Seminoles Retake Land : College football: No. 1 Florida State’s trick plays, interceptions tear a big chunk out of third-ranked Michigan, 51-31.

Soon, perhaps as early as this week, a handful of sod from fabled Michigan Stadium will find a new home. The ceremony will take no more than a few minutes--the time it takes to dig a small grave, drop the chunk of grass into its final resting place and place a bronze plaque on top of the mound.

The engraver’s assignment? Easy enough.

Florida State 51, Michigan 31, 1991.

This is the way it works at the Florida State Sod Cemetery. The Seminoles claim another prized road victim, a player grabs a chunk of stadium ground, the grass is flown home to Tallahassee and the funeral ceremony, complete with a team prayer and eulogy by Coach Bobby Bowden, is scheduled shortly thereafter.

And just to show there’s no hard feelings, wisecracking Florida State players even promised to wear black in honor of dearly departed Michigan, which entered the game ranked No. 3 in the country, finished with a 2-1 record and a grudging respect for the top-ranked Seminoles (4-0).

Of course, the Wolverines weren’t the only ones who discovered just how good and thoroughly entertaining Florida State can be. Another sellout crowd, this time 106,145, as well as a national television audience, witnessed a game rarely seen in the staid, sedate, run-dammit! Big Ten Conference. Instead of the usual three-yards-and-a-clump-of-dirt stuff, the Seminoles did what they do best: the unexpected.

“There were so many big plays, I can’t even rank them,” linebacker Kirk Carruthers said. “All I know is that we wanted to prove to the country, to Michigan, to everyone else that we deserve to be No. 1.”

Bootleg passes . . . fake field goals . . . shovel passes by their second-team quarterback . . . reverses . . . throwback passes by their third-team quarterback . . . single coverage on the amazing Desmond Howard . . . runs past and sometimes over the he-men of Michigan . . . a pair of two-point-after attempts . . . emergency kicking duty by the second-string punter. You name it and the Seminoles tried it Saturday.

“Totally frustrating,” said Wolverine offensive tackle Greg Skrepenak, who told a pep rally audience Friday that it would be a “very long flight home” for the Seminoles.

By the time Michigan jogged silently off the field at game’s end, the Seminoles had intercepted four passes and returned two of them for touchdowns. The bootleg passes, throwback pass and shovel pass--all done in one drive--accounted for another Florida State score. The strategy to place cornerback Terrell Buckley on Heisman Trophy candidate Howard sort of worked. Howard caught two touchdown passes, but Buckley intercepted two, including one for a score.

Even John Wimberly, the second-team punter enlisted for point-after duty, could do no wrong. He was two for two on extra points, which beats the one-for-four performance by kicker Dan Mowrey, who was pulled from the lineup after his third consecutive miss. Enter Wimberly, who received an on-field halftime lesson from former Seminole kicker Richie Andrews.

And when Florida State needed to score in a more conventional manner, it turned to halfback Amp Lee, who gained 122 yards and scored twice, or to quarterback Casey Weldon, who completed 16 of 28 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns.

Michigan didn’t have nearly as many weapons. Elvis Grbac threw four touchdown passes, but he also had three interceptions. The vaunted Wolverine running game averaged 2.7 yards per carry. And the Michigan defense was eventually worn down by a Florida State offense that gained 460 yards, to say nothing of those 51 points--the most scored on a Wolverine team since 1958.

“I would have never guessed 51,” Weldon said. “I don’t think we played that great of a game. There’s still quite a few things we can work on.”

Asked what those things might be--other than extra points--Weldon stared at his shoes. “Uh . . . “ he said.

Buckley was less diplomatic about the victory. He complimented Howard, but then wondered out loud why he wasn’t included on the weekly roster of Heisman hopefuls.

“I’ll have to put my name on it,” he said.

When someone suggested that not many teams dare cover Howard one-on-one, Buckley snapped: “There’s not many people who have Terrell Buckley on their team.”

Good point.

Buckley, who persuaded Florida State coaches at halftime to abandon its zone coverage and switch to man-to-man, also offered some advice to those who might doubt the talent of the Seminoles. “They need to go to a psycho ward,” he said.

The same might be said of Michigan, which decided against two early fourth-quarter field goals and instead went for the first downs. Both attempts failed. Had the Wolverines made the 37-yarder and the 28-yarder, they would have trailed, 37-29, with 10:57 remaining. Instead, Michigan gambled and lost.

“You’ve got to convert those,” said Michigan Coach Gary Moeller, whose fourth-quarter, fourth-down pass play against Notre Dame two weeks ago was hailed as genius. “I wouldn’t change those calls.”

The second missed fourth-down conversion led to a Florida State touchdown and a 44-23 lead with 6:28 left. Michigan tried to rally, but defensive end Toddrick McIntosh intercepted a tipped pass from Grbac and lumbered 49 yards for the final Seminole score.

Minutes later, Weldon stood on the sideline clutching a piece of Michigan-grown sod. He didn’t let go until he reached the locker room.

Said Weldon: “It’s in (there) now, but it will be in the ground shortly.”