If the Florida State faculty had voted Sunday to eliminate homework, it would have ranked second in the minds of the Seminoles’ football players to another more important balloting result.
The voters have spoken, and Florida State will get its rematch with Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1-provided both teams take care of business first.
Notre Dame supplanted Florida State at the top of college football’s polls following its 31-24 victory Saturday. But the Seminoles got a reprieve Sunday; they’ll have a possible shot at Notre Dame and the national title. Notre Dame still has to beat Boston College this Saturday, and Florida State needs victories over North Carolina State and Florida for the rankings to hold.
The latest bowl coalition poll has Florida State hanging on at No. 2, holding a comfortable 67-point lead over Nebraska. Under terms of the bowl coalition, if Notre Dame and Florida State finish the regular season 1-2, they will meet in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden actually has to thank the media for putting his team in this position. The bowl coalition poll is determined by combining the total points of the Associated Press media poll and USA Today/CNN coaches poll.
Nebraska was second in the coaches’ poll, edging Florida State by only 10 points. But the media went for Florida State, placing the Seminoles 77 points ahead of the 10-0 Cornhuskers.
Nebraska did jump ahead of Miami, last week’s No. 3 team in the bowl poll. The Hurricanes struggled to defeat Rutgers Saturday and lost to Florida State earlier in the year.
Florida State’s support over Nebraska seems to a reward for strength of schedule, at least from the media standpoint. Besides their visit to Notre Dame, the Seminoles already have played Miami and will travel to Florida on Nov. 27. Both Notre Dame and Miami are in the top five, and Florida (8-1) never has lost at home under coach Steve Spurrier. It’s a suicide run for a team trying to win the national title.
Nebraska, meanwhile, continues to play it safe. Its best victory was over UCLA, No. 16 in the AP poll. The Cornhuskers’ other non-conference games were against North Texas State, Texas Tech and Colorado State, hardly college football’s Bermuda Triangle. Nebraska coach Tom Osborne didn’t realize until shortly before the season that North Texas State was a Division I-AA school.
“Look around and see what other people are playing,” Bowden said. “How many ranked teams did Notre Dame play? No. 3 (Nebraska)? No. 4 (Miami)? We’ve played No. 2 and No. 3 (Miami, before it fell to No. 4), and there’s no telling where Florida will be.”
However, some of Bowden’s fellow coaches don’t feel the same way.
“I think the coaches are putting everything on won-loss,” Bowden said. “If you’re undefeated, that counts the most. Who you play doesn’t seem to be that big of a role.”
For the record, Bowden voted his team second. Osborne placed his team second, quashing any speculation that he gave Nebraska one of its two first-place votes in the coaches’ poll.
Osborne, who doesn’t get excited about much, stayed in character Sunday.
“There are a lot of games to be played,” said Osborne, whose team meets Oklahoma on Nov. 26. “So I don’t know that there’s any great alarm. People get all worked up about the polls; maybe I should get worked up, too. But it (polls) seems so ludicrous at times. There is no need to get yourself upset about it.”
Speaking of ludricous, if 9-0 West Virginia wins its last two games and Nebraska defeats Oklahoma, the Orange Bowl could host a game between two unbeaten teams who have no shot at the title.
However, Nebraska’s likely opponent is Miami, which plays at West Virginia this Saturday. The Hurricanes have been a main contributor to Nebraska’s six-game bowl losing streak.
There still are numerous scenarios, and Bowden wasn’t about to take anything for granted. Bowden, though, did acknowledge that he and Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz talked about the possibility of a rematch before Saturday’s game.
“My feeling is if that was the No. 1 team in the nation,” Bowden said, “surely we must be No. 2.”
Bowden, though, sounded like a dazed heavyweight Sunday. Fight analogies apply because Bowden is a big boxing fan.
The coach likened his team to the finesse of Evander Holyfield compared to the strength personified by Riddick Bowe and Notre Dame.
“You had a big guy pounding on the little guy,” Bowden said.
At least that’s what happened in the first Holyfield-Bowe fight. But the recent rematch was much different.
“Notre Dame won the physical part,” Bowden said. “But you can win a boxing match by outpointing your opponent.”
That’s only if there is a rematch.
