Florida St. Makes Statement, 62-3 : ACC: North Carolina State takes worst beating in 50 years.

While many of the mighty fell Saturday, Florida State rebounded.

Bouncing back from a 31-24 loss at Notre Dame, the No. 2-ranked Seminoles took advantage of six North Carolina State turnovers and the precision passing of Charlie Ward to crush the Wolfpack, 62-3.

It was the highest scoring total of the season for the nation’s highest scoring team and the worst defeat for North Carolina State since a 75-0 whipping by Duke 50 years ago.

“We’re not the only ones that have come in here and gotten blown out,” said first-year Wolfpack Coach Mike O’Cain. “I think they felt like they had to make a statement. In my eyes they did.”

Ward was 27 of 36 for 278 yards before leaving with 2:18 left in the third quarter and Florida State leading 48-3. For the season, he has completed 69% of his passes for 2,586 yards and 23 touchdowns with only two interceptions.

“We came out and did what we needed to do--play well,” Ward said.

Florida State, 10-1 and 8-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, was the only team ranked in the top five to win Saturday when the Nos. 1, 4 and 5 teams lost and No. 3 Nebraska was idle.

“We could’ve done the same thing,” Ward said. “But our guys came to play.”

Coach Bobby Bowden had hoped his team would snap back from last week’s loss to keep alive its hopes for a national title. Florida State closes the season next week at Florida, the Seminoles’ third top-10 opponent of the season.

“They’ve never lost there under (Steve) Spurrier,” Bowden said. “They’ll be every bit as tough as playing Notre Dame at Notre Dame.”

Florida State, already guaranteed a New Year’s Day bowl berth by clinching the league title two weeks ago, closed its second straight unbeaten season in the conference, outscoring ACC opponents, 391-51.

The Wolfpack fell to 7-4, 4-4.