The 1989 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University as an independent during the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by 14th-year head coach Bobby Bowden, the Seminoles compiled a record of 10âÂÂ2 with win in the Fiesta Bowl over Nebraska. Florida State played home games at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.
Prior to the Miami-FSU game, University of Miami mascot Sebastian the Ibis was tackled by a group of police officers for attempting to put out Chief Osceola's flaming spear. Sebastian was wearing a fireman's helmet and yellow raincoat and holding a fire extinguisher. When a police officer attempted to grab the fire extinguisher, the officer was sprayed in the chest. Sebastian was handcuffed by four officers but ultimately released. Miami quarterback Gino Torretta, who started the game in place of injured Craig Erickson, told ESPN, "Even if we weren't bad boys, it added to the mystique that, 'Man, look, even their mascot's getting arrested.'"