PASADENA, Calif. – Two years of great escapes ended in eight ghastly seconds for Jameis Winston.

On fourth-and-5 at the Oregon 30-yard line, with Florida State trailing 39-20 and Winston trying to engineer one more comeback in a long string of them, he dropped back to pass. As had been the case most of the game, he had all day. Eight seconds is an eternity for a quarterback.

But Winston was gripped by indecision. He scanned the field. He chopped his feet. He started skittering around the pocket in confusion.

Finally, after reverse pivoting away from Oregon linebacker Tyson Coleman and end DeForest Buckner, Winston pulled up to throw. And slipped on the Rose Bowl grass, lurching backward. And as he brought the ball up to throw before falling down, he somehow flipped it over his head for a cataclysmic, game-ending, winning-streak-snapping and likely college career-ending comeuppance.

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This was yet another mess of Winston’s own making – and this one finally cost the most polarizing college football player in memory. The fumble was so slapstick stunning, the official nearest the play fell over like Winston. The loose ball was returned 58 yards for a touchdown by Tony Washington – a third lightning-strike touchdown in a span of 5 minutes and 7 seconds – and the Seminoles’ fate was sealed.

There was no coming back from that. And the hubristic impact of the climactic play was straight out of Sophocles. If karma wanted to deliver a humbling haymaker for Winston, this was it.

Everyone rooting for Famous Jameis to finally fail got their wish, right then and there. After a Heisman Trophy, a national title, 27 straight wins and enough controversy to exhaust nearly everyone, his run was done.

In a result that had a rather high approval rating across America, Oregon destroyed Florida State 59-20 in a College Football Playoff semifinal. A team coach Jimbo Fisher repeatedly lauded for its grit, character and resilience coming back against ACC competition showed none when finally faced with a superior opponent. When the going got truly tough, the Seminoles folded – giving up the most points in Rose Bowl history. They collapsed in a torrent of turnovers – five in the game, all of them converted into touchdowns by the relentless Ducks. This was such a mismatch that Fisher lifted Winston for the final FSU possessions because the game was so far out of reach.

And when it was over, about 75 percent of the Seminoles jogged directly off the field without shaking hands with the Ducks. Some character. That will be the latest head-shaking behavior for Fisher to explain away.

Among the few Florida State players who did shake hands was Winston. He was deeply stung by the first and likely last defeat of his college career, but he congratulated Oregon and then answered all questions in the postgame press conference.

View photos Jameis Winston scrambles under pressure from Oregon's Tony Washington (91). (USAT) More

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