National Football Foundation

Florida State (14-0) won its third national championship following their 34-31 victory against Auburn (12-2) in the VIZIO BCS National Championship Game before a sold-out crowd of 94,208 fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell, handed the national championship trophy to Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher, who accepted the prize on behalf of the Seminoles at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa. 

“On behalf of the National Football Foundation, our 12,000 members and our board of directors, and Chairman Archie Manning, we are extremely proud to present this trophy to Coach Fisher and the Seminoles, for the school's third time,” said Hatchell. “This trophy was started in 1959 by General Douglas MacArthur, Grantland Rice, the great sports writer and legendary coach Red Blaik, and etched on the side of this stadium replica in all silver are all of the subsequent national champions. It is an honor to present this award to Coach Fisher, whose Seminoles absolutely dominated college football this season. As the keepers of the history and the legacy of the sport of football, we are exceptionally pleased to etch another Florida State team on its walls." 

Fisher’s perfect Seminoles, led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jameis Winston, dominated the 2013 college football season, averaging a 40-point margin of victory per game during the regular season. Winston, the game’s offensive MVP, orchestrated a final touchdown drive with 1:19 left that concluded with a 2-yard strike to Kelvin Benjamin. The score gave the Seminoles a dramatic victory, and it marked an impressive response to an 18-point deficit faced by Florida State in the first half, the largest margin ever overcome by a championship team in the history of the BCS title game. 

With the win, Florida State claims the MacArthur Bowl for the third time in the school’s history, having previously won in 1993 and 1999 under Hall of Fame Coach Bobby Bowden. A team in the current ACC has now claimed the trophy 10 times, and the victory ends a historic seven-year run of national titles by the Southeastern Conference.