Florida State Seminoles vs BYU Football History-And A Tale of Role Reversals

This Saturday, when FSU and BYU meet for only the third time in what is expected to be a shoot-out, this game will also feature a classic case of role reversal.

In addition, this game will undoubtedly be a great indicator of how far the Noles have truly progressed since last year, and even a little further back in time to our miserable 7-6 back to back seasons of '06 and '07.  More importantly however, this game could also very well set the benchmark of what the Seminole Nation can expect from our Noles for the remainder of this 2009 season.

FSU and BYU have only met twice in their history.  Both times they played, the games were the openers for the college football seasons in the Pigskin Classics, and both times Florida State left the neutral site game as the winner.  Later in this story I will give a brief recap of both of these game complete with scoring summaries and with complete post game stats.

This upcoming game at Lavell Edwards Stadium in Provo also clearly demonstrates the opposite directions these two proud programs have traveled since their previous two meetings, and this could very well be used as the textbook example for the perfect definition of role reversals.

FSU and BYU first met in the 1991 college football season kickoff in the Disneyland Pigskin Classic, which was played in Anaheim, Ca.  Florida State was coming off a very respectable 1990 season, ending the season with the #4 ranking while finishing 10-2, including a 24-17 Blockbuster Bowl victory against Penn State.  For this 1991 showdown, the Noles were the consensus preseason #1 ranked team, which was a ranking we held while going undefeated through the first 10 games of the season.

BYU entered this game ranked at #19.  The Cougars also came in having a very respectable 1990 season, finishing 10-3, with a final #22 ranking and winning the WAC crown, however then suffering a season ending bowl game loss to Texas A&M by a final of 65-14.

FSU was a heavy favorite to win this game and they did not disappoint us by pounding the Cougars 44-28 (again, more on this game a little later).

The second meeting of these two programs was in the 2000 college football season opener, also a  Pigskin Classic, but this time it was held in Jacksonville, Fl.  Florida State came in to this game as the most dominate team in football during the past 12 years, finishing the previous season as the first ever wire to wire #1 ranked team, and beating Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl which earned us our second National Championship.  Despite winning the previous years NC and with a healthy roster of returning players, FSU entered this game with a preseason #2 ranking.

BYU entered this game unranked after a mediocre 8-4 1999 season, once again finishing the season unranked in the final poll for the third straight year despite winning the first ever Mountain West Conference championship.  Before the game and at the start of the season,  Head Coach Lavell Edwards announced that the 2000 season would be his last after a storied 29 year career at BYU.  There is no doubt that the Cougars wanted to start the season on the right foot by defeating FSU, and by then sending Edwards out with another conference championship to end the season.

Once again though Florida State was a heavy favorite, and once again the Noles did not disappoint the Nole faithful who watched them kick off the 2000 season with a 29-3 near shutout and rout of the Cougars.

This Saturday in Utah it is the Noles who will be entering the game unranked against the 7th ranked Cougars. 

This time it will be the Noles who are facing a QB being touted for the Davey O'Brien Award, and even some murmurs of Heisman consideration. 

This time it will be the Noles who are facing a team that has had 3 consecutive 10 game winning seasons, and one of only seven teams that are able to make this claim.  

This time it will be the Noles who will be entering the game coming off a disappointing 9-4 season, i.e. disappointing by Seminole standards, nevertheless a welcome change to the 2 previous barely over .500 season. 

This time it's the Seminole Head Coach with one foot out the door (we pray) and facing retirement, if not at the end of this season then by the end of the next season at the latest. 

This time FSU is entering the game with a 1-1 record against a undefeated BYU team, while just barely avoiding what would have made our Noles the laughingstock of the NCAA with a loss to Jacksonville State.  This averted near disaster would have forever put the Noles in the same category as the Michigan/Appalachian State and USC/Stanford fiasco's. 

This time it's the Noles who are facing one of just eight teams to be ranked in the final USA Today Coaches Poll each of the past three seasons, and one of just nine programs to be ranked in the final BCS Standings and Associated Press Top 25 during that span. 

This time it is the Noles facing a BYU team that has posted a 32-7 overall record the past three years, a record only surpassed by five teams—Boise State (35-4), Florida (34-6), Oklahoma (34-7), USC (34-5) and Ohio State (33-5).

Finally, this time it will be the Noles traveling to face a team that has won 18 straight home games.

My oh my, how these two teams have experience a reversal of fortunes since we last gave the Cougars that wonderful thumping on August 26, 2000.  This really tears at me inside. This is humiliating.  This is very painful for me, as someone who has watched this program grow from the irrelevance of the late 70's to one of the most dominant programs in college football history, and now we are finding ourselves back close to becoming irrelevant once again.  It's just plain sad. 

I will not go into any further detail about our fall from grace, because we all know this story all too well, and it has been discussed here ad-nauseum.  I will not discuss the upcoming BYU game any further because FSUncensored will be presenting his final game preview later this week.  I will not make a prediction for this game at this time, because I will be posting another "The Final Score" story later in the week, with the predictions from our self proclaimed experts, the authors here at TN, and at that time I will ask you, the readers, for your predictions.

HERE IS MY BOTTOM LINE:

This little tale of role reversals is just plain sorry and very painful for any true Nole to accept.  It is like a kick in the gut and it just makes me so very sad.

Please continue reading after the jump for the details of our two previous encounters with the BYU Cougars, in what were some of best times in Seminole Nation History. 

In 1991, the Noles backfield consisted of  All American QB Casey Weldon, Edgar Bennett (FB), with Amp Lee and Sean Jackson at tailback. At WR's we had Eric Turral, Kez McCorvey, Kevin Knox, Shannon Baker, and our TE was Lonnie Johnson.  All American Patrick McNeil and Kevin Mancini anchored the offensive line with Robert Stevenson, Robbie Baker, Reggie Dixon, and freshmen Clay Shiver getting some playing time.

The defense was loaded with talent, including All Americans Marvin Jones, Terrell Buckley, and Kirk Carruthers. Other defensive stalwarts included Howard Dinkins, Ken Alexander, Leon Fowler, Erroll McCorvey, Reggie Freeman, Carl Simpson, Clifton Abraham, and Toddrick McIntosh.

Our kickers were Gerry Thomas and Dan Mowrey, our punter was Scott Player, and returning punts was T-Buck. 

Disneyland Pigskin Classic-August 29, 1991-Anaheim, California

In what was billed as the Florida State defense against the returning Heisman winner, the Davey O'Brien Winner, the Maxwell Award winner, and the Ty Detmer air show, the Cougars proved no match for the Nole defense, and at the same time had no answers for FSU's high powered offense.

Seminole FB Edgar Bennett started the scoring and put the Seminoles in the lead 13-0, with a short touchdown reception of 4 yards, then with a run of 3 yards (missed XP).  After BYU narrowed the score to 13-7 in the 2nd quarter, the Noles quickly answered with 2 more touchdowns. The first was a short pass from Weldon to WR Eric Turral (2 pt conversion pass to Matt Frier), followed by a Amp Lee 5 yard td run.  The halftime score was 28-14 after BYU scored on another long run to end the half

Edgar's 3rd touchdown of the day iced the game for the Noles at 35-14 in the third quarter, and later Sean Jackson nailed the door shut with another short TD run.  The Cougars made the score seem deceivingly competitive with 2 late 4th quarter garbage time touchdowns, but the game was well out of reach at that point.

Casey Weldon passed for 268 yards on 21 of 28 while outshining Heisman defender Ty Detmer, who the Noles defense harassed all day allowing him only 229 yards passing, and snapping his 24 straight games of passing for over 300 yards. 

1st   7- 0  Edgar Bennett, 4, pass from Casey Weldon (Dan Mowrey, kick), 9:47 
     13- 0  Edgar Bennett, 3, run (Dan Mowrey, kick failed), 4:57 
2nd  13- 7  Opp, 21, run (kick), 14:28
     21- 7  Eric Turral, 6, pass from Casey Weldon (Matt Frier, pass from Casey Weldon), 8:56 
     28- 7  Amp Lee, 5, run (Dan Mowrey, kick), 4:42 
     28-14  Opp, 22, run (kick), 2:18 
3rd  35-14  Edgar Bennett, 2, run (Dan Mowrey, kick), 7:10 
4th  42-14  Sean Jackson, 2, run (Dan Mowrey, kick), 10:08
     44-14  Dan Footman, safety, 10:00
     44-21  Opp, 30, pass (kick), 7:22 
     44-28  Opp, 6, pass (kick), 2:27 



TEAM STATISTICS


                       FSU     OPP
First downs             28      13
Rushes-yards        57-275  19- 33
Passing                268     229
Att-Comp-Int       28-21-0 32-19-1
Total Yards         85-543  51-262
Punt Returns           4-4     2-3
Kickoff Returns       4-59   6-105
Interception Ret.      1-0     0-0
Fumble Returns         1-0     1-0
Punts               4-34.8  6-39.3
Sacks By-Yds          3-28     0-0
Fumbles-Lost           2-1     1-1
Penalties-Yds       11-100    6-42
3rd Down Conversions 10-16    4-12
Time of Posession    38:11   21:49
Attendance                  38,363

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing
Edgar Bennett               21-  98
Amp Lee                     13-  75
Sean Jackson                 9-  75
Casey Weldon                 4-  27
Shannon Baker                1-  19
Brad Johnson                 1-  14
Tiger McMillon               2-   5
William Floyd                1-   4
Paul Moore                   1-   2
Marquette Smith              2-   1
Eric Turral                  1-  -5
 Team                        1- -40

Receiving
Eric Turral                  6-  96
Edgar Bennett                6-  65
Kez McCorvey                 2-  33
Amp Lee                      2-  32
Sean Jackson                 2-  18
Shannon Baker                2-  17
Warren Hart                  1-   7

Passing
Casey Weldon                28-21-0-268

Punt Return
Terrell Buckley              4-   4

Kickoff Return
Tiger McMillon               3-  58
Terrell Buckley              1-   1

Punting
Scott Player                 4- 139

                        |---------Tackles---------| |---Sacks---| |---Pass Def---| |-Fumbles-| Blkd
DEFENSIVE STATISTICS     UT   AT  Total   ForLoss     No - Yards  Int-Yds BrUp QBH Rcv-Yds  FF Kick Saf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terrell Buckley           5    1     6      .            .          1-  0   1    .    .      .   .   .
Ken Alexander             5    .     5      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Errol McCorvey            3    1     4      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Marvin Jones              4    .     4      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Reggie Freeman            3    1     4   1.0- 14.0    1.0- 14.0      .      .    .    .      1   .   .
Dan Footman               4    .     4   2.0-  7.0    1.0-  6.0      .      .    .    .      .   .   1
Derrick Brooks            3    .     3   1.0-  3.0       .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
John Davis                1    1     2   1.0- 12.0       .           .      1    .    .      .   .   .
Kirk Carruthers           1    1     2      .            .           .      1    .    .      .   .   .
Henry Ostaszewski         2    .     2      .            .           .      1    .    .      .   .   .
Leon Fowler               2    .     2      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Troy Sanders              2    .     2   1.0-  8.0    1.0-  8.0      .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Deondri Clark             1    .     1      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Corey Fuller              1    .     1      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Sterling Palmer           1    .     1      .            .           .      1    .    .      .   .   .
Howard Dinkins            1    .     1      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Chris Cowart              1    .     1      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Steve Gilmer              1    .     1      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Carl Simpson              .    .     .      .            .           .      .    .   1-  0   .   .   .
Richard Coes              .    .     .      .            .           .      1    .    .      .   .   .

Then in 2000, after winning our second NC, FSU was once again still loaded with talent.  Our QB was Chris Weinke who would go on to win the Heisman. Sharing the backfield with Chris were Travis Minor, Greg Jones, Jeff Chaney, and Davy Ford.  Catching Weinke's passes were Snoop Minnis, Anquan Boldin, Javon Walker, and Atrews Bell.  All American Tarlos Thomas anchored the O line along with Char-ron Dorsey, Ross Brannon, Donald Haven, and a handfull of underclassmen sharing time.

Our defense had 7 players who received All American recoginition.  They were Darnell Dockett, Tommy Polley, Chris Hope, Tay Cody, Kendyll Pope, Jamal Reynolds, and Jeff Womble.  Other defensive contributors included Derrick Gibson, Clevan Thomas, Brian Allen, and Bradley Jennings.

We had a 3 headed kicker by the names of Brett Cimorelli, Chance Gwaltney, and Matt Munyon, and our punter was Keith Cottrell.  

 Pigskin Classic, 08/26/2000, Jacksonville, Fl

Chris Weinke did a lot more than just stand back in the pocket and throw touchdown passes in this game.  Our 28 year old quarterback (talk about role reversal — it's usually BYU with the old guys) ran, blocked and even knocked over the opposing coach Lavell Edwards,  as our No. 2 Florida State opened our defense of the NC with a 29-3 victory over BYU .

While Weinke wasn't his usual accurate self, he did hit on 32 of 50 passes, both career highs for 318 yards and two touchdowns.  Chris also ran for 21 yards, the longest rush of his career, to set up a third score, a 6 yard double reverse in which he threw the key block.

Anchored by defensive end Jamal Reynolds, who caused a safety and had two sacks, the Seminoles intercepted three passes, recovered a fumble and totaled five sacks against the 2 BYU quarterbacks.

The Noles held BYU to 79 yards in the first half, minus 13 rushing and held them to 225 total yards on the day.

On his first TD pass, a 19 yarder to Javon Walker just 2:47 into the season, Weinke was pushed into BYU's LaVell Edwards on the sideline and the collision sent the 69 year old coach flying and sprawling. It was probably the  hardest hit Weinke took all night.

BYU was overmatched from the start, unable to keep up with Florida State's new set of speedy receivers featuring Marvin Minnis, Atrews Bell, Anquan Boldin and Walker. Peter Warrick? Who's he?

BYU barely extended its NCAA record of scoring in consecutive games to 313 when their kicker made a 42 yard field goal late in the third quarter.

After a 3 yard TD pass to Bell and a safety made it 15-0, Weike took off on the longest run of his career. Before the 21 yarder, his previous longest run was 8 yards. He rolled left, saw running room and the old man outran several  defenders before being chased out of bounds at the 6. On the next play, a double reverse, he threw the block that freed up Bell for the TD that put the Seminoles in control at 22-0 early in the second quarter.  BYU had little chance against the much faster Seminoles.

After this game Weinke only needed and later got 389 yards to become Florida State's career passing leader, ahead of Gary Huff, who had 6,378 yards from 1970-72. As of this game Weinke has won 22 of the 23 games he had started.

With this victory, FSU went ahead and extended our then winning streak to 13 games and we had alsos won 22 consecutive regular season games.

Our Noles scored on the opening drive, with Weinke's first completion of the season which was a 15 yarder to Minnis helping to set up the TD. Four plays later, the one in which he was shoved into Edwards, Weinke lofted his TD pass to Walker from about the 30. It dropped into the receiver's arms with three BYU defenders hanging all over him.

Florida State added a final TD with 1:11 left on a Travis Minor's 5 yard run.

Minnis led Florida State receivers with nine catches for 137 yards, and Javon had eight catches for 70 yards.

Edwards, the coach, will probably never forget the hit he and his team took that great day against our Noles.

This is probably a more objective write up of the game, one that  I came across which probably does a better job of recapping the game.

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- Florida State did not appear comfortable in its role as defending national champion, but Atrews Bell was right at home.

Bell, a Jacksonville native, caught a touchdown pass and ran for another as the second-ranked Seminoles began their title defense with a lackluster 29-3 victory over Brigham Young in the Pigskin Classic. 

Florida State scored 15 points in the first 12 1/2 minutes, held BYU without a touchdown and cruised to its 13th straight victory, the longest current winning streak in Division I-A.

However, the Seminoles also went scoreless for nearly the entire second half, showed flaws in their kicking game and looked very little like the explosive squad that roared to the 1999 title.

Nevertheless, FSU dominated and improved to 2-0 all-time against BYU.  The teams' only other meeting came in the 1991 Pigskin Classic, with the Seminoles rolling to a 44-28 win.

Bell, one of five FSU players from Jacksonville, caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Chris Weinke to make it 13-0 late in the first quarter.  He added a six-yard TD run on an end around early in the second period to give the Seminoles total control.

A junior who caught just 14 passes for 202 yards last season, Bell is being counted on to pick up the slack for the departed Peter Warrick, who was among college football's best players last year.

Bell caught four passes for 37 yards and was one of eight receivers used by Weinke, who threw for 318 yards with career highs of 32 completions and 50 attempts.  The 28-year-old improved to 22-1 as a starter.

"We just didn't execute the way we wanted to," Weinke said. "We won the football game, our defense played great.   We moved the ball well but we didn't close the deal."

With a new quarterback in redshirt freshman Bret Engemann, the Cougars looked disoriented and were held scoreless late into the third quarter, putting their streak of 313 games with points in jeopardy.

Owen Pochman's 42-yard field goal with 2:19 left in the period kept alive the streak but BYU has been held without a touchdown in its last two games.  The Cougars suffered a 21-3 loss to Marshall in the 1999 Motor City Bowl.

The game featured a matchup of long-time coaches Bobby Bowden of Florida State and LaVell Edwards of BYU.  Bowden improved to 305-85-4, nine behind Amos Alonzo Stagg for fourth on the all-time list.  Edwards, who announced last week that his 29th season would be his last, fell to 251-96-3.

Engemann was 12-of-28 for 139 yards, two interceptions and three sacks.  He split time with junior Charlie Peterson was 6-of-18 for 88 yards, one interception and two sacks.  The Cougars also were held to minus-2 yards rushing.

BYU went three-and-out after the opening kickoff and Weinke engineered a seven-play, 46-yard drive that he capped with a 19-yard TD pass to Jevon Walker, who caught eight passes for 70 yards.  Weinke scrambled right and off his back foot flung a pass to the back of the end zone to a wide-open Walker.

Matt Munyon, filling the large and accurate shoes of the departed Sebastian Janikowski, missed the extra point.

Just over nine minutes later, Bell completed a 70-yard march when he ran an inside slant and broke back to the right corner of the end zone to take Weinke's pass.

On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, defensive end Jamal Reynolds swarmed Engemann and knocked the ball loose.  A wild scramble knocked it into the end zone, where offensive lineman Ben Archibald fell on it and was tackled for a safety.

After an exchange of possessions, the Seminoles went 46 yards in six plays and 62 seconds for another score.  Bell came from the right flanker, took a handoff from tailback Travis Minor and scampered in for a 22-0 lead with 12:26 remaining in the second quarter.

Munyon missed a 34-yard field goal midway through the period.

A quiet second half was capped by Minor's five-yard TD run with 1:11 to play. He managed 37 yards on 16 carries.

Marvin Minnis had nine catches for 137 yards for the Seminoles, who held a 375-225 advantage in total yards and overcame 11 penalties.

1st   6- 0  Javon Walker, 19, pass from Chris Weinke (Matt Munyon, kick failed), 12:13
     13- 0  Atrews Bell, 3, pass from Chris Weinke (Matt Munyon, kick), 3:01 
     15- 0  Jamal Reynolds, safety, 2:42 
2nd  22- 0  Atrews Bell, 6, run (Matt Munyon, kick), 12:26
     22- 0  Matt Munyon, 34, field goal failed, 5:30 
3rd  22- 3  Opp, 42, field goal, 2:19 
4th  22- 3  Matt Munyon, 27, field goal failed, 8:28 
     29- 3  Travis Minor, 5, run (Matt Munyon, kick), 1:11 



TEAM STATISTICS


                       FSU     OPP
First downs             25      18
Rushes-yards        36- 57  24- -2
Passing                318     227
Att-Comp-Int       51-32-0 46-18-3
Total Yards         87-375  70-225
Punt Returns          3-16    3-19
Kickoff Returns       1-28    5-77
Interception Ret.     3-67     0-0
Fumble Returns         1-0     0-0
Punts               8-38.8  8-33.6
Sacks By-Yds          5-46    4-25
Fumbles-Lost           0-0     3-1
Penalties-Yds        11-93   10-90
3rd Down Conversions  8-19    6-17
4th Down Conversions   1-1     0-0
Time of Posession    31:06   28:54
Attendance                  54,260

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing
Travis Minor                16-  37
William McCray               5-  25
Jeff Chaney                  5-  12
Atrews Bell                  1-   6
Davy Ford                    1-  -3
Talman Gardner               1-  -5
Chris Weinke                 7- -15

Receiving
Snoop Minnis                 9- 137
Javon Walker                 8-  70
Atrews Bell                  4-  37
Anquan Boldin                4-  32
Robert Morgan                3-  28
Ryan Sprague                 1-  17
Talman Gardner               1-  12
Travis Minor                 2- -15

Passing
Chris Weinke                50-32-0-318
Davy Ford                    1- 0-0-  0

Punt Return
Anquan Boldin                3-  16

Kickoff Return
Nick Maddox                  1-  28

Punting
Keith Cottrell               8- 310

                        |---------Tackles---------| |---Sacks---| |---Pass Def---| |-Fumbles-| Blkd
DEFENSIVE STATISTICS     UT   AT  Total   ForLoss     No - Yards  Int-Yds BrUp QBH Rcv-Yds  FF Kick Saf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tay Cody                  3    3     6   1.0-  1.0       .           .      1    .    .      .   .   .
Chris Hope                3    3     6   1.0-  1.0       .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Abdual Howard             2    4     6   1.0-  1.0       .           .      1    .    .      .   .   .
Jean Jeune                2    3     5   1.0-  1.0       .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Jamal Reynolds            2    2     4   3.0- 20.0    2.0- 19.0      .      .    .    .      .   .   1
Clevan Thomas             1    3     4      .            .          1- 13   .    .    .      .   .   .
Malcolm Tatum             2    1     3   1.0- 10.0    1.0- 10.0      .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Tommy Polley              2    .     2   1.0-  2.0       .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Jerel Hudson              1    1     2      .            .          1- 30   1    .    .      .   .   .
Greg Jones                1    1     2      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Brian Allen               1    1     2      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Bradley Jennings          1    1     2      .            .           .      1    .   1-  0   .   .   .
Darnell Dockett           1    1     2   1.0- 12.0    1.0- 12.0      .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Charles Howard            1    1     2      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Kevin Emanuel             1    1     2      .            .           .      1    .    .      .   .   .
Patrick Newton            1    1     2      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Kendyll Pope              .    2     2      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Rufus Brown               1    .     1      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
William McCray            1    .     1      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
O.J. Jackson              1    .     1      .            .           .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Alonzo Jackson            1    .     1   1.0-  5.0    1.0-  5.0      .      .    .    .      .   .   .
Derrick Gibson            .    1     1   1.0-  1.0       .          1- 24   .    .    .      1   .   .
Gennaro Jackson           .    .     .      .            .           .      1    .    .      .   .   .

Finally, I leave you with a couple of photo's of what might be the most scenic stadium in the country,  Lavell Edwards Stadium, where the Noles will be facing the #7 ranked BYU Cougars this Saturday at 7 PM.  

thanks K-Man

GO NOLES!