Column: Florida State is tough to root for, but Seminoles won’t be stopped

The lesson in thinking Louisville could upset Florida State on Thursday night should be clear now: What you say, do or hope, simply does not matter.

Football gods don’t care about justice, your proposition bet in Las Vegas, or doing the right thing for humanity’s sake.

I was feeling good when Louisville jumped to a 21-0 lead, only to realize that put me on the sorry side of Louisville Coach Bobby Petrino. This is the guy who, while coaching at Arkansas, put his mistress on the payroll and crashed his motorcycle with her clinging to the sissy bar. Then lied about it.

It was worse than USC defensive back Josh Shaw, who faked a story about saving a drowning relative to explain the two ankles he sprained after actually jumping off a balcony.

Petrino’s actions were worse because he is in a leadership position.

Reporters are not supposed to take sides but sometimes do, almost always for selfish reasons. If I pick a team to win the national title I want that team to win the national title.

On deadline, we root for whatever team is winning with 15 minutes left, even if that team is beating our wife’s alma mater.

I was mad at Texas for winning the 2005 national title, but not because the Longhorns defeated USC. I was mad because I had penned a really good “USC dynasty” story before Vince Young’s comeback invaded my keyboard.

This, and only this, is why you hear reporters complain about Reggie Bush not being in the backfield on fourth and two.

These days, there are plenty of reasons to want Florida State to lose. This is the opposite of a feel-good story. The Seminoles start a bad-guy quarterback facing a school conduct hearing for alleged sexual assault.

Thursday, he handed off to a tailback being investigated on suspicion of domestic assault. The same player has also been named in a Tallahassee Police Department incident report as a possible witness to a robbery connected to a drug deal that went bad last summer.

A Louisville win probably would have eliminated Florida State from this season’s national title race. That would have been good on so many fronts.

It would have selfishly spared me having to chronicle, at least at such a heightened level, these sorry Seminoles escapades. It would also have allowed me to hang less on every word emanating from Coach Jimbo Fisher, who wins games weekly and loses credibility daily.

“That guy is a tremendous kid, a tremendous ambassador,” Fisher recently gushed about tailback Karlos Williams.

But we can’t count on the incapable to do our favors.

Clemson had a chance to knock Florida State off in September, but when could you ever trust Clemson? The Tigers got a crack at Florida State without Winston, who was suspended for the game, but lost in overtime.

North Carolina State took a big lead against Florida State but then realized it was North Carolina State.

Notre Dame was on the cusp of an upset until a penalty nullified what might have been the game-winning touchdown.

Florida State is not as good as the team that rolled to last season’s national title, winning every regular-season game by at least 14 points.

The bad news is Florida State is still very good and has been hardened by adversity. The Seminoles don’t buckle under pressure — they make you buckle.

Louisville had plenty of chances but lacked the championship fiber. It got inside the five on its first possession and didn’t score.

It failed to jump on a Florida State fumble at the goal line. Instead, Florida State jumped on it for a touchdown.

Louisville led, 24-21, early in the fourth quarter, when a Jameis Winston pass was tipped near the line of scrimmage. Louisville defensive back Gerod Holliman had a pick-six interception the other way but fumbled.

Florida State scored on the next play.

Don’t count on anyone stopping Florida State now. Not Virginia, Miami, Boston College, Florida, or Florida’s state attorney.

Florida State isn’t the story we asked for, but it’s the story we got.

“They believe in each other, they love each other,” Fisher said of his team. “They’re a great group.”

That’s their heartwarming story, and they’re sticking to it. And sticking it to us.