Miami Wastes No Time Bringing Florida State Back to Reality, 31-0

Here’s what Florida State got out of its preseason ranking, No. 1 everywhere but Boys’ Life and Cosmopolitan: a rap video (“Seminole Rap”), short haircuts all around, the kind of exposure for All-American cornerback Deion Sanders that cheesy rock stars enjoy (posing be-chained in his Mr. T starter set for every paper with a Kodak) and an almighty thumping from Miami.

The last, judging by college football history, is the only truly predictable consequence of Florida State’s off-season anointment. Been awhile--five years now--since Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles, no matter how good they’ve been, have beaten Miami.

Of course, this is no slur; you have to go back 33 games to find somebody, anybody, who has beaten Miami in the regular season. And anyway, Miami has a history with opponents ranked No. 1. In each of the last six years, the Hurricanes have knocked off a top-ranked team.

Still, this was supposed to be Florida State’s year and most definitely not Miami’s, its national championship of last season notwithstanding. The Hurricanes had graduated 17 players into the NFL draft, 12 of whom are still in camp and 5 of whom are starters. So how could they possibly beat the Seminoles, whom they barely beat at their best last season? But all numbers lie except the following:

On a night so sultry you could create weather in an air-conditioned room by simply opening a window, Miami beat Florida State, 31-0, the last touchdown being scored by a player named Pee Wee (Smith).

It’s hard to say what happened in the Orange Bowl Saturday night. Perhaps the Seminoles were falsely emboldened by the preseason press, which celebrated the return of Sammie Smith and six other starters on offense, but which seemed to overlook the departure of quarterback Danny McManus. And their reach for brashness, which had been a Miami birthright according to the local style, was perhaps premature.

When the Seminoles return to Tallahassee to look at film, will they watch this game or sit back and enjoy Seminole Rap? And will Sanders, uh, maybe button up that shirt in future photo sessions?

So much for the Game of the Century, the preseason No. 1 vs. the postseason No. 1, a game so anticipated that the state’s $52-million Lotto drawing was only a minor distraction (Miami cheerleaders wore the winning numbers at halftime). So much, perhaps, for Florida State, which must play at Clemson and be host to Michigan State before it can get out of September. The heralded Sammie Smith, who gained 6 yards in 10 carries in his nationally televised Heisman bid, could be in for a long year. And Chip Ferguson, who threw two of his team’s five interceptions, may never see October.

On to Miami. The Hurricanes, with the departure of the Blades Brothers and assorted opening acts, are no longer so annoying off the field. It has been two years since they returned jungle fatigues to high fashion, about that long since they played principal antagonists in “Police Academy” I through VI. They are quiet, businesslike and astonishingly good.

“I’m proud of how we approached this game,” said Coach Jimmy Johnson, who never minded when his players were college football’s black sheep two years ago. “We approached this game in a businesslike manner, and then the players went out and took care of business.”

Steve Walsh is apparently an overlooked factor in the Miami scheme of things. Although all too often he stood in the backfield, hands on his hips, and watched a pass sail into nowhere land, he did complete 18 of 37 passes for 228 yards and 2 touchdowns. Walsh, whose most important statistic last season could have been his seven interceptions, may have thrown to no one a few times Saturday night, but he never threw to the wrong one.

Walsh, who oversaw an offense that gained 450 total yards to Florida State’s 242, was modest afterward, lauding his defense and noting many breakdowns. If the offense was not entirely green (three linemen have returned), those receivers were suspect. All three of his receivers had gone on to the NFL, two in the first round of the draft.

But Walsh has no bias against youth, and he nicely introduced Randall Hill, Rob Chudzinski and Dale Dawkins to the big time. Only Dawkins had ever caught a regulation pass before, but it wasn’t long before the rooks were behaving like veterans. Hill, a sophomore of some style, caught his first college pass and turned to the crowd and raised his hands, as if to bring rain. The Seminoles smote their bald heads helplessly on the sideline.

You may have guessed how the game would go after just two Florida State plays. On their first possession, the Seminoles sent flanker Ronald Lewis 14 yards on a reverse. This is Bowden’s style. Then, even bolder, he called the play again. But style is all Florida State had; Lewis, anticipating a night of five interceptions and four fumbles (only one lost), dropped the ball.

Strangely, it was Miami that showed the more effective pizazz, not all of it planned pizazz. Walsh threw a third-quarter pass to Hill, who was hit by Sanders and fumbled to teammate Dawkins at the five-yard line. Walsh hit Leonard Conley for the touchdown on the next play. On another play, this in the fourth quarter, punter Tim Kalal flipped a fourth-down pass to Randy Bethel for the first down.

But you knew how this was going to end when three Miami players tipped a pass from Peter Tom Willis before Randy Shannon pulled it in (setting up Craig Erickson’s coup de grace to Pee Wee Smith).

Afterward, the Hurricanes seemed unsure how to react. Johnson sought humility. “I told the team that all this means is the worst that can happen is that we can end up 1-10.” Asked if this didn’t mean Miami was now No. 1, he uttered his trademark, three-syllable, Port Arthur “puh-lee-eese.”

Then there was Willis Peguese, one of the five starters returning to a defense that handed Florida State only its second shutout in the Bowden tenure. “After the first snap, we knew we had it. It was a tough ballgame, but it seemed too easy.”

That’s more like it. Now, after a week off, the Hurricanes prepare for another Game of the Century, OK, year, against Michigan. Poor Florida State now returns home, with one more rap against it than before.