NOTES : Florida St. Has Seen This Kind of Player Someplace Before

For 29 minutes, the flashy style seemed vaguely familiar. Then a Brigham Young punt sailed toward Florida State’s Terrell Buckley, and all doubt was removed. Buckley hauled in the ball at his own 44, threw a juke, made a cutback and soon was running all alone down the right sideline.

He sprinted past the last Cougar defender and high-stepped it into the end zone.

It was the high-stepping that clinched it.

No question, Buckley is a dead ringer for ex-Seminole, current Atlanta Falcon Deion Sanders. Yep, the swagger is there. The ‘tude is, too. About all that’s missing are the gold chains hanging from Buckley’s neck.

When Buckley, a junior cornerback from Pascagoula, Miss., turned to survey the damage after his 56-yard run, he saw penalty flags littering the field. Immediately, he thrust his hands on his hips in disgust and stalked to the sideline. Not once, not twice, but thrice, the officials flagged Florida State blockers for clipping, nullifying Buckley’s electrifying run.

“I didn’t see any clips,” Buckley said later. “They must have been behind me. . . . I had them (BYU) set up. I hit the seams, and it opened right up for me.”

There were other thrills and chills from Buckley.

He intercepted two Ty Detmer passes. One counted and one was wiped out by a pass interference penalty on . . . Buckley.

Later, he fumbled a punt return and got burned for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes by Detmer.

The good seemed to outweigh the bad, though, and the net results were impressive. Besides, Buckley had fun showing off even if he doesn’t think of it that way.

“I don’t consider it flashy; I practice that way so there’s nothing to it,” Buckley said.

“People have been comparing me to Deion Sanders since I was in high school.”

A little cocky then, perhaps?

“We knew we could hold them like that,” he said. “Our secondary has been practicing against probably the best offense in the country.”

With Buckley hounding BYU receivers all night, Detmer completed “only” 19 of 32 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. An All-American last season, Buckley also led the Seminoles with six tackles.

Add defense: Linebacker Kirk Carruthers likes what he has seen from the Seminoles’ defense so far this season.

“We have so much talent, it’s not funny,” he said. “If we make no mistakes, we have possibly the best defense in the country.”

And quarterback Casey Weldon, who was equally impressed, had this to say: “I’m glad I wasn’t playing our defense tonight. I feel for the guy (Detmer).”

Added BYU Coach Lavell Edwards: “This team is one of the best we’ve ever played. They have tremendous speed and quickness. I’ve never seen a faster defensive team. They did a nice job of keeping us off balance.”

Great seats, eh, buddy? Every ticket in the house went for $28, no matter if it was on the 50-yard line or in the end zones, at the top of the stadium. What gives?

Don Andersen, Pigskin Classic executive director, allowed that it’s probably not the best system ever devised. It seems the ticket prices were established before Andersen accepted the position last year, and there hasn’t been a movement to charge less for less attractive seats.

“If there would be a change, we might look at scaling the house,” Andersen said. “But it’s premature to write about a change. It’s not a done deal. Our prices are comparable with other games of national interest, so I don’t think we’re out of line.”

Thursday’s crowd of 38,363 topped the total of 33,458 who watched Colorado and Tennessee play to a 31-31 tie last year. So maybe Orange County football fans have simply learned to reach for their wallets first and ask questions later.

Family tree: Sonny Detmer, Ty’s dad, played at Florida State on a combination baseball-basketball scholarship in 1964. A wide receiver in high school, Sonny didn’t bother turning out for the Seminoles football team, largely because future Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff had secured the starting spot. On the baseball team, Sonny was a teammate of current Seminole baseball Coach Mike Martin. But Sonny only lasted two quarters in Tallahassee.

Now, Sonny coaches the varsity at Mission (Tex.) High. He moved there after coaching a certain Heisman Trophy winner-to-be at Southwest High in San Antonio.

Add family: Tom Young, a sophomore quarterback from Greenwich, Conn., is the younger brother of San Francisco 49er Steve Young and a great-great-great-grandson of Brigham Young.