TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — An energetic vibe floated across Langford Green adjacent to Doak Campbell Stadium. Baton twirlers practiced their routines, classic rock blared near ESPN’s “College GameDay” set and alumni and students milled about, absorbing the scene and a crisp fall afternoon as the hustle and bustle of Florida State’s campus kicked into high gear.
Another force, though, has brought together the F.S.U. faithful amid the buildup to Saturday night’s game between the second-ranked Seminoles and No. 5 Notre Dame. The mood and support here have galvanized further behind F.S.U., even as the university again investigated quarterback Jameis Winston, this time for whether he received money from sales of his signature on memorabilia.
Shortly after 5 p.m. Friday, Florida State announced that an investigation by its compliance staff had not found any evidence of Winston’s being paid for more than 2,000 autographed items that had surfaced on a website.
“At this time, we have no information indicating that he accepted payment for items reported to bear his signature, thereby compromising his athletics eligibility,” F.S.U.'s athletic director, Stan Wilcox, said in a statement. “The fact that items appear on an Internet site bearing the signature of a student-athlete does not singularly determine a violation of N.C.A.A. rules.”
Already under intense scrutiny for its handling of several issues involving Winston, including a sexual assault accusation, F.S.U. was forced to address his possible violation of N.C.A.A. rules heading into what is seen as the Seminoles’ toughest remaining game on their regular-season schedule.
A victory over the Fighting Irish (6-0) would appear to give F.S.U. (6-0) a clear path toward a spot in college football’s inaugural four-team playoff and a chance to repeat as national champion. The Seminoles are also riding a 22-game winning streak and, led by Winston, they have shown an uncanny ability to remain focused on beating opponents, no matter what happens off the field.
Winston’s autograph issues mirror those of Georgia running back Todd Gurley. While Georgia acted swiftly and immediately suspended Gurley, F.S.U. waited on penalizing Winston until it completed its investigation.
Coach Jimbo Fisher passionately defended Winston this week, saying, “He’s never taken a dime for anything.” Thursday after practice, Fisher toned down his remarks when asked again about the investigation into Winston’s autographs. “That’s our compliance and A.D., and those guys handle all that stuff,” Fisher said in reference to the compliance staff and Wilcox. “I’m coaching football.”
Asked if he felt there was a bull’s-eye on the program’s back, Fisher said, “Anytime you’re successful, people are aware of what you do, but that’s part of the territory.” He added: “We embrace winning, we embrace being successful. That’s what we do. Do things the right way and keep moving forward.”
The autograph situation was the latest in a string of episodes involving Winston since he was accused of sexually assaulting an F.S.U. student more than a year ago. The Tallahassee Police Department conducted virtually no investigation of the case, as The New York Times reported in April, and the prosecutor, left with little evidence to act on, declined to pursue a criminal case.
In April, Winston was cited for shoplifting crab legs from a supermarket in Tallahassee, and in September, he was suspended for the Seminoles’ game against Clemson for shouting an obscene phrase in the student union earlier that week. He was originally suspended for only the first half, but Florida State officials succumbed to pressure and increased the penalty.
Facing criticism for its handling of the sexual assault case, F.S.U. notified Winston in a letter dated Oct. 10 that he was subject to four violations of the student conduct code and that he must eventually appear before a formal hearing. The hearing has yet to be scheduled.
“To us, this is just a lot of distraction,” said John Clune, the lawyer who represents the accuser in the sexual assault case. “We don’t care about autographs or crab legs or whatever else Mr. Wilson is involved with,” he said, adding that the one thing that would not go away was the rape allegation.
Asked about when he anticipated Winston’s hearing to take place, Clune laughed dismissively. “What hearing?” he said. “There’s going to be some people who are very motivated for this not to happen in the near future. It’s football season. So far, there has not been a sense of urgency on their part.”
Winston’s lawyer, David Cornwell, said in a statement Friday that his client had responded to Florida State’s notice and would cooperate with the code-of-conduct procedure, but his legal team would not “waive our right to challenge any aspect of this process.”
As The Times reported Sunday, BB gun episodes involving Winston and a dozen teammates were among a number of cases — at least two more BB gun shootouts, a stolen motor scooter and a domestic violence 911 call — in which the Tallahassee police appeared to soft-pedal allegations against Florida State football players.
None of the players were suspended, yet at East Carolina, three freshman players were suspended indefinitely in early October after the police cited them for firing BB guns from a car, causing a brief lockdown of a local elementary school. At Kentucky, four freshmen were suspended for the Wildcats’ game against South Carolina on Oct. 4 for their involvement in an on-campus shootout, which caused a lockdown of the university’s south campus.
The most recent BB gun episode involved 12 North Carolina State players. Seven have been suspended for Saturday’s game against Louisville and the five others who had been redshirted this season were disciplined.
Earlier this week, some sportsbooks took the Florida State-Notre Dame game off the board when the news broke about Winston’s autographed memorabilia and a possible suspension loomed. But oddsmakers now generally have F.S.U. as an 11 ½-point favorite, a hefty spread for a game between such highly ranked teams.
So much drama has surrounded the Seminoles that Notre Dame, a program with a large national following, enters the showdown largely off the radar.
“The autograph controversy has tipped sentiment back in favor of Winston and F.S.U.,” said Ira Schoffel, the managing editor of the Warchant.com website and a former sports editor of The Tallahassee Democrat. “In a weird way, it’s actually gotten fans wanting people to either back off, or find something for real. They feel like right now a lot of it is just smoke and not seeing the fire.”
Schoffel said he was seeing and hearing support for Winston start to erode while talking to fans and monitoring message boards and Twitter, especially after Winston’s theft of crab legs and yelling of an obscene phrase.
“I’m sure some still haven’t come back, they roll their eyes and think there’s more trouble and there’s always going to be trouble with Jameis,” Schoffel said. “But a lot more than I saw after the crab leg situation are very frustrated and feel like show more proof or leave him alone.”
As if to say, Leave our quarterback alone, a #BlameJameis hashtag has popped up on Twitter as a parody of Winston causing everything from the sinking of the Titanic to bent iPhones.
“I’ve seen it so much here at Florida State; it’s like when you pick on one of us, you pick on all of us,” said Jordan Gray, a junior who works as a bartender at a restaurant near Doak Campbell Stadium. “I get so tired of ESPN talking about it. People forget he’s a college kid like the rest of us. Let him play football.”