Florida Will Accept This Lemon

In most years the Orange Bowl is one of the most prestigious bowls, a game that has played a part in the national championship picture eight times since 1982.

It’s safe to say Florida’s 31-10 victory over Syracuse Saturday night won’t figure prominently in the bowl’s lore.

It’s almost as if this game was destined for the scrapheap. It was treated like a stepchild from the outset, with the calendar and the power of the NFL conspiring to bounce the game from the new digs in Pro Player Stadium back to its original namesake home to accommodate a Miami Dolphin home playoff game.

And because the Fiesta Bowl drew the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 game in the new bowl championship series, the Orange Bowl got the also-rans.

The best it could muster this time was No. 7 Florida and No. 18 Syracuse, a kind of between-meal snack for hard-core college football fans slotted after the glut of games on New Year’s Day and before the Fiesta Bowl “national championship” game Monday night.

It did bring together two of the highest-scoring teams in the country, who put up an average of more than 70 points a game between them.

But instead of a shootout, the Orangemen found themselves fighting to avoid a shutout. They didn’t get their first points until Nathan Trout kicked a 36-yard field goal a minute and a half into the second quarter, and didn’t score again until Donovan McNabb threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Jackson with 3:33 remaining and the game well out of reach.

“We just couldn’t get any rhythm, get anything going tonight,” Syracuse Coach Paul Pasqualoni said.

The Gators were picking up yards any way they wanted. They rushed for 133 yards, led by Terry Jackson’s 108, and passed for 308. Wide receiver Travis Taylor caught seven catches for 159 yards, which tied the Orange Bowl record for receiving yardage set by Alabama’s Ray Perkins in 1966.

Florida Coach Steve Spurrier played quarterback for the Gators in the next Orange Bowl, and Saturday he joined Georgia Tech’s Pepper Rodgers as the only men to play and coach in the Orange Bowl.

“I didn’t get a game ball in the 1967 Orange Bowl, so I’m giving myself one tonight,” Spurrier said.

It was well deserved, members of both teams said.

“It’s bad enough to give Coach Spurrier a week to prepare,” Florida quarterback Jesse Palmer said. “You give the guy a month. . .”

You get 441 yards of offense, the third most allowed by the Orangemen (8-4) this season.

Florida interim defensive coordinator Bob Sanders, who took over when Bobby Stoops left after the regular season to take the Oklahoma coaching job, also drew praise after his team held Syracuse to its lowest yardage total of the season, 321 yards. (Stoops is taking Spurrier’s son, Steve Jr., with him).

When the Orangemen tried to head outside for their option plays, they usually found a pack of Gators waiting for them. And when McNabb looked downfield, he couldn’t find anyone open. He spent more time scrambling around and running than completing passes.

“They did a great job covering the receivers,” said McNabb, who rushed for 72 yards and completed 14 of 30 passes for 192 yards. “I just tried to pick up yards any way I could.”

The game slipped away from Syracuse early in the first quarter. Florida’s first two touchdown drives took 79 seconds off the game clock. Quarterback Doug Johnson found a wide-open Taylor for a 51-yard touchdown. The next time Florida got the ball, Johnson hit Taylor again, and he spun away from Ian McIntosh for a 26-yard score.

Johnson broke his left leg when Syracuse defensive end Mark Pilon tackled him just after Johnson released a pass in the second quarter, but the Gators moved right on.

Palmer, who started the first six games of the season before breaking his collarbone against Louisiana State on Oct. 10, replaced him. On his second play, Palmer hit tight end Erron Kinney for a four-yard touchdown.

Palmer did show some signs of rust. After the Gators called a sneak from the Syracuse 2, he lined up in shotgun formation and Spurrier had to yell at him to move up behind the center. Palmer took the snap and went into the end zone for the touchdown that put Florida ahead 28-3 with 35 seconds left in the second quarter.

Saturday’s victory made the Gators (10-2) the first Southeastern Conference team to win at least 10 games in five consecutive years and will assure a spot in the top 10 of the final Associated Press rankings for the eighth straight year.

But the main reasons the Gators were invited to this Orange Bowl instead of Kansas State or Arizona was the school’s location a couple hundred miles away and the 20,000 alumni in South Florida.

Even though both schools’ colors are orange and blue, it was easy to tell that most of the fans were cheering for Florida.

Syracuse made this bowl as the Big East champion. The Orangemen and Gators lost to Tennessee in games that came down to the final play, while Florida lost to Florida State by nine points. So if that provides any clue as to who will win the Fiesta Bowl, perhaps this Orange Bowl will have served a purpose after all.

Fiesta Bowl

No. 1 Tennessee (12-0) vs. No. 2 Florida St. (11-1)

Monday

5 p.m.

Channel 7

Story, page 4