“The Swamp” began to shake as Florida took possession at its own 12, down by a touchdown with 59 seconds to play Saturday. Shouting over the din of a record Florida Field crowd of 85,747, Florida State’s defenders gathered in front of their bench.
“We said, `Hey, guys, remember 1997,’ ” linebacker Brian Allen said. “We were telling each other, `Let’s not have a deja vu.’ “
Two years ago another top-rated Seminoles team watched a perfect season ruined in a 32-29 loss to Florida in this ear-splitting madhouse. Defeat came on a lightning-strike Gators drive in the final minute.
But the Seminoles didn’t have time to ponder history. On first down the Gators connected on a 38-yard pass to midfield.
“I said, `Here we go again,’ ” FSU head coach Bobby Bowden said.
Bowden has lived through Wide Right I and Wide Right II. But the whimsical football gods spared him deja vu doom. When Jesse Palmer’s Hail Mary pass bounced out of a jostling pack of players in the end zone, the top-ranked Seminoles had hung on for a 30-23 victory over No. 3 Florida.
The Seminoles are headed for the Sugar Bowl, where they will try to give Bowden his second national title. The last time FSU finished No. 1 also was the last time it won in Gainesville, in 1993.
That’s the sort of deja vu Bowden can live with.
“It’s pretty darn special,” said Bowden, whose looking for his first unbeaten season. “I’ve come down here a lot of times and lost. The last time we were here it was awful.”
The last time, Florida coach Steve Spurrier sprung his yo-yo quarterback scheme on the Seminoles, rotating passers on every down. The strategy bewildered FSU in 1997, but it only seemed to confuse the Gators this time.
Spurrier started senior Doug Johnson, a local kid in his final home game, but rotated in Palmer on the second snap. Spurrier quickly established a pattern: Send in a QB with a play; bark at the QB coming off the field. Send that QB back with another play; bark at the other QB.
Florida’s passers combined for 380 yards but connected on only 28 of 55 attempts and fired two interceptions, one killing a threat at the FSU 1.
Florida also committed numerous false-start penalties and was forced to burn its last timeout in the third quarter to avoid a play-clock violation.
“Maybe they did shoot themselves in the foot with that shuffling,” Florida State defensive end Roland Seymour said. “Maybe Steve Spurrier was too smart for his own good today.”
Spurrier would sooner wear Garnet and Gold than admit that. Heck he barely conceded defeat in his postgame interview.
“We are not smart enough to be great,” Spurrier said. “We beat ourselves, that’s all you can say.”
Then the Boss Gator took some shots at the Seminoles.
“FSU is not as good as they used to be,” Spurrier said. “The ’97 team was a lot better than the team they have now, in my opinion. But they still may win them all and they still may be No. 1.”
It’s no wonder Spurrier was in a foul mood. He has lost only four games in 10 seasons at “The Swamp”–and two have been to the detestable Seminoles.
FSU deployed a more productive quarterback rotation. Offensive coordinator Mark Richt used four quarterbacks–starter Chris Weinke, the picture of poise throughout, along with Marcus Outzen, Dan Kendra and Peter Warrick.
Peter Warrick? That’s right. The star wide receiver and one-time Heisman Trophy front-runner lined up in the shotgun at the Florida 4, took the snap and headed for left end. Encountering a swarm of blue shirts, Warrick pivoted and sprinted back across the field and into the end zone. That put Florida State ahead 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
It was a startling display of the sheer athleticism that sets FSU and Florida apart from most of the rest of the nation.
“Without a doubt Peter Warrick is the best player in the country,” Weinke said.
And Florida State is the best team–for now.
“We’ve been No. 1 outright all year,” Allen said. “And that’s the way we intend to finish.”
