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The big question concerning the Florida State football program doesn't have anything to do with how many games the Seminoles will win this season.

It's about how many wins they will end up getting credit for from the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Because of the FSU academic cheating scandal, the NCAA intends to take away wins from 10 FSU teams, including as many as 14 victories belonging to football coach Bobby Bowden and his program.

"As a team, we could really care less," junior quarterback Christian Ponder said at the ACC's recent preseason media gathering in Greensboro, N.C. "We know that we won those games."

Bowden has 382 career wins, one fewer than Division I-A career victories leader Joe Paterno. Bowden wants that record, so he wants to keep all of his wins.

FSU is appealing the NCAA's decision to strip away the victories.

"I'm still thinking they'll come to their senses," Bowden said of the NCAA. "I'd fight it if I could. There's nothing I can do. But if we don't win it, I'll just accept it."

The cheating players contributed to FSU's wins in 2006 and 2007.

The 2009 Seminoles hope to restore the school's reputation by doing well on the field and off.

"If we start winning some more ballgames, I think that's going to change the whole perception of the program," Ponder said. "We've done some things in the offseason, community service stuff, changing the image. There is a little image problem out there right now. The perception of Florida State, honestly, is not that good.

"Guys realize that what happened wasn't good, and realize they can't make those same mistakes. We're already in a bad position, and guys realize that we can't make it worse. Guys are doing the right thing. There's an attitude change right now."

The NCAA has ruled that 61 athletes on FSU teams either cheated on an online test in a music history course in 2006 and 2007 or received improper help from FSU staff members who gave them answers to the test and typed papers for them.

FSU "gave the players an 'F.' That should be plenty," Bowden said. "You took a course, you didn't do it correctly, you don't deserve to pass it. You get an 'F.' All this other stuff, ... that's not the NCAA's problem."

This is not the first time the school has had an image problem. NCAA rules violations in the 1990s led the school to be known as "Free Shoes University." And the team that beat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl in January 2000 was tainted by a bevy of arrests.

In March, FSU was put on NCAA probation because of the cheating affair.

"Life goes on," Bowden said. "We're not the only university that has had something like this happen. It'll happen again next year and the next year and the next year."

Ultimately, Bowden said it wouldn't bother him "one bit" if the NCAA does take the wins away and he retires second on the all-time victories list.

"I don't live and die on stuff like that," he said.