Florida State Looks Set for Florida Showdown

After weeks of inconsistent performances, top-ranked Florida State looked deserving of its ranking Saturday.

Chris Weinke passed for six touchdowns--three to Peter Warrick--as the Seminoles clobbered Maryland, 49-10, to reach 10 victories for the 13th consecutive season.

The Seminoles, 10-0 overall and 8-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, need to defeat Florida (9-1) on Saturday at Gainesville to guarantee a second consecutive trip to the national championship game.

“This is what we needed,” Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said of his team’s dominating performance against Maryland. “I’d have been pretty disappointed if we hadn’t played good.”

Florida State trailed at one point in each of its previous four victories and barely escaped with a 17-14 victory at Clemson on Oct. 23.

Bowden admitted much of the season has been a tuneup for the showdown with No. 4 Florida.

“Now the rest comes next week,” Bowden said. “I doubt if anything we could do would intimidate them.”

Weinke, who did not play in the fourth quarter, passed for four touchdowns in the first half. He had two six-yard touchdown passes to Ron Dugans, a five-yarder to Warrick and a 30-yarder to Atrews Bell as the Seminoles built a 28-3 lead.

Weinke combined with Warrick on scoring plays covering 26 and 28 yards in the third quarter as the Seminoles increased the lead to 42-3. Marcus Outzen’s 35-yard touchdown pass to Greg Moore in the fourth quarter completed Florida State’s scoring.

Weinke, on facing Florida, said, “If you don’t win that game everybody forgets about the first 10 wins.”