Testaverde Leads Miami to Victory

Vinny Testaverde refused to come out of the lineup despite a painful foot injury Saturday. Instead, he led No. 1 Miami to a 41-23 victory over No. 20 Florida State.

Testaverde connected on touchdown passes of 23 yards to Alonzo Highsmith, 20 yards to Brian Blades and 24 yards to Brett Perriman while completing 21 of 35 attempts for 315 yards.

Just as impressive were his two hobbling bootleg touchdown runs of one and eight yards.

“The fourth quarter was a gut check for us,” said the senior quarterback, who injured his foot two weeks ago and aggravated it early in the game Saturday.

The Seminoles (4-3-1) struck first with a six-yard run by Tanner Holloman on the opening drive. They also got field goals of 36, 38 and 45 yards from Derek Schmidt.

But the big play for Florida State was a 100-yard kickoff return. Keith Ross, who caught the ball in the end zone, ran to the 10 and then threw a lateral across the field to Dexter Carter, who fielded the ball on the first bounce at the five and raced untouched for the touchdown.

The Hurricanes (8-0) scored on their opening possession, a four-yard run by Warren Williams, but couldn’t do much the rest of the half.

Florida State’s Danny McManus bruised his thumb on a fake field goal early in the second period, and the Seminoles were unable to get their offense going.