Florida State Still a Hot Topic for Polls

Brigham Young started Larry King’s brother-in-law at quarterback against Florida State but might have fared as well shoving the CNN talk show host behind center.

At least King could have cut to commercial.

The first day of the college football season revealed little we did not already know.

The grass is still green, the refs still dress in stripes, Bobby Bowden can still spin a yarn and Florida State is still good.

How good will depend on whether the Seminoles can increase their attention spans.

Saturday night in the Pigskin Classic, the defending national champions issued an early August warning with a 29-3 victory over BYU before a crowd of 54,260 at Alltel Stadium.

Florida State improved to 2-0 on the year--counting last January’s championship victory over Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl--and seemed to pick up where that game left off . . . at least in the first half.

The Seminoles quickly opened a 22-0 lead and then appeared to lose interest before Travis Minor scored late on a five-yard run.

“If we can’t get better than what we did tonight, we’re going to be in trouble,” Bowden said.

Well, maybe not.

It was a 26-point margin, and BYU is not exactly NYU. The Cougars have posted 26 straight winning seasons under Coach LaVell Edwards and won a national title in 1984. In 28 seasons, Cougar quarterbacks have thrown for a total of 57 miles.

Saturday, though, they managed only 227 yards and minus-2 yards rushing.

Bowden figured his offense would dominate and his defense would struggle.

It was just the opposite.

“Our defense was super,” Bowden said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

The offense only had its moments. Quarterback Chris Weinke, who returned for his senior year at age 28, shredded the BYU secondary for 318 yards and two touchdowns while setting career highs for completions (32) and attempts (50).

But the Seminoles rushed for only 57 yards.

What more did Weinke have to prove after leading Florida State to a 12-0 season?

NFL scouts projected him as only a third-round pick at best, prompting Weinke to return and brush up his pro portfolio.

Charged with being slow-footed, he dropped 20 pounds in the off-season and showed off his new speed with a career-long, 21-yard, second-quarter scramble.

Florida State has won 21 straight games with Weinke at quarterback, his last loss coming at North Carolina State in 1998.

Weinke led two first-quarter touchdown drives, the first ending with a 19-yard scoring pass to Javon Walker, the second a three-yard toss to Atrews Bell.

Florida State’s biggest problem may be finding a kicker to replace Sebastian Janikowski, who made all 47 of his extra-point attempts last season and did not miss a field goal inside 45 yards.

With Brett Cimorelli, Janikowski’s projected replacement, hobbled by a groin injury, Florida State turned to redshirt freshman Matt Munyon, who pushed his first extra-point attempt wide right and missed field-goal attempts of 34 and 27 yards.

“The kicking game was like I was afraid of,” Bowden said. “We missed an extra point and two short field goals. I felt like the biggest drop-off would be Janikowski.”

Kickers have been the bane of Bowden’s career at Florida State. After too many last-second losses, most to Miami, Bowden finally awarded scholarships to kickers.

Who knows, with a little defense, Florida State might not need a kicker this year.

With his team already leading 13-0, FSU defensive end Jamal Reynolds stripped the ball from sophomore quarterback Bret Engemann, yes, the younger brother of Larry King’s latest wife.

Florida State linebacker Bradley Jennings pounced on the loose ball in the end zone for a safety to make it 15-0.

The Seminoles pushed the lead to 22-0 in the second quarter when Bell ran six yards on a reverse for a score.

Florida State was supposed to suffer after losing All-American receiver Peter Warrick, but the Seminoles simply introduced a new set of talented pass catchers, led by Anquan Boldin, Marvin Minnis and Bell.

Minnis finished with nine catches for 137 yards.

“We have a group of receivers that I think could be the best in the country,” Weinke said.

The defense was suspect at times last year and figured to be weakened by the loss of tackles Corey Simon and Jerry Johnson.

But Saturday’s unit suffocated BYU, which did not score until Owen Pochman made a 42-yard field goal with 2:19 left in the third quarter.

The kick prevented the Cougars from being shut out for the first time since 1975; Pochman’s boot extended the school’s NCAA-record scoring streak to 313 games.

Brigham Young picked the wrong opener to break in a new quarterback.

Both Engemann and Charlie Peterson, who split time, completed only 18 of 46 passes for 227 yards with three interceptions.

“I’m reasonably pleased with the quarterbacks,” Edwards said. “We still have a ways to go there.”