Florida State Has Pre-Fiesta Party : Seminoles: Peter Tom Willis passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns in 24-17 victory over Florida.

Florida State is making up ground on Florida in their intrastate rivalry, but FSU Coach Bobby Bowden isn’t convinced the series is swinging his team’s way.

“Last year we beat them 52-17 and this year we barely won,” Bowden said Saturday night after Peter Tom Willis threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns to lead the sixth-ranked Seminoles to a 24-17 victory.

“We didn’t look as good as we should have,” Bowden said. “A whole lot of that was Florida’s fault . . . I thought they were better prepared than we were and for a while thought they wanted it more than us.”

The victory was the ninth in a row for Fiesta Bowl-bound Florida State (9-2) and the third in a row for Bowden in a series Florida leads 22-9-1. Florida finished its season 7-4.

Willis, who completed 20 of 31 passes, teamed with Terry Anthony on a 62-yard touchdown pass play in the first quarter and found Bruce LaSane crossing the middle on a 22-yard scoring play that gave FSU a 17-10 lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter.

Dave Roberts’ 10-yard touchdown reception increased the advantage to 24-10 midway through the fourth quarter, and the Seminoles held on in the final 4:08 after Emmitt Smith scored on a two-yard run to cut Florida’s deficit to seven points.

Smith finished with 153 yards in 30 carries, but inexperience at quarterback hurt the Gators. Freshman Donald Douglas started for Florida, but completed only four of 12 passes for 54 yards before Lex Smith replaced him in the fourth quarter.

“I felt like we were in it the whole game despite what the critics said,” Douglas said. “We played our hearts out.”

The 100-yard game for Smith was his ninth this season.

The first half ended in a 10-10 tie, with Florida State scoring on Anthony’s touchdown and Richie Andrews’ 24-yard field goal. Florida countered with Stacey Simmons’ three-yard touchdown run and a 46-yard field goal by John David Francis.