both that last year's hype far exceeded the reality of the season, and that this year represents a second chance.

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