I've tried to refrain from talking about Florida State as much as I can this year, because when I see other people who are ostensibly supposed to be running blogs about other teams making their bones on provision of red meat to their communities, it makes me roll my eyes.
But, damn, it sucks for us Florida fans that Florida State has been lucky these past two years, ever since Florida added a little luck to some ruthless execution in its seeming conquering of the Sunshine State in Tallahassee in 2012.
FSU was lucky that Northern Illinois became its BCS opponent, and had the temerity to rile up the Seminoles, assuring that they could not overlook the plucky but wholly overmatched Huskies ... and that it played in a game in its home state.
It was lucky that Jacob Coker froze up in big moments, and helped Winston elevate himself over Coker to win the starting job, staving off any sort of quarterback controversy that could have stifled growth.
It was lucky that Winston's debut, marvelous though it undeniably was, was the only college football game on that night, and magnified his fame.
It was lucky that Clemson folded like a cheap tent after early turnovers in its own house.
It was lucky that the only other nine-win teams on its road to the national title game were Miami, coached by a man who has one win over a team that has finished with eight or more in his career, and Duke, which trampled that Miami team.
It was lucky that its very healthy 2013 coincided with Florida's very unhealthy 2013.
It was lucky that the punch that Lamarcus Joyner appeared to throw at an Auburn player, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, didn't get him ejected.
It was lucky that Auburn missed a field goal on the way to an 18-point lead in the national title game. It could've been a three-touchdown lead!
It was lucky that Auburn let that 18-point lead slip between its fingers like sand, with Gus Malzahn's team falling for the same fake punt that beat a Gus Malzahn team in 2006.
It was lucky that Kelvin Benjamin, of all people, noticed Auburn allegedly stealing signs, helping Florida State correct a mistake born of hubris and/or ignorance.
It was lucky that Auburn's hurry-up offense scored a minute too soon on its final touchdown, allowing FSU a chance to drive the field that no competent NCAA Football player would have permitted.
It was lucky that Oklahoma State came to a game it would lose by six with an extremely young and green team, and handed over a pick-six early.
It was lucky that Clemson did everything it could seemingly do to lose last Saturday's game. The Tigers let two goal-to-go drives pass without points, got a field goal on another trip to the red zone, had a defensive back flat trip and fall on Florida State's crucial game-tying score, fumbled on their potential game-winning drive, and drew up a very stupid play on fourth and one in overtime.
If two of those six major mistakes goes Clemson's way, the Tigers probably win; hell, with one, if it's the right one, Clemson probably wins.
And, well, that's just the on-field football luck.
Yes, Florida State played really awesome football in 2013 against some overmatched teams, and would maybe have looked less awesome against, I dunno, an SEC schedule, given that even emaciated Florida challenged the 'Noles more on defense than any ACC team did.
But that's long-run football luck, and all about the positioning of the stars.
And Florida State's most important bit of recent luck happened off the field.
But we'll get to that.
And, yes, Florida State is not the only team in college football history to get lucky, just the most recent to get this spectacularly lucky. This post, offered as part of a series of gripes from a Florida fan and not a holistic examination of luck in college football, isn't intended to do much more than complain.
Yes, every team gets lucky.
But luck runs out.