Top single-game offensive performances in FSU history (10 honorable mentions)
by Fsued on Jul 27, 2010 11:37 PM EDT
in FSU Football
Email
PrintYesterday, we brought you the "next 21" greatest individual offensive game performances in FSU history. Put another way, they are the 21st through 41st best in that category.
Today, it’s the 10 honorable mentions (11 through 20).
Since we are getting closer to the conclusion of this series (some of you might be saying "mercifully") I’ve added some comments with each performance.
Thursday we will unveil the Top 10 – you can probably guess some of them, but can you guess them all?
So, here are the offensive single game performances that just missed Top 10 status:
10 that are more than worth honorable mention (chronological order)
Sept. 23, 1967. Ron Sellers. FSU went into Tuscaloosa and tied Alabama 37-37, mostly thanks to Sellers who caught 13 balls for 165 yards and a touchdown. The 37 points FSU put up against the Tide equaled what Alabama had given up the ENTIRE previous season. FSUED musings: Per McGrotha, ABC Sports had gone to Tuscaloosa to film a documentary on Bear Bryant. It would end up showing Bear bellowing on the sidelines "What the hell is going on out there!" as FSU returned a punt for a score.
Nov. 29, 1968 (Jacksonville). Bill Cappleman. Sellers was awesome, but it was Cappleman’s night as FSU knocked off a strong Houston team, 40-20. Cappleman was 25-34 for 351 yards, 4 TDs and no interceptions in the Seminoles’ win. FSUED musings: Houston was a powerful Top 10 team and heavily favored in this game. Bill Peterson made it the famous "dirty jersey" game – he brought out the jerseys from the previous week’s game. "In the game before we had been behind Wake Forest 24-14 at the half," Peterson said. " Then we cut loose in that last half. Somebody said to me that we ought to hang on to those old dirty jerseys and wear ‘em against Houston.
"Well, we took those dirty jerseys – filthy, stinking, I mean – over there to Jacksonville. And I told the squad we were going to pick up right where we left off with Wake Forest – wearing those dirty jerseys. Boy, those players were mad. Literally steaming!"
Classic Bill Peterson.
Oct. 1, 1977. Larry Key. The diminutive tailback carried the ball a school record 32 times for 127 yards, caught 3 passes for another 72 yards, including a decisive fourth quarter TD, and ran a kick back 60 yards to set up a score in FSU’s 25-17 win over a very good Oklahoma State team in Stillwater. FSUED musings: One of my favorite Seminoles -- I'm not sure there has been a better all-purpose back (runner/receiver/returner).
Nov. 3, 1979. Mark Lyles. FSU escaped Cincinnati, 26-21, scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter after trailing 21-7. This was FSU’s closest call in an 11-0 regular season. If not for Mark Lyles, the Noles would not have been the first team in the state to go undefeated. The big fullback carried the ball 29 times for 142 yards and a score, and caught 7 passes for 92 yards and another TD. His 31-yard catch and run set up a game-winning score with just over a minute to play. FSUED musings: Lyles may be the best FSU player of which many current-day fans have never heard. This marked the second straight year FSU beat the Bearcats by the same 26-21 score. In 1978, FSU trailed 21-20 and faced fourth and 22 from its own 46 with 1:29 to play -- but Jimmy Jordan hit Sam Platt on a 54-yard scoring pass to win it.
Jan. 1, 1990. Peter Tom Willis. In a return to the Fiesta bowl and a rematch with Nebraska, Willis was even better than before. Willis went 25 of 40 for an astounding 422 yards and 5 TDs (0 interceptions) in FSU’s 41-17 rout over the Huskers. FSUED musings: By the end of this season, this team was one of our best ever.
Nov. 30, 1996. Warrick Dunn. The only way FSU could beat Florida in the 1996 season finale was to run the ball. FSU knew it. Florida knew it. Warrick Dunn knew it. Dunn carried FSU with 185 rushing on 24 carries and 24 yards receiving on four catches for 209 yards total offense in the No 1. vs. No. 2 matchup. FSUED musings: He simply willed this team to victory.
Nov. 4, 2000. Chris Weinke. The FSU signalcaller threw for 521 yards and two touchdown as FSU humbled Tommy Bowden’s Clemson Tigers 54-7 in Tallahassee. FSUED musings: This game featured the most famous play-action pass in FSU history – Weinke to Minnis for a school-record 98 yard TD pass.
Jan. 4, 2000. Chris Weinke. The Heisman trophy winner led FSU to its second national title by throwing three TD passes of over 40 yards in the win over Va. Tech. Weinke finished 20 of 34 for 329 yards, with 4 TDs and one INT. FSUED musings: I found this the hardest performance to rank. The stage and the stakes don’t get any bigger, yet it really seemed like Warrick’s show that night, didn’t it?
Nov. 29, 2003. Chris Rix. Those are two painful words to type, but there is no denying that Rix came up biggest in the biggest game – he threw three touchdown passes and ran for another – as FSU shocked Florida 38-34 on a last-minute 52-yard bomb from Rix to PK Sam. Rix’s final stats were 14 of 19 for 256 yards. FSUED Musings: Statistically, it doesn’t stack up, but the fourth-down conversion to Dominic Robinson was one of the great clutch throws in FSU history and Rix to Sam is on the very short list of top plays.
Oct. 22. 2009. Christian Ponder and Rod Owens. The FSU QB and WR had their finest days as Seminoles, leading the Noles back from a 24-6 deficit to a 30-27 win over North Carolina. Ponder was 33 of 40 for 395 yards and three touchdowns. If not for drops, Ponder would have been close to perfect. He added 14 yards rushing, including a key run for a first-down late in the game kept an FSU drive alive and left just a few seconds left for the Tar Heels to try and score. The most famous play of the game and season was when Owens hauled in a bomb from Ponder and went the distance for a key 98-yard score. But even if that catch is factored out, Owens STILL had a 100-yard game. In total he amassed 199 yards on 9 catches. FSUED musings: FSU needs about three of these type performances next year against, say, UF, OU and UM.
38 comments
|
1 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
That '96 Florida game was the first time I ever lost my voice from yelling too much.
Easily one of the most exciting sporting events I’ve ever attended. Noon start that year so we all started doing shots at 8am and from the look of the rest of the student section that day, I started late.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
Isn't that the best feeling when you wake up the next morning, hungover as hell, sayin
In a voice that sounds like you’ve been smokin for decades “That was F’n awesome” and then when you chuckle…it hurts….it hurts oh so good. Lol
You left out the part about needing 5 - 10 minutes to figure out where you're at, how you got there, etc...
But, yes, AWESOME!
by HROB3 on Jul 28, 2010 5:42 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
And who the hell that is laying next to you.
>-----:----:------>Spearing 'em and Scalping 'em like it's 1999
I'm not so sure this Jimbo fella is the right man for the job.
I lost mine, too
I yelled my head off EVERY TIME Wuerffell came up to the LOS. I wanted to help take away uf’s ability to audible at the line, make it tough for them to hear the snap count, waste TOs, etc. I take some smug satisfaction from the fact that he called two timeouts whilst in the vicinity of the section I was sitting in (good job, too, by everyone else in that area!).
That’s what DCS should do every game. We’d have a heckuva reputation if we bombarded opposing offenses before every single play.
Mark Lyles
I love the reviews of the old games. I grew up on Bill Peterson, Ron Sellers, Bill Cappleman, Kim Hammond, et al in the 60s. When we played football in the neighborhood, we were always imagining ourselves to be those guys, and if you never saw the Bill Peterson Show on TV, well, your life is incomplete. I must have read thousands of Bill McGrotha’s columns as well, and if you ever saw the picture of him that accompanied his columns, you too would wonder how he had such a gorgeous daughter.
Later I attended FSU as an undergrad during the latter half of the seventies (believe it or not, a DUI was not considered a major crime back then). Bowden’s first year was my second, and things were so bad the last year or two before he showed up that you could walk into the games for free with a cooler full of beer. The team got better fast, and we watched a lot of great games in those days. Wally Woodham was in my graduating class (Leon 1975) in high school too, and I guess Jimmy Jordan was the year after, so it was extra fun seeing those guys star at FSU.
Anyway, having watched Mark Lyles play in the late 70s, it was quite a thrill when he showed up at some of our pickup games on the old Raa Middle School courts in the mid 80s. Super nice guy and fun to hang out with. One thing’s for sure though, I never took a charge from him: if Mark decided to drive to the basket, it was all his as far as I was concerned. I’m pretty big (6’6" and probably 215 and in the best shape of my life at that time), but his thighs were as big around as my torso. I can’t even imagine how anyone could solo tackle him on a football field.
Great days.
csfuu - remember shaking our keys when Larry Key
made a play? The old erector set used to echo.
by ladyjustice on Jul 28, 2010 10:11 AM EDT up reply actions
Oh yeah
Had a lot of fun at those games. It wasn’t to hard to imagine the whole stadium collapsing when everyone was stomping their feet.
Doak
I remember sitting in the endzone on those wood bleachers at 12 noon games. Drinking Natural Light aka Natural Wood the night before a 12 noon game is never a good idea.
Go Noles!!
by AbeFroman21 on Jul 29, 2010 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions
So many great players, plays and games
Thank you Fsued
Why is the sky blue? Because, God Loves the Infantry
If Weinke's Performance in the MNC is not in the top ten
Then I’m very excited to see what is! This is good stuff. It’s nice to remember when we were feared. By the way, who is McGrotha’s hot daughter?
Sheriff Branford: The fact that you are a sheriff is not germane to the situation.
Buford T. Justice: The god damn Germans got nothin' to do with it!
Her name is Rosemary McGrotha. She used to hang out with us Maclay-ites in the mid 70's. Unreal...
by Joe Smoe from Quincy on Jul 28, 2010 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Alright, this is kind of strange, she lives at the end of my street.
It a huge southern plantation style house completely wrapped in fence, very hard to really see the property. I had heard rumors from neighbors that a supermodel from yesteryear lived there. I have seen a few expensive cars come and go (like a Porsche Cayenne) but never really looked inside to see a person. So I google the name and lo and behold, she lives in that house. Wow, she quite stunning. I wonder what she looks like today.
Well, she's obviously a lot older
but you saw the pictures … she’s still gotta look pretty good.
Stormed the field in 96 it was such a big deal.
Has that happened since or in the twenty years before that game…I dont think so
Don't think so...
I was a sophomore the next time Florida came to town. When it was apparent that we would win the game I think every police officer in Tallahassee poured out of the tunnels and circled the field keeping everyone in the stands… I remember being only 3 or 4 rows up and people behind were pushing to get on the field, but those cops were not even slightly playing around with that.
All these years and I had never heard of the "dirty jersey" game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is beyond epic….seriously, that should become a tradition, you wear the uniform until you win in it… period!!!! 3 game losing streak, oh well, guess you will smell like ass the entire time.
oh well, guess you will smell like ass the entire time.
Some would say most TN readers fit this criteria anyways.
IMO that Rix to Sam play in the 2003 game was pure luck. The DB got turned around, and Sam was in the right place at the right time. Rix did a great job by getting out of the pocket and evading the pressure, but I’ve never considered that one of those great plays in FSU history that alot of other people do (Nice job putting it in the honorable mention, by the way. I do agree with that).
Formerly known as Randall W. Spetman
Maybe not in terms of skill or execution
but certainly in excitment, epicness, and one of the most memorable.
Epically lucky, maybe.
It gets worse after ever Gator beatdown. To know one of the goofiest SOB’s in FSU QB history had to pull one out of his ass to win.
however, I will agree it was exciting.
Formerly known as Randall W. Spetman
by CornNole on Jul 28, 2010 2:26 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
It personified Rix
I personally couldn’t believe what transpired the preceding play. One of the top 5 most memorable plays in my vastly archived mind. (the TD pass isn’t even close).
So he follows that up by scrambling and chucking the ball on 1st down when we need 3 to tie, and I’m screaming “No!!! NOOO!!!”. Oops. Touchdown.
Chris Rix in a nutshell.
"Oops. Touchdown!"
I laughed out loud at the office at that. It’s a perfect summation of the highlights of the entire Rix Era!
Sheriff Branford: The fact that you are a sheriff is not germane to the situation.
Buford T. Justice: The god damn Germans got nothin' to do with it!
Warrick's Show in the NC Game...
Absolutely… The touchdown catch that was bobbled and caught on when he was on his back and then the punt return for a TD. Weinke was a great QB for us, but in my opinion that night was Warrick’s…
There's no way Peter Warrick's performance vs. VATech in the MNC game.
doesn’t make the Top 10. As a just about to turn 40 :( year old Seminole fan, it almost has to be NUMBER ONE!!! For sheer brilliance, athletic ability and level of clutch, just the catch in the end zone where he caught it around the defender’s arm catapults it into the top 10.
by CelticPride on Jul 28, 2010 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions
Can't wait to see them
Although I hope you didn’t just rely on memory. My initial list changed A LOT after diving into the research and having my old man’s memory refreshed.
Regardless, I’ll be anxoius to see how close we are — honestly, this stuff is almost as much fun to me as when the season starts.
Almost ….
Are they published tomorrow?
I might go back tonight or tomorrow and brush up. I did go 100% on memory, and I’ve got nothing pre-1980.
Assuming that does make the top 10
having 2 performances in the top 20 of a school’s history in 1 game is pretty impressive.
Not sure how the rest of my card would fill out, but I think having Peter Warrick’s NC game and Danny Kannell’s Choke at Doak performance (or at least the 4th Q of it) are definitely in my top 10.
"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary." Vince Lombardi
"We'll win games with talent, we'll win championships with character." Jimbo Fisher
Oct. 22. 2009. Christian Ponder and Rod Owens
Excellent sleeper pick.
I’ve wrote extensively about both that game and Rod Owens on this site already. When you look back now, that pass could be a defining moment in FSU folklore. By then (and now), most of our glorious streaks have gradually and often rapidly eroded away. The home streak without a loss….the home winning streak against the ACC…..Top 5 finishes……seasons with 10 wins…..Top 25 finishes….etc, etc, etc.
The halftime of 2009 UNC was an extreme low point for me, personally. I had the sadistic pleasure of attending every game besides USF up until that point. Miami heartbreak, Jax St befuddling, BYU bliss, BC deflation, and GT gut punch.
As the 3rd quarter began, we were down 18 on the road against an elite defense, staring an uncharted 2-5 win/loss record square in the eye.
The 99-yard TD brought FSU back from the brink, preserving hope for both of our last remaining streaks: consecutive Winning Seasons and Bowl Appearances. We found ourselves hanging by a piece of dental floss once more in 2009, and Greg Reid navigated the Noles back to dry ground against Maryland. (have you thanked Greg personally for our intact streaks? I felt obligated)
If our winning season/bowl streak reaches 40, 50, 60 years in the distant future, only the most grizzled of fans will remember that Ponder/Ruby Rod Owens and Greg Reid performed CPR on Florida State’s football legacy in 2009.
Yes
I really hope it lasts for that long. Being there and being a student 4 minutes away from the end of that record will be awesome to remember.
by unconquered2010 on Jul 28, 2010 3:29 PM EDT reply actions
My buddy's quote right before the drive Rix lead in the swamp...
(GatorFan): “Neither side is comfortable right now with Chris Rix on the field.”
And he was correct.
by DixieNole on Jul 28, 2010 7:12 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs
Rec'd. He ought to have that written on his tombstone.
Sad that a gator coined it, but fitting. ironically.
I agree
If that was truly said, I’m gonna repeat it to my friends.
Even though it was a loss...
I think Chris Wienke’s 2000 game against Miami has to be around here somewhere…
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
SHOP THE TOMAHAWK NATION STORE
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
