Florida Dunn In by Florida State

Warrick Dunn’s decision to return for his senior season cost Florida a chance at the national title Saturday and maybe Danny Wuerffel the Heisman Trophy.

It cost Doak S. Campbell Stadium massive clumps of turf--ripped from its roots by ravenous rooters--and local police hundreds of dollars in pepper spray.

Florida is asking of Dunn today, “Why?” Wasn’t three great seasons enough?

His answer, stated emphatically here, was no.

Dunn came back, the goal posts came down and Florida State will be No. 1 and going to the Sugar Bowl to play for the national title on Jan. 2.

It’s a Dunn deal.

The star tailback, all of 5 feet 9, rushed for 185 yards--a yard for each pound he weighs--as No. 2 Florida State squeaked past No. 1 Florida, 24-21, before a crowd of 80,932 and a host of Heisman voters who could not readily explain why Dunn wasn’t on their short lists.

“Warrick Dunn is sensational,” Florida Coach Steve Spurrier said. “He’s the reason they won the game.”

No one would argue.

Remember when Florida State used to play football like it was pinball? Score 35 points, give up 31, ring buzzers and bells and sell a lot of tickets?

You wouldn’t recognize Bobby Bowden’s latest edition if it weren’t for the feathers on the helmets.

The Seminoles (11-0) are vying for their second national title since 1993--against Nebraska if they beat Texas next week--with a very un-Florida State-like combination of defense and a running game.

Consider that Florida State quarterback Thad Busby completed 12 of 32 passes for 124 yards and played for the winning side.

These Seminoles are about ball control and stonewalls. The nation’s No. 1 defense made Wuerffel wish he’d slept through his alarm, sacking the quarterback six times and leaving him generally wobbled and welted.

Wuerffel completed 23 of 48 passes for 362 yards and probably wishes he hadn’t. He had three touchdowns but, more important, three interceptions.

“As long as the good Lord gave me the strength to get up, I did,” Wuerffel said. “They just kept bringing the heat.”

The matchup between Florida State’s front four and the Florida rag-tag offensive line wasn’t fair.

The Gators (10-1) did a good job containing superstar ends Reinard Wilson and Peter Boulware--who had combined for 31 sacks but finished sackless Saturday--but that left the middle soft, allowing nose tackle Andre Wadsworth to sack Wuerffel twice and tackle Connell Spain to drop him once.

The Seminoles marveled at Wuerffel’s toughness.

“Every year we play him, we get seven sacks and knock him down 25 times,” Wadsworth said.

Boulware hit Wuerffel once and thought that was it.

“I saw him on the ground, moaning a bit,” Boulware said. “I said, ‘Yeah, we got him shook.’ Then he’d get up and complete another pass.”

Not enough of them, though.

The battle between the nation’s top two teams was supposed to be a Heisman coronation for Wuerffel, but it turned out to be a late-season campaign rally for Dunn.

By the end of the third quarter, there was every indication Florida would rally to win. The Gators had fought back from a 17-0 first-quarter deficit, scoring on Wuerffel touchdown passes to E.G. Green, of one and nine yards, on consecutive second-quarter possessions.

All 27 points had been scored in the north end zone, where the teams were aided by a strong tail wind.

When Florida State was held scoreless in the third quarter despite the wind advantage, Spurrier thought the game was his for the taking.

“When we were down, 17-14, with the wind in the fourth quarter, I thought we were going to win,” Spurrier said.

But Florida’s first fourth-quarter drive stalled at the Florida State 24, where Bart Edmiston missed a 41-yard field-goal attempt that would have tied the score.

Florida State took over and knifed through the wind with Dunn, driving 75 yards in 11 plays for a crucial touchdown, as Pooh Bear Williams’ one-yard run with 7:15 left put the Seminoles up, 24-14.

Dunn had runs of 15, eight and 18 yards on the drive, the last a scamper around left to the Florida one.

The Seminoles needed one key pass from an erratic Busby on the drive and got it, when the junior quarterback threw to Peter Warrick for a 29-yard gain on third and six from his own 29.

“I may not be perfect,” Busby said. “I may not make a great pass every time, but I go out and try to do whatever it takes to win. If it means handing off every play, I’m going to do it.”

The Seminoles’ fourth-quarter drive--against the odds, against the wind--left the Gators scrambling. Wuerffel drove his team 80 yards in eight plays and cut the lead to three on a two-yard scoring pass to Reidel Anthony with 1:19 left.

But Florida’s ensuing on-side kick went out of bounds, and Florida State ran out the clock.

Florida can still secure an Alliance bowl berth--probably the Orange--with a win over Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game, but gone are dreams of Spurrier’s first national crown.

“We have a play called ‘Victory’ at the end of the game, where we kneel it,” Busby said. “It feels so good to be able to call that play.”

Asked what was the difference in the game, Boulware didn’t hesitate.

“Warrick Dunn, really,” Boulware said.

Busby says Dunn is great in great games.

“Look at the numbers he puts up in the Miami [and] Florida games,” Busby said of Dunn, who rushed for 163 yards in an Oct. 12 victory over the Hurricanes. “How many backs in the country can put up numbers like that?”

Until Saturday, Dunn’s season had been mixed. He had averaged 99.4 rushing yards per game, ranking him only 34th nationally. He said he never regretted his decision to come back--”500,000 times, no,”--but you had to wonder.

Dunn had every reason to take the NFL money. His mother, Betty, a Baton Rouge police officer, was murdered while working as a security guard while Warrick was in high school, leaving Dunn to raise five siblings.

He could have gone pro and provided financial security, but returned to Tallahassee to get his degree and one last shot at the Heisman and a national title.

Until Saturday, Dunn had gone largely ignored, overshadowed by Big 12 backs with ungodly statistics on mediocre teams--Troy Davis of Iowa State, Texas Tech’s Byron Hanspard, et al.

“You have to realize how important I am to this team,” Dunn said. “But I’m not a stats guy.”

Dunn proved his point, and now has earned a free trip home, to Louisiana, to finish his career on his turf, on his terms.

“It will be a fairy-tale ending to my career to play in the national championship in the Sugar Bowl,” Dunn said. “I really look forward to going back home.”

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College Football at a Glance

* No. 23 Miami: 38

* No. 16 Syracuse: 31

The Hurricanes’ victory knocks the Orangemen out of a major bowl game. C7

* No. 9 Tennessee: 14

* Vanderbilt: 7

PROBABLE BOWL MATCHUPS

SUGAR BOWL

Florida State (11-0) vs. Nebraska (10-1)

FIESTA BOWL

Penn State (10-2) vs. BYU (12-1)

ROSE BOWL

Arizona State (11-0) vs. Ohio State (10-1)

ORANGE BOWL

Virginia Tech (10-1) vs. Florida (10-1)

BOWL GLANCE: C6

Pulling Rank

The No. 2-ranked college football team has defeated the No. 1 team 11 times out of the 32 meetings between the top-ranked teams. A look at how each team ranked at the end of the season in which the No. 2 team prevailed:

*--*

Date Result Final Rank Oct 12, 1963 Texas 28, Oklahoma 7 Texas 1, Oklahoma 9 Jan 1, 1979 Alabama 14, Penn St. 7* Alabama 1, Penn St. 4 Jan 1, 1983 Penn St. 27, Georgia 23* Penn St. 1, Georgia 4 Sept 27, 1986 Miami 28, Oklahoma 16 Miami 2, Oklahoma 3 (Penn St. 1) Jan 2, 1987 Penn St. 14, Miami 10* Penn St. 1, Miami 2 Nov 21, 1987 Oklahoma 17, Nebraska 7 Oklahoma 3, Nebraska 6 (Miami 1) Jan 1, 1988 Miami 20, Oklahoma 14* Miami 1, Oklahoma 3 Nov 16, 1991 Miami 17, Florida St. 16 Miami 1, Florida St. 4 Jan 1, 1993 Alabama 34, Miami 13* Alabama 1, Miami 3 Nov 13, 1993 Notre Dame 31, Florida St. 24 Florida St. 1, Notre Dame 2 Nov 30, 1996 Florida St. 24, Florida 21

*--*

*--Bowl game.