Wildcats Have ‘Nobody’ to Thank : Wuerffel Passes Florida Into a Title Hunt, 35-24 : College football: Quarterback’s 443 yards, four touchdowns against Florida State leave pollsters no choice but to make Gators No. 2, with a chance to be No. 1.

The Florida Gators, coming to a national championship game near you, put a licking on Bobby Bowden’s Florida State boys on Saturday in a battle of tommy-gun offenses, then rubbed a little dirt in the faces of those evil pollsters.

Leap-frogged by Ohio State in the national polls on Nov. 5 after winning a game by 38 points, the Gators can expect a return to their rightful place in the world today--”We’re Number Two!”--after a resounding 35-24 victory over the Seminoles before a crowd of 85,711 at Florida Field.

And let the world be warned: Coach Steve Spurrier, he of the white-brimmed visor and high-browed confidence, might be a cuss to be reckoned with for some time.

On his checklist of things to do at Florida, he can now mark off the curse of the Bowdens--Auburn Coach Terry and Bobby.

Talk about winning the Southeastern Conference title was growing old with the locals. With one measly victory over Florida State in nine previous games, Gator fans wondered if Spurrier had his priorities straight.

Saturday was a start.

“He killed me,” Bobby Bowden said. “He killed me and my boy in the same year.”

Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel was the real killer, completing 25 of 40 passes for 443 yards and four touchdowns and officially re-entering the Heisman Trophy race.

Spurrier has moved his team from a nice little fireworks show into a national menace.

If Florida (11-0) defeats Arkansas next week in the SEC title game in Atlanta, the Gators will face Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 for the national championship.

Thanks to Ohio State’s 31-23 loss to Michigan, the Fiesta Bowl is close to its dream of pairing the nation’s top two teams, both undefeated, against each other for the mythical title.

The Seminoles (9-2) will probably end up in either the Sugar or Orange Bowl.

The Gators weren’t happy about dropping from second to third in the polls after blowing out Northern Illinois.

“We win and still lose votes to Ohio State?” asked Gator receiver Chris Doering, who finished with seven catches for 124 yards. “Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about that now as far as they’re concerned.”

Make no mistake, these Gators have grown since last season, when they were more flash than substance.

Last year, they blew a 31-3 fourth-quarter lead to Florida State and settled for a tie.

Last year, their defense couldn’t cover water.

This year they recovered from a turnover on their first possession and did not fold when the Seminoles made a second-half run after trailing, 24-6, at the half.

“Everyone knows what happened last year,” Spurrier said. “There was no reason to even talk about it.”

There was no panic when the Seminoles cut the lead to 28-14 with 5:30 left in the third quarter on a two-yard Warrick Dunn run and two-point conversion.

The response? On the Gators’ first play on the ensuing drive, Wuerffel hit Ike Hilliard in full stride on a 74-yard touchdown pass and run.

The Gators averaged 7.25 yards per play and totaled 587 yards.

More important, Wuerffel came up big when it counted.

Protecting a 35-24 lead early in the fourth quarter, the Gators faced third and 15 from their own five in the game’s defining moment.

Needing a first down to slow Seminole momentum and kill the clock, Wuerffel hit Doering for a 22-yard completion.

“I knew when Chris got his big mitts on it, it wasn’t coming out,” Wuerffel said later.

Florida had all the answers.

With 7:01 left, after Seminole defensive end Reinard Wilson intercepted a Wuerffel pass and returned it 20 yards to the Gator 41, Florida cornerback Anthone Lott intercepted Danny Kanell’s pass in the end zone.

With 3:47 remaining, and Florida State clinging to faint hope, it was Mike Harris intercepting another Kanell pass to seal the victory.

Strange as it sounds, consider it a monumental achievement that the Gator defense held the Seminoles to 24 points and 322 total yards.

“They were getting about 580 yards a clip,” Gator defensive coordinator Bobby Pruett said of the Seminoles’ average before the game.

The Gators disrupted the nation’s top-ranked offense with what Pruett called his “Robber” defense, a man-to-man scheme in which one or two players were free to roam and harass Seminole receivers.

“No one in the last six years dared to play them that way,” Pruett said.

The results reflected poorly on Kanell, who completed only 17 of 44 passes for 184 yards.

The Gators exited the Swamp triumphant, yet knowing there is this matter of the SEC title game next week against Arkansas.

Ohio State, in fact, could offer some advice about teams looking ahead.

“We’re not on a high, believe me,” Gator defensive end Mark Campbell said. ‘We’ll be ready.”