The idea hit me while watching defending national champion Florida State open its season by holding off Oklahoma State
37-31 Saturday night. The camera panned to a shot of the national championship trophy on the sideline. I’m pretty sure it was the tall and impressive piece that some coach and MVP will hoist over their heads at the end of this season when the winner of the first playoff crown this year’s champion.

The hardware in the stadium got me to thinking.

The trophy that Florida State owns forever, the last BCS version of the Coaches’ Trophy the Seminoles earned by beating the Auburn titles, deserves its own stadium appearances this season.

Knowing how Syracuse University has its NCAA accolades stored in its treasured trophy cases in the Manley complex, I figure Florida State has a magnificent showcase for its many heirlooms.

And this 2013 national football championship football trophy deserves its spotlight there, so long it had been in joining the others.

But for four Saturdays this season, I’d like to suggest to ACC commissioner John Swofford that he give to the folks in Tallahassee an edict to put a little Stanley Cup into this particular trophy.

The folks who run the National Hockey League know the love for the trophy given to the playoff champion each year fosters a kindred spirit for their sport around the land. And so they allow each member of the winning organization a day with Lord Stanley’s cup to take it where he or she desires, flying it to hometowns anywhere, setting it up for community viewing or drinking champagne out of it in private it. Whatever they want. Stories are many, varied and available on Google.

I’m not asking for quite that level of accessibility, Sir Swofford.

This season, to boast a bit about the ACC being the conference that owns the national football championship, not the SEC or Big Ten or Pac 12 or Big 12 — what you power players now consider the only five, really — I’d like that trophy to sit in the lobby of the stadium for each league game the titleists play this season.

Don’t you think it would do wonders for fans?

That should be easy enough in Tallahassee, to post an athletic department worker and campus security officer and state police officer to keep the fans from getting too enthusiastic as they admire the reward of last season.

And for four away Saturdays, wouldn’t it be something for fans at the Seminoles’ ACC away games to stare at that big, shining trophy for a moment or two and dream about having one of their own someday?

Pack that baby up and put her in the lobby on ACC away Saturdays.

The Seminoles play Syracuse here in the Carrier Dome on Oct. 11. That’s my motivation, and here’s my resume. I’m a blogging generalist, not a sports blogger in particular, though in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was the sports editor of the daily newspaper here in Syracuse, and I co-wrote with noted basketball writer Mike Waters a book about Syracuse’s entry into the ACC last season. My dear wife Karen and I hold Syracuse football season tickets. And in 1979, I graduated from a university whose teams played in the ACC. OK, it was Maryland, but I hesitated in coming straight out with that what with the league exit and the resulting lawsuits …

Syracuse would be just one of four plane rides for the trophy, and it likely signifies less than a quarter of the ACC fans whose eyes might light up at their glimpse of the trophy.

Florida State, as you probably have memorized, Sir, also plays at North Carolina State on Sept. 27, at Louisville Oct. 30, and at Miami on Nov. 15. Your staff can get things moving in time to make it work, I figure. More security needs to be arranged. One rep each from the league, Florida State and the home university, may I suggest, using a bit more of that ACC TV money?

No need to reply to me directly. I didn’t send this straight to you, hoping that social media would spread its mighty wings and land it on your screen.

I’ll be able to read your answer likewise.

Here’s the link for the image of the National Championship Trophy.

Here’s the link for the image of John Swofford.

Here’s the link for the image of Stanley Cup.

Have you ever seen a national championship trophy up close, and if so, which school and what sport? Have you ever seen the Stanley Cup up close, and if so, where and with what player? What would you do with the Stanley Cup if given it for one day?