Seminoles Score a KO Over Tar Heels

In their own cruel, confident and convincing way, the No. 3-ranked Florida State Seminoles beat down another up-and-comer Saturday night.

No. 5 North Carolina had hoped to use this showdown with the Seminoles as a platform to prove it had moved into the nation’s elite, but Florida State’s 20-3 victory showed the Tar Heels have a ways to go.

“You gotta get kicked around a little bit in championship games, then you finally learn how to play,” Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said of the Tar Heels. “That’s what I had to find out. We’ve got that advantage over them.”

Florida State, 9-0 and 7-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, doomed the Tar Heels (8-1, 5-1) by sacking Oscar Davenport seven times before knocking him out in the third quarter with a fractured right ankle.

Replacement Chris Keldorf went down twice as the nation’s sack leader tied a school record with nine sacks.

North Carolina’s 73 total yards were its lowest since getting 56 in a Nov. 4, 1950, loss at Tennessee.

“Coach Bowden preaches every year that defense win championships,” said linebacker Daryl Bush. “The big misconception is that we’re a team that has pretty wrist bands and we’re not a physical team, but week in and week out we disprove that.

“We played relentless like we knew we were capable of. We let up at times in the last couple of weeks but that doesn’t happen in games like this.”

Thad Busby, who had five touchdown passes in a 48-35 victory over North Carolina State last Saturday, threw two first-half scoring passes as the Seminoles took a 17-0 lead on the way to improving their ACC record to 46-1, clinching at least a tie for their sixth league crown in as many years.

“I don’t believe any team in the country could have beaten them tonight,” said North Carolina Coach Mack Brown.

Florida State also moved another step closer to a possible national championship game with No. 1 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. The Seminoles beat the Cornhuskers, 18-16, four seasons ago in Miami to give Bowden his only national title.

The first matchup of top five teams in ACC history occurred on Bowden’s 68th birthday and drew an estimated record Kenan Stadium crowd of 62,000, some scaling 10-foot fences to sneak past security guards.

In addition, more than 500 media credentials were issued and actor Burt Reynolds, who played football at Florida State in the ‘50s, was on the Seminole sideline.

Much of the drama was gone after the first 30 minutes as Florida State’s defense dominated North Carolina’s flustered offense, limiting it to nine yards in the first half.

Davenport, coming off a record 360-yard passing effort against Georgia Tech, fumbled in his first series and had a pass intercepted on the second as the Tar Heels saw their 10-game winning streak end and the program drop to 0-29-1 in games against top five teams.

“The first two plays of the game set the tone. Boom! It was a hard hit, a sack, a fumble and we get the ball,” said Andre Wadsworth, who had three of Florida State’s sacks. “That opened his eyes saying it was going to be a long night.”

The Seminoles are 24-5-1 in their last 30 games against ranked opponents.

“People can say at least our defense held them. That’s nothing to be happy about, if you ask me,” said North Carolina’s Greg Ellis. “I don’t care if it was 3-0. They won.”

Busby also started slowly, going two for nine for 16 yards before completing four passes on Florida State’s first scoring drive 11 minutes into the game.

The Seminoles started near midfield after a 20-yard North Carolina punt, and Busby had completions of 17, six and 15 yards before finding tight end Melvin Pearsall for eight-yard score. It was the senior’s first touchdown catch of the season.

The Tar Heels were held scoreless in the first quarter for the sixth time in nine games, with their only first down came via a defensive holding penalty.