Florida State Thrashes Auburn, 34-6, Looks Toward Big Bowl

Florida State has not displayed much competence in the big game recently, so it was no special shock when even the school newspaper, The Flambeau, picked Auburn this week. A little disappointing, some of the players thought, but hardly without basis.

Also hard to argue, considering how they let a 19-3 lead over third-ranked Miami develop into a 26-25 loss earlier this season, was a local theory that the otherwise undefeated Seminoles could forget about beating Auburn because, linebacker Paul McGowan explained, “there might not be enough air in all of Alabama for us to breath.”

They are breathing a little easier now, though, after a 34-6 victory over previously undefeated Auburn Saturday, a big game and an easy win if ever there was one. Something was proved, all right, but not necessarily that Seminole critics had been wrong all this time. The Seminoles, to their credit, did not take the relative ease of victory as an opportunity to lash back at these vicious people. Concerning Greg Larson, who wrote in the Florida Times-Union an article headlined, “The Seminoles Don’t Win the Big Ones,” quarterback Danny McManus expressed gratitude, of all things.

“If he were here right now,” said McManus, who threw three touchdown passes, in some contrast to his Miami game, “I’d probably shake his hand and give him a kiss.”

Florida State, let’s face it, hasn’t won the big game. Coach Bobby Bowden argues otherwise, saying that if he does win an important game, say one with Michigan State, the locals immediately downplay its significance. But whatever accounting is used, these are facts: The Seminoles had lost six straight to Florida, three straight to Miami and the last three to Auburn.

Especially prominent among these failures was the second-half collapse against Miami, which is likely to benefit by proceeding to the Orange Bowl for a national championship game.

The reminders all week were harsh, but motivating. Enough so that the players resolved at halftime that their 27-3 lead just wouldn’t be enough.

The Seminoles, who had achieved that lead on a bizarre series of Auburn fumbles and wrong-headed passes, had a players-only meeting to recall that Miami game, a game in which Florida State came back onto the field to make every possible mistake and still lose only by a missed conversion.

Bowden came in on the tail end of the meeting and mistook their high-spirited resolve for early celebration. He laid into them. “It was a real good halftime speech,” McManus recalled. Bowden, who ordinarily enjoys a reputation of high-mindedness, regretted portions of it later. “I said a real bad thing,” he recalled, wringing his hands. “But all I was thinking was that we let one game get away that we should have won and we weren’t going to let another get away.”

They didn’t. One of the nation’s best defenses kept Auburn quarterback Jeff Burger bottled up the entire day. “One thing we learned from Miami is that we have to play 60 minutes,” defensive tackle Steve Gabbard said. Of Auburn’s 227 yards offense, less than a hundred came in the second half.

So it was that Gabbard could show his taped knuckles, upon which Fiesta was written. “Never been to a big bowl,” he said. “Until this year.”

Florida State (8-1) is headed to a major bowl game; Auburn (7-1-1) may not be. The Tigers, still undefeated (but tied) in the Southeast Conference, have games remaining with Georgia and Alabama.

Whatever course the season takes, the trend of the game developed quickly enough. On a beautiful day, with Jordan-Hare Stadium crammed with 85,000 fans, the Tigers immediately self-destructed. Burger, who has been unflappable through three declared ineligibilities this season, may have wished at least one of those NCAA sanctions had stuck. His pass on the first play of the game was fumbled by (Cool Hand) Duke Donaldson, right into the hands of Florida State’s Terry Warren. The Seminoles scored directly.

Auburn trailed, 17-0, after little more than the first quarter, when Reggie Ware fumbled into Warren’s hands and led to a Derek Schmidt field goal. Donaldson would later fumble a punt return and Burger would throw three interceptions, one converted into a 20-3 score, McManus hitting Herb Gainer for one of his two touchdown catches two plays later.

Schmidt became college football’s all-time leading scorer when he booted the extra point that put the Seminoles ahead, 27-3.