Seminoles Do It Right for a Change : College football: They build an early lead and let their defense take charge in a 28-10 victory over Miami.

Devin Bush tapped the hand-drawn heart on his sweat-soaked T-shirt.

“I did this before the game,” said Bush, Florida State’s strong safety. “I was thinking about it all this week when Miami said Florida State had no heart, that they’ll find a way to lose. So I drew this on my shirt to let them know I had heart.”

He could have saved himself the trouble. Miami didn’t need a T-shirt for confirmation on Saturday. It needed only the Doak Campbell Stadium scoreboard. There was all the evidence the Hurricanes needed. Read it and weep, which is what several of Miami’s players did at game’s end: No. 1-ranked Florida State 28, No. 3-ranked Miami 10.

After losing seven of their last eight games against the Hurricanes, blowing six fourth-quarter leads to Miami and who knows how many national-championship chances in the process--at least two, maybe four--the Seminoles at last could celebrate. There was no Wide Right III to haunt them, no last-second Miami heroics to deprive them.

“It’s so sweet,” linebacker Derrick Brooks said, “that you can’t put it into words.”

Brooks is part of a Florida State defense that has outscored its opponents, 36-24. Saturday, in front of a school-record crowd of 77,813, the Seminoles were at it again.

This time Bush did the honors, intercepting a pass by Frank Costa with 4:59 to play and returning it 40 yards for the final touchdown. So excited was Bush that he almost didn’t return to the field.

“I was thinking, ‘Run to the locker room. Don’t stop ‘til you get to the locker room,’ ” Bush said.

He came back and just in time, too. Bush not only saw the end of the game, but also perhaps the end of an era. The Hurricanes can no longer claim college football as their own, not after a decisive loss to Alabama in the 1993 Sugar Bowl and certainly not after an 18-point defeat by Florida State. It was the Hurricanes’ first regular-season loss in 32 games and their worst regular-season defeat since Sept. 22, 1984, when they were beaten by Florida State, 38-3.

“It’s a relief to get Miami out of the way,” Bush said. “That’s the team to beat.”

Getting through the fourth quarter unscathed helped. In the past, the Hurricanes have owned the final quarter. In their last 10 games, Miami had outscored Florida State, 88-42, in the final quarter. Because of that late-game dominance, Hurricane players suggested earlier this week that the Seminoles would wilt in the late going. In other words, choke.

They had a point.

Bush’s interception changed all that. So did a defensive effort that gave up only a first-quarter touchdown and a field goal midway through the fourth quarter. The Hurricanes got their yards, 320 in all, but not nearly enough points.

As for heart, Miami’s players should have paid a postgame visit to the Seminole locker room. Brooks’ right arm was in a sling, the result of a shoulder injury suffered during the game. He conducted his postgame interview between painful winces. And as if that weren’t bad enough, Brooks also was stricken with a stomach virus that kicked in right before game time.

“I thought it was a case of butterflies,” said Brooks, who refused to leave the lineup when Florida State trainers ordered him to do so.

Linebacker Ken Alexander was taken to the Florida State locker room during the second half and treated for heat exhaustion. So was defensive end Derrick Alexander. IV’s were the drink of the day in the muggy, still weather.

The game made everyone a little goofy, including Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden. Since 1985, he has seen his Seminoles beat the Hurricanes once, in 1989, so you can understand why he couldn’t think straight in the aftermath of Saturday’s victory.

“If we put all of our eggs up this basket, we’re barking up the wrong tree,” Bowden said of the victory.

Bowden, in his own mixed-metaphor way, was referring to the remainder of Florida State’s schedule. No. 18-ranked Virginia comes to town this week. Later come games against No. 4 Notre Dame at South Bend and No. 5 Florida at Gainesville.

Still, Bowden was in no hurry to spoil the moment with too much talk of future games. Instead, he preferred to talk about quarterback Charlie Ward, who continues to play near-flawless football. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for another score and eluded would-be Hurricane rushers at least a dozen times.

Ward’s scrambling ability allowed him to find wide receiver Matt Frier on a busted pass play that resulted in a 72-yard touchdown--the longest of Ward’s career--and a 14-7 Florida State lead late in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, Ward’s two-yard dash to the end zone extended the lead to 14 points.

“Obviously, he’s everything they said he is,” Miami Coach Dennis Erickson said. “He made the plays and he’s the difference in the football game.”

Dane Prewitt’s 23-yard field goal with 14:07 to play pulled the Hurricanes to within 11 points. But that was it for the Miami comeback. For a change, Florida State’s defense didn’t give up the crucial drive that has killed the Seminoles in the past. If anything, it was the Seminoles’ defense that iced the game.

The Seminoles not only survived the fourth quarter. They held Miami to one touchdown. They secured their No. 1 ranking and added to their winning streak, which is at 13 games. They kept alive their national championship hopes.

Most of all, though, they eased the pain of those seven previous losses.