Seminoles Enjoy Dreamy Day in Miami

On Friday night, Florida State defensive back Shevin Smith dreamed he made a big hit in Saturday’s showdown against Miami at the Orange Bowl.

Reality turned out to be even sweeter than the dream as Smith picked up a fumble and ran 54 yards into the end zone untouched for the game’s first touchdown.

Smith never dreamed the Seminoles would score 17 points in the first quarter against a Miami team that had surrendered only 13 points all season.

He never dreamed the Seminoles, with an overpowering defensive line, a solid running game and a quarterback who only got the starting job this season, would win, 34-16, in front of 75,913.

So what about the mystique that was supposed to surround the Hurricanes when they play at home?

After all, Miami had won 70 of 72 home games before Saturday. The Seminoles had lost their previous five games here and hadn’t beaten the Hurricanes in the Orange Bowl since 1984.

Besides all that, the Hurricanes came in with an 11-game winning streak, a 4-0 record and a defense that was giving up an average of 3.3 points per game, lowest among major colleges.

So much for mystique.

“We don’t play on mystique,” Florida State defensive lineman Connell Spain said. “Mystique doesn’t put on pads.”

It was supposed to be a tight defensive struggle. Florida State, now 5-0 and ranked third in the nation coming into the game, and Miami, ranked sixth, could boast of defenses that rate among the best in major-college football. Miami’s defense was No. 1, the Hurricanes were coming off successive shutouts and the team had not given up an offensive touchdown in 13 quarters. The Seminoles were ranked third in total defense and had given up a total of three points in their last two games.

Sure enough, defense triggered Florida State’s first-quarter surge.

Defensive back Troy Saunders intercepted a pass from Miami quarterback Ryan Clement, which Florida State cashed in for a 48-yard field goal by Scott Bentley, the longest of his career.

Receiver Yatil Green, Clement’s intended target, took the blame when the ball sailed far over his head into the waiting arms of Saunders.

“I should have run a post route,” he later acknowledged sheepishly.

The next time the Hurricanes got their hands on the ball, the results were even worse.

Running back Danyell Ferguson had the ball knocked loose by linebacker Vernon Crawford. It rolled into the welcoming arms of Smith, who raced down the left sideline with two fellow Seminoles serving as an escort service.

When he reached the end zone, Smith, who comes from Miami and had a dozen members of his family including his parents in the stadium, could only stand and watch while his teammates celebrated.

“I was too much in shock to do anything,” he said.

So, it turns out, were the Hurricanes.

Before the quarter was over, they gave up yet another touchdown when Warrick Dunn, who finished with 163 of Florida State’s 222 rushing yards, raced up the middle on a draw play, faked out a linebacker five yards upfield and left the other 10 Hurricanes behind, going 80 yards for a touchdown.

The silence on the Miami side of the Orange Bowl was deafening. Visions of last year’s crushing 41-17 defeat to Florida State, the last game the Hurricanes lost, flashed before the eyes of the faithful.

But this time, it wouldn’t be so bad.

This time, Miami rallied to make a game of it by the half. Clement and Green hooked up on a 31-yard touchdown pass, and after a 32-yard field goal by Bentley, Clement and Green connected again on a five-yard scoring pass. In all, Green caught eight passes for 157 yards.

When the game was over, however, none of it seemed to matter to him.

“I’d trade all my catches,” he said, “and everything I did tonight for a win.”

That victory still seemed possible when the 26-yard field goal of the Hurricanes’ Andy Crosland made it 20-16 at the half.

But the Hurricanes were not heard from again.

Florida State took the third-quarter kickoff and drove 75 yards in 10 plays with Rock Preston going over from four yards out.

Quarterback Thad Busby accounted for the final points himself, going over from a yard out in the closing minutes.

Busby completed only eight of 17 passes for 125 yards, but it was nevertheless a triumphant performance for a junior making his first start in the Orange Bowl.

“He was so confident all week,” Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said. “I couldn’t tell if he was just putting on a show.”

No, it turned out Busby was saving the show for Saturday.

“This is a really big boost for me,” Busby said. “I can hang my head high.”

Was he nervous?

“I’ve been more nervous,” he said. “If you get nervous and let the crowd get to you, you are not going to be able to lead the offense.”

While Busby was savoring the moment, Clement was already trying to bury it.

“I’ll have to put it aside until the off-season,” he said. “I’ll do my soul-searching then. Football players can do that.

“I still think about games from high school that I lost. I’ll think about this game for the rest of my life.”