By Mike Hogewood for theACC.com

Back-to-back 7-6 seasons haven't set well with Florida State fans, players, and most of all with its head coach, Bobby Bowden. Before he retires, Bowden is determined to get the Seminoles back on top of the ACC. Jimbo Fisher has already been named Bowden's successor when he does step down. For now though, Bowden is putting all his energies into this 2008 season. "You get my age, 78, you ask yourself, are you really excited? Yes! Are you as excited as you were last year? Yes! Are you as excited as you were in '55 when you started? Yes! About as far as I can tell, I'm about as anxious this year as I was back then."

Quarterback Drew Weatherford

The offense is in the hands of Fisher and there are signs it will be improved over last season. Drew Weatherford enters fall camp as the starter at quarterback. Bowden says the fact that he only threw one interception last year shows his growth and maturity. "The first thing a quarterback has to learn is don't beat yourself and I think he's got that part pretty good. He's gotta be more productive." If he's not, Christian Ponder has been proclaimed by Fisher as "ready to play" after a very good spring.

Antone Smith was the primary ball carrier last year, but the 'Noles have brought in some help that will push Smith for playing time. That group includes junior college transfer Tavares Pressley, one of several junior college signees that could provide immediate help to Florida State. According to Bowden, wide receiver is the deepest position on the offense. "We've gotta couple new ones coming in that have a whole lot of potential, plus we got a pretty good nucleus coming back from last year."

Rover Myron Rolle

Another junior college transfer who will make a difference on this team is defensive end Markus White, the national junior college player of the year. The other end will be Everette Brown who is excited about the Seminoles defense. "We have a lot of experience coming back on defense, a lot of playmakers, guys who want to make plays, Guys who want to give the offense great field position or score themselves."

There's great talent at linebacker led by senior Derek Nicholson who led the team in tackles last season. One stat that's hard to believe is that Florida State allowed more touchdown passes than any other team in the ACC last year. That should change with a veteran secondary led by cornerback Tony Carter and rover Myron Rolle.

Kicker Gary Cismesia graduated after kicking 27 field goals last season. Punter Graham Gano will now assume all the kicking duties. Although Gano has handled kickoffs for the last three seasons, he has yet to attempt a field goal in a game.

The Seminoles will be missing ten starters for the first three games of the season because of academic misconduct. That includes the first ACC game of the year, a home date against Wake Forest. If things fall according to plan in Tallahassee, the home game against Clemson on November 8th could go a long way in determining who wins the Atlantic division.

Bobby Bowden says the fact that the Seminoles aren't as dominating as they were a decade ago has an easy answer; they have to find better players. "It's not that our recruiting is bad, but we meed a couple more big-time players like Charlie Ward and Warrick Dunn playing for us."

It also didn't surprise Bowden that Florida State was not picked on top for the first time since joining the ACC. "It doesn't bother me because what we've done lately, we don't deserve to be up there. It's a lot more fun to try to get to the top than stay there. We're climbing right now and we're kind of enjoying it. "