Florida State had designs on a national championship this season, but that went down the drain with a loss to North Carolina State a couple of weeks back, the kind of loss that makes no sense regardless of how many times you replay the tape.
The Miami Hurricanes tried to manufacture the same kind of chaos on Saturday night, hoping that they, too, could hang around long enough against FSU to be a problem.
It didn’t turn out that way, with FSU using a fourth-quarter scoring sprint to pull away 33-20. Miami coach Al Golden was forced to admit “We lost to a team that’s better than us right now,” and Jimbo Fisher was left to savor the feeling of being 5-0 against the Hurricanes and Florida Gators in his two-plus seasons as FSU coach.
All of this must have been pretty discouraging for the 1987 national championship Hurricanes, who were honored at halftime at Miami’s homecoming show, but at least this game between the three-touchdown favorite Seminoles and the 4-4 Hurricanes was competitive.
That’s because the Hurricanes pulled out all the stops, sending quarterback Stephen Morris out to start the game after a week of worry over his severely sprained ankle. They also tried an on-side kick to open the second half and ran a trick play or two.
Through it all, Golden jumped around on the sidelines, slapping the backs of his players when things were going well and reaching for his red instant-replay challenge flag when they weren’t.
Problem is, you can’t always make rivalry-game miracles happen, and you can’t always expect a team as talented as the Seminoles to cooperate in their undoing the way they did against N.C. State.
FSU is 7-1 and aiming for a return to Miami as an Orange Bowl participant. The best thing about this night, for them, is that it’s over, the anxiety of butting heads with stubborn Miami in the past. As it is, the Seminoles must find out about running back Chris Thompson, who was lost to injury in the first half, and they can look forward to a long week of ball-protection drills after fumbling five times.
Put it all together and this game provides further evidence that FSU never really was in the same class with high-scoring showhorses like Oregon and Kansas State, even back when the Seminoles’ record was perfect.
Miami was within 16-13 heading into the fourth quarter, after all. One more competitive quarter and the one of the greatest upsets in the history of this spectacular series would have been at hand.
Then the dam broke, with Miami native DeVonta Freeman busting through for a couple of FSU touchdown runs. Then order was restored, and the loud and loopy party was chased out into the parking lot, where a grand total of 73,328 Seminoles and Hurricanes tailgated like old friends again.
No use dwelling on disappointments now, and that goes the same for FSU fans who wanted to get more out of quarterback E.J. Manuel’s senior season and Miami boosters who long, as always, for the Hurricanes to be “back.”
The Hurricanes still have a chance, believe it or not, to win the ACC’s Coastal Division for the first time in school history. That’s after losing to the three ranked opponents on Miami’s schedule by a combined total of 126-36. Strange, this college game, and we haven’t even talked yet about the nut who ran onto the field and through the middle of an active play on Saturday night.
A man in an orange shirt climbed out of the stands in the first quarter and proceeded to remove his orange shirt and whip it overhead while security guards chased him around the field.
All of this prompted the following once-in-a-lifetime announcement by the referee: “It was determined that the fan on the field had no effect on the play.” This brought cheers and laughter and, from the Seminoles band sequestered in the corner of the upper deck, a rumbling of distant tubas.
Right there, with Miami leading 10-0 and FSU seemingly on a mission to break the NCAA record for fumbles in a single game, Sun Life Stadium came fully alive to all the crazy possibilities.
Before long, the officials were sending the teams off the field at halftime because of an FSU penalty that required a 10-second runoff, and then they were calling the teams back from the locker rooms because Fisher had called a timeout.
“We got it straightened out,” said Jimbo, his mood suddenly improved by the FSU field goal that came out of that exchange. “It’s amazing.”
So is the fact that Miami rushed for 29 yards and allowed four sacks but still had a chance to win going to the fourth quarter.
“We’re hanging on by a thread,” said Golden, who desperately needs the bye week that is coming for Miami. “Brutal schedule, eight weeks in a row and we need time off.”
Fair enough, but what the Seminoles want is to get back the time that they wasted at N.C. State, and the season that they wasted, too.
FSU doesn’t get brownie points for beating Miami anymore, and neither does anybody else.
About the Author
