Without Warrick, No. 1 Florida State Wins With Weinke

Wearing baggy blue jeans and a red golf shirt, All-American receiver Peter Warrick could only pace the Florida State sideline and cheer on his teammates.

Suspended indefinitely after his arrest on a grand theft charge for underpaying for designer clothes at a department store, Warrick went on national TV and apologized, then gave the Seminoles a pregame pep talk.

It worked, but it took a while.

Chris Weinke connected with 11 receivers for 332 yards and two touchdowns as No. 1 Florida State overcame a sloppy first half for a 31-21 victory over No. 19 Miami on Saturday in a nonconference game.

“They stepped up,” Warrick said as he was hurried off the field by security guards. “They showed we’re the No. 1 team in the nation.”

Warrick’s fellow wide receivers were a big reason. Germaine Stringer, a fifth-year senior with only 12 catches before Saturday, had three for 80 yards, including a 48-yarder 3:47 into the game. And Ron Dugans came through with five receptions for 80 yards, including a 54-yarder that set up Travis Minor’s clinching two-yard touchdown run with 9:55 left.

“I don’t want to talk about Peter at all,” said Weinke, who completed 23 of 34 passes. “This football team showed up and played and won. They got the job done.”

In an interview with ABC before the game, Warrick apologized “for making a poor decision and a bad judgment,” and said, “I want to apologize to my family, friends, team, coaches and most of all my fans. I’m just trying to learn from my mistakes and move on.”

Warrick said he hopes to return to the team but is taking things “one step at a time.” His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday.

Florida State (6-0) has beaten Miami (2-3) five years in a row, and in doing so the Seminoles won their 27th straight at Doak Campbell Stadium. It was their 44th straight home game without a loss.

Both streaks are the longest among major colleges.

“You’re never sure how well you’ll play after all the things we went through,” Seminole Coach Bobby Bowden said after career win No. 298. “The only thing that blew my mind was the way they rolled up and down the field against us in the first half.”

Miami scored all its points in a 21-21 first half, with Kenny Kelly throwing touchdown passes of eight yards to Reggie Wayne and 80 and 14 yards to Santana Moss. The Hurricanes finished with 448 yards, but were held to 166 in the second half by a defense that almost gave away the game in the opening 30 minutes.

“I thought our kids spilled their guts and played as hard as we’ve probably played this year,” Miami Coach Butch Davis said.

Kelly completed 27 of 41 passes for 370 yards, and Moss had nine catches for 180 yards.

With Miami trailing, 24-21, Weinke led the Seminoles on a game-clinching 97-yard drive.

Dugans’ 54-yard gain and a pass-interference penalty in the end zone against Miami’s Leonard Myers, who was defending against Dugans, set up Minor’s run, and Florida State kept its national title hopes alive.

Bowden gave Weinke credit for taking a leadership role usually reserved for Warrick.

“He looked serious when he was practicing,” Bowden said. “He was stepping forward and making statements that I hadn’t seen him making, such as ‘Let’s do this!’ ”