Florida State Sets Up 1-2 Showdown; Busby Hurt

Florida State kept rolling, even with its quarterback limping, and set up a 1-2 showdown next Saturday against No. 1-ranked Florida.

In their final tuneup, the unbeaten Seminoles beat Maryland, 48-10, Saturday at Miami, but lost quarterback Thad Busby.

He sat out the second half with a mild knee sprain, and redshirt freshman Dan Kendra could find himself facing the Gators in Tallahassee.

Florida State will climb from third to second in the rankings because No. 2 Ohio State lost to Michigan. The Seminoles could claim the No. 1 spot by beating Florida.

“There’s never been a bigger Florida State game than this one [against Florida],” said Coach Bobby Bowden, who has been at the school since 1976. “For the first time in a long time, the Florida State-Florida game has national implications. People in Hawaii are going to be interested in it.”

Warrick Dunn led the charge against Maryland with 109 yards rushing, including touchdowns of 13 and nine yards. Dunn, a senior, increased his career rushing total to 3,774 yards, breaking the school record of 3,769 yards, set by Greg Allen (1981-84).

Florida State, which clinched its fifth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference title two weeks ago, improved to 10-0, 8-0 in the ACC.

Maryland finished 5-6, 3-5, and the status of fifth-year Coach Mark Duffner is in doubt. He’ll meet this week with Athletic Director Debbie Yow.

The game drew a crowd of only 31,989 at Pro Player Stadium. Maryland, the home team, moved it to Miami when the Carquest Bowl guaranteed the school $1 million.

Navy 36, Georgia Tech 26--Chris McCoy scored three touchdowns, two on runs and another on a razzle-dazzle pass reception, as the Midshipmen (8-2) kept their bowl hopes alive with a nonconference victory over the Yellow Jackets (5-5) at Atlanta.

Navy took a 21-20 lead when McCoy passed back to Howard Bryant and then caught a pass from Bryant to score on 54-yard play.

South Carolina 34, No. 22 Clemson 31--Duce Staley ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns as the Gamecocks (6-5) upset the Tigers (7-4) at Clemson, S.C.

South Carolina led by 17 points with 7:16 left before Clemson rallied and almost tied it, but Matt Padgett missed a 32-yard field-goal attempt with six seconds left.

No. 13 North Carolina 27, Duke 10--Quarterback Chris Keldorf, a junior from Manhattan Beach, suffered a broken ankle in the first quarter and had surgery Saturday night, but the Tar Heels (9-2, 6-2) still rolled over the Blue Devils (0-11, 0-8) at Durham, N.C.

North Carolina State 37, Wake Forest 22--Jamie Barnette was only 13 for 32 for 187 yards but he passed for one touchdown and ran for another, and Tremayne Stephens had a 69-yard scoring run as the Wolfpack (3-7, 3-5) beat the Demon Deacons (3-8, 1-7) in an ACC game at Raleigh, N.C.