No Letup Evident By Fsu Seminoles Roll Over Bucke For A Handy Sugar Bowl Victory
Florida State’s slim national championship hopes were snuffed out before the Seminoles trotted onto the field Thursday night. They didn’t let it affect their performance against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl.
Thad Busby threw for 334 yards, E.G. Green caught seven passes for 176 yards and a swarming defense led by All-American Andre Wadsworth gave No. 4 Florida State a 31-14 victory over the ninth-ranked Buckeyes.
Florida State (11-1) had hoped No. 1 Michigan would lose in the Rose Bowl and third-ranked Tennessee would come through with a lackluster win over No. 2 Nebraska in Friday night’s Orange Bowl. But Michigan defeated Washington State 21-16 just minutes before the game began in New Orleans.
Nevertheless, the Seminoles will extend their streak of finishing no lower than fourth in the national rankings to 11 consecutive years after beating Ohio State (10-3). They also redeemed themselves for a 52-20 loss to Florida in last year’s Sugar Bowl, which cost FSU its second national title of the 1990s.
“Michigan won, and I take my hat off to them,” Florida State safety Shevin Smith said. “But I don’t think they would want to play us. I think we have the best defense in the nation.”
Florida State, which had won a record 11 straight bowl games before that loss to the Gators, pushed coach Bobby Bowden’s postseason record to 16-4-1, putting him only two victories behind college football’s career bowl leader, Joe Paterno of Penn State.
By contrast, John Cooper saw his bowl record drop to 2-7 in 10 years at Ohio State.
“We faced just relentless pressure throughout the entire ballgame,” said Cooper, whose team suffered six sacks. “Their pass rush is the best I’ve seen in a long, long time.”
Florida State was relegated to the Sugar Bowl after losing its final regular-season game to Florida, which scored with less than two minutes remaining to hand the Seminoles their only loss, 32-29.
“It’s almost like we’re wasting our time if we don’t reach our goal of winning a national championship,” Bowden said. “We’re not satisfied, the fans aren’t satisfied, but it leaves you absolutely no room for error. Other than two minutes against Florida … we’d be undefeated. But to have a chance to win a national championship, you have to play without errors.”
The Seminoles scored two touchdowns in the final 3-1/2 minutes of the second quarter for a 21-3 lead at the break. That was plenty of points for a defense ranked in the top 10 nationally in all major categories. Wadsworth had two sacks and set up a field goal with an interception, and the Seminoles had 19 tackles for negative yardage.
Busby, redeeming himself for a poor Sugar Bowl a year ago, was 22 of 33, throwing for one touchdown and running for another. His favorite receiver was Green, who was named the game’s MVP.
“It was like Michael Jordan getting in a zone where the basket looks so big,” Green said. “That’s the way it was for me, and my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball.”
Ohio State, averaging nearly 32 points and 413 yards per game, didn’t reach the end zone until Joe Germaine escaped a heavy rush and threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to John Lumpkin, who made a spectacular, low grab and ran it in with 8:57 remaining.
Pepe Pearson had minus-10 yards rushing at halftime and the Buckeyes’ offensive woes were typified by a series in the second quarter when Stanley Jackson was sacked on three consecutive plays.
After that defensive stand, the Seminoles got the ball at their own 45 and needed only two plays to score. Green caught a 46-yard pass from Busby, who then scored on a 9-yard quarterback draw to give Florida State a 14-3 lead with 3:25 to go in the first half.
Germaine followed with his second interception, returned 51 yards by Shevin Smith to the Ohio State 23 with 27 seconds left. The Seminoles reached the 1 on Busby’s 17-yard pass to Travis Minor, and William McCray ran it in from there with 10 seconds remaining.
The Seminoles lost linebackers Daryl Bush and cornerback Samari Rolle to first-half injuries and Ohio State took advantage in the third quarter, keeping the ball for nearly 12 minutes. But the Buckeyes’ only points of the period came on Stultz’s second field goal and a safety when Busby stepped out of the end zone trying to scramble.
Ohio State put a new twist on its two-quarterback setup, actually rotating Jackson and Germaine several times in mid-series for the first time this season. It didn’t help - Germaine was 10 of 26 for 173 yards, while Jackson was 6 of 10 for 34 yards, with an interception.
“They had a couple of guys go out, and we tried to take advantage of it,” Cooper said. “But we didn’t have time to throw the football.”
xxxx Florida St. 31, Ohio St. 14 Ohio State 3 0 5 6 14 Florida State 7 14 0 10 31 OSUFG Stultz 40 FSUGreen 27 pass from Busby (Janikowski kick) FSUBusby 9 run (Janikowski kick) FSUMcCray 1 run (Janikowski kick) OSUFG Stultz 34 OSUSafety, Garnett sacked Busby in the end zone FSUFG Janikowski 35 OSULumpkin 50 pass from Germaine (pass failed) FSUMcCray 1 run (Janikowski kick) A67,289.
OSU FSU First downs 21 18 Rushes-yards 44-118 27-60 Passing 207 334 Comp-Att-Int 16-36-3 22-33-2 Return Yards 78 176 Punts-Avg. 7-45 6-43 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 10-70 9-74 Time of Possession 35:04 25:56 RUSHING-Ohio State, Pearson 22-60, Rudzinski 1-24, Keller 6-20, Jackson 9-19, Wiley 3-9, Germaine 3-(minus 14). Florida State, Minor 12-53, Seaster 2-10, Glenn 2-5, McCray 2-2, Coles 2-1, Busby 7-(minus 11). PASSING-Ohio State, Germaine 10-26-2-173, Jackson 6-10-1-34. Florida State, Busby 22-33-2-334. RECEIVING-Ohio State, Miller 6-79, Boston 3-40, Lumpkin 2-61, Pearson 2-27, Keller 2-(minus 3), Rambo 1-3. Florida State, Minor 9-55, E.G.Green 7-176, Warrick 3-82, Coles 3-21. MISSED FIELD GOALS-Ohio State, Stultz 42 (WR), 46 (WL). Florida State, Janikowski 56 (SH), 37 (WR).