page_title: Florida State Seminoles football
section_title: Sod Cemetery
hierarchical_section_title: Florida State Seminoles football / Traditions / Sod Cemetery
caption_attribution_description: English: The Sod Cemetery ,Florida State University
context_page_description: The Florida State Seminoles football team represents Florida State University in the sport of American football. The Seminoles compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team is known for its storied history, distinctive helmet, fight song and colors as well as the many traditions associated with the school.
  Florida State has won three national championships, 18 conference titles and six division titles along with a playoff appearance. The Seminoles have achieved three undefeated seasons, finished ranked in the top four of the AP Poll for 14 straight years from 1987 through 2000 and completed 41 straight winning seasons from 1977 through 2017; from 2012 through 2014, the team won 29 consecutive games, tied for the twelfth-longest winning streak in college football and tied for the longest winning streak in ACC history. The 1999 team received votes from ESPN as one of the top teams in college football history.
  The team has produced three Heisman Trophy winners: quarterbacks Charlie Ward in 1993, Chris Weinke in 2000 and Jameis Winston in 2013.
context_section_description: For Florida State Football, "sod games" and the Sod Cemetery have been a rich part of the Seminoles college football history, commemorating many of the greatest victories. Away from home and against the odds, Florida State sod games represent the most difficult battles on the football field. The Sod Cemetery stands as a tribute to those triumphs. There are currently 103 pieces of sod in the cemetery.
  In 1962, as the Seminoles completed their Thursday practice in preparation to face Georgia at Sanford Stadium, Dean Coyle Moore – a long-time professor and member of FSU's athletic board – issued a challenge: "Bring back some sod from between the hedges at Georgia." On Saturday, October 20, the Seminoles scored an 18–0 victory over the favored Bulldogs. Team captain Gene McDowell pulled a small piece of grass from the field, which was presented to Moore at the next football practice. Moore and FSU coach Bill Peterson had the sod buried on the practice field as a symbol of victory. A monument was placed to commemorate the triumph and the tradition of the sod game was born.
  Before leaving for all road games in which Florida State is the underdog, all road games at the University of Florida and all ACC championship and bowl games, Seminole captains gather their teammates to explain the significance of the tradition. Victorious captains return with a piece of the opponent's turf to be buried in the Sod Cemetery inside the gates of the practice field. In recent years, as the Florida State program has been successful, games of significance regardless of whether or not the Seminoles are the underdog, can be designated a "sod game." This most recently occurred in 2013 when the Seminoles traveled to Clemson, South Carolina in what was called the biggest game in ACC history. The Seminoles defeated Clemson, 51–14, in what was the biggest margin of victory in Clemson's Memorial Stadium.
caption: Florida State Football's Sod Cemetery is the final resting place for over 100 Sod Games.
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