Seminoles Run Deep Pattern

Once again, depth equals championships.

Florida State played 54 players Tuesday . . . in the first quarter.

“Everybody was all wondering about who would start and who was getting benched for the curfew thing but, like I said, on this team it doesn’t matter,” Coach Bobby Bowden said. “We have a lot of guys for a lot of positions.

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Bowden allowed that, “We could actually have a pretty good team next year too.”

Considering the Seminoles won two national titles in eight years and have 13 consecutive finishes in college football’s top four, that could be a pretty safe bet.

Eligible to return are quarterback Chris Weinke, two top runners (Travis Minor and Jeff Chaney) and two of its top four receivers (Marvin Minnis and Robert Morgan).

Eligible to return on defense are three of their top Sugar Bowl tacklers--Bradley Jennings, Derrick Gibson and Jamal Reynolds.

Weinke will hold a news conference Friday in Tallahassee to announce whether he will make himself eligible for the NFL draft. He turns 28 in July.

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The game ended poorly for some Virginia Tech fans, who threw beer cans in the direction of Peter Warrick while chanting curses at him.

Warrick looked at them and shrugged.

“You don’t win with your mouth, you win with your heart,” Warrick said.

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President Clinton called not only the winning locker room, but the losing one.

“When he takes time to call the team that lost, it shows that he really admired the way this football team played all year and I appreciate that a lot,” Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer said.

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Several Nebraska fans got stuck with hotel rooms in New Orleans this week, no doubt made months ago in case the Cornhuskers played in the Sugar Bowl for the national championships.

Sunday, dozens of red-clad fans cheered No. 3 Nebraska’s 31-21 win over Tennessee in the Hyatt Regency sports bar, and some felt the convincing victory warranted consideration for Nebraska winning the national title.

Outside the Superdome on Tuesday, a Nebraska fan held up a placard that read: “We know the truth: Go big Red.”

The truth?

The truth is Nebraska (12-1) lost to Texas.

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You couldn’t walk through the French Quarter without bumping into a Bowden. All six of Bobby and Ann Bowden’s children attended Tuesday’s game, as well as 21 grandkids. In all, 35 members of the Bowden family were in attendance.

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Former Florida State players in attendance included Warrick Dunn, Marvin Jones, Andre Wadsworth, Reinard Wilson, Peter Boulware and Derrick Brooks.