Bentley Lays a Seminole Jinx to Rest : Orange Bowl: The freshman kicker’s winning field goal overshadows legacy of missed kicks by Florida State.

“Wait a minute, I’ve got to go over here,” said Scott Bentley, breaking free of the scrum of cameras that surrounded him in the minutes after his field goal with 21 seconds to play gave Florida State an 18-16 victory over Nebraska on Saturday night in the Orange Bowl.

And in a piece of the field where there was no crowd, he and Dan Mowrey took a flying leap at each other. It was a private celebration by two fellows who understood each other.

Bentley is a freshman who was hailed as Florida State’s kicking savior on the cover of Sports Illustrated before he ever played a game. Mowrey was one of the reasons they needed a savior. He missed wide right against Miami last season, costing the Seminoles a chance to win.

But with Bentley’s 22-yard kick against the Cornhuskers, the legacy of missed field goals was laid to rest.

“I mean, it’s got to be over now,” said Danny Kanell, Bentley’s holder. “He really ended the jinx, if there ever was one.”

Bentley was handed Mowrey’s job when he arrived, but he missed five conversion attempts in the first four games of the season, and he missed some crucial field-goal tries.

He made 56 of 64 conversions during the regular season, and 13 of 20 field-goal attempts, but it wasn’t enough to instill Coach Bobby Bowden’s confidence in him. Bowden expressed his doubt publicly, and the crowd was keenly aware of the significance when Bentley missed from 47 yards in the first quarter.

But he made his next four--from 34, 25, 39 and, finally, 22 yards--providing the bulk of the scoring in Florida State’s victory.

“If they told me we would score only one touchdown, I would hope I would kick a lot of field goals,” Bentley said.

As Charlie Ward started the Seminoles on their final drive, Kanell started getting Bentley ready.

“Way before he knew he was going to kick, I said, ‘I know you’re going to make the kick, and you’d better jump in my arms,’ ” Kanell said. “We’ve been through it all year.”

That was what Bentley needed to hear.

“I knew Charlie would get us down the field. I didn’t know if we would score a touchdown or kick a field goal,” Bentley said. “Kanell said, ‘You better jump in my arms, because I know you’re going to make it.’ That kind of sealed my confidence in myself.”

It wasn’t the best omen that the field-goal attempt turned out to be from the right hash.

“It’s been a little trouble down there--unlucky,” Kanell said.

Defensive lineman Derrick Alexander looked on.

“I’m thinking he’s going to kick it,” Alexander said. “Bentley’s a guy who’s got a lot of confidence. No matter how many he might have missed, he thinks he’s going to make it.”

Bentley thought so, too, but he remembered the right hash.

“Practically every one I missed was from the right hash,” Bentley said. “I went through a lot of mental things to prepare myself.”

In practices, he and Kanell had worked on it specifically, getting the hold just right, adjusting the angle from the right side.

“We were practicing on holds, to make everything perfect,” Kanell said. “It’s good we worked on it.”

The last thing Kanell told him was simple: “We do it every day in practice.”

Then they did it.

All that was left was the anxious final play, when Nebraska’s Byron Bennett missed a 45-yard field-goal attempt.

“You wait all your life for a chance to kick the winning field goal and it just didn’t happen,” Bennett said.

But it happened for Bentley.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “I’m on cloud nine.”