Eight days and counting before the University of Miami Cane Thugs start sucking
EVEN THE scUM MASCOT IS A THUG!
in our clean and fresh Tallahassee air. Their rhetoric has increased and they are spewing their venom about their great coaching staff, their optimism about their program, their obnoxious scUMery, there worthless rap video whose only function is to teach their mentally challenged fans the difference between their two school colors, and their delusions of grandeur, all of which have been festering inside them since last October 4th. While some of the rhetoric is coming from the players, most of the scUMery and thugishness is coming from their fickle fans, the majority of whom have never stepped foot on a college campus.
Things are already turning ugly with the name calling, and it will only get worse. When "these people" start heading to Tallahassee, local residents should put their jewelry in a bank safety deposit bank, the liquor stores should hire 2 armed guards with shotguns, everyone should park their cars inside their garages, and if you stop at a red light and you see any scUM thugs lurking, run the red light for the love of God. The police will not give you a ticket if you explain there were scUM fans nearby and you feared for your safety.
Now that I have detailed what the everyday life is like en el Dade County, let's get back to the story. The last time we spoke we discussed the 1989 24-10 beating we gave our despicable amigos, how important it was that we win that game, and how we great it was seeing 7 or 8 thugs piling back into their Camaro and heading back to Little Havana with their tails tucked in between their legs.
Our series continues today with the game played on October 9, 1993.
FLORIDA STATE REALLY NEEDED TO WIN THIS GAME IN 1993!
Sound familiar?
However, before I go any further, I would like to share a story about a impressionable 14 year old boy that was brought up in a good Christian home and whose parents always taught him not to hate, not even his rivals or his enemies. This 14 year old's parents brought him up to Tallahassee one weekend to visit his big brother at FSU, a brother who he idolized. It was October 9, 1993 and they had gotten tickets to the FSU-UM game, and this was going to be the first college football game he ever attended. His older brother had already learned to despise the Canes, but his parents insisted that the 14 year old realize that no one school or their students were bad people, that it was just a rivalry, and that everyone was "good". To this day he still remembers the many sights, sounds, and smells of that beautiful day. This is how he recalls that special day in Tallahassee in a email thread he had with his cousin, also a FSU Alum.
Let's see if any one else can relate to his experience.
That was a big year for me indeed. My memory of the game is pretty hazy. But everything that surrounded it was what made me see the light and become what I am today. It began that Friday at Royal Pavilion and display of such aggressive fanship and cheesy humor, two things that are very attractive to a 14 year old boy. I could immediately tell that was something I wanted to be a part of. This experience was closely followed by my walk to the stadium on game day down Pensacola approaching the stadium from the west. My parents and I stayed at a hotel on Tennessee and Ocala and we decided to walk it from there to the game. Definitely a long walk, but one that was instrumental in my transition to become a Seminole and just as importantly never again see Miami the same way. The entire journey was surrounded by fans, of both teams, cheering and yelling and supporting their team in their own distinct way. Anyway, I am sure everyone on this thread that has attended a FSU – UM game, know exactly what I saw from our scum from the South, ...the ignorance, annoyance and disgustingness of their fans, the entire UM fan base at an away game is like that. My hatred for everything UM was immediately born and has never relented. I couldn't believe what I had been raised to feel and believe. This caused many questions in the large head of a young die hard sports fan:
Did my parents know?Why did they keep this from me?
How could my parents not tell me the truth about these scUM's, or where they just trying to protect my innocence?
How did I miss the beauty of even the pre-brick Doak Campbell Stadium?
Is the Warchant really the most inspiring, glorious sound I have ever heard?
From this point forward FSU would win 6 of next 7 meetings highlighted by their QB getting sacked into the goalposts during my freshman year of college in a 47 – 0 domination.
You know the rest of the story.
Go Noles!
Written by Dave and taken from a email thread about his first visit to FSU with his cousin The K-Man. Thanks for sharing this with us K-Man. I know many of us can relate.
**I'd also like to thank the K-Man for his help in locating every video included in this story. Thanks again.
But I digress, so let's get back to the game.
ONCE AGAIN FLORIDA STATE REALLY NEEDED TO WIN THIS GAME!
We found ourselves in a very similar situation to the one we were in in 1989, except now there was more urgency than ever before. Why you ask?
FSU had dropped the last 3 games by a margin of 3 points, 1 point, and 9 points respectively.
Coming into each of those games above, FSU was ranked #2, #1, and #3, again respectively.
FSU had dropped 7 out of the last 8 games to the convicts from South Florida.
Was it possible that FSU was unable to beat the scUM's, exactly as they were obnoxiously bragging about and predicting?
Did they really have our number?
Was our once rising and proud program now owned?
Was FSU the THUGS female dogs?
The worst part of it all was that these hijos de putas from THUG city were proclaiming themselves college footballs dethroners and legend killers, and they may have had a point. Aside from costing us a minimum of 5 opportunities to play for our first national championship since 1987, these maricones also frustrated many other #1 ranked college football programs across the nation. UM had beaten every single #1 ranked team they had played since 1979, both at home and on the road.
After being granted a weekend work release travel waiver from their PO's, the #3 ranked felons traveled to Tallahassee to attempt to defeat their next #1 ranked victim, FSU.
There was more at stake here than just our #1 ranking. At stake was our psyche, confidence, recruiting dominance, and most of all our pride. We had to make a stand and say enough is enough, or we could just roll over.
This is from 8/30/93 edition of Sports Illustrated. In their preseason rankings, here is how SI starts the Top 20 countdown.
The Top 20
Or, to be more accurate, the Next 19. There's no question the Seminoles are No. 1, but here are questions—and answers—about those chasing them
There are two other stories that might be of interest to many of you. Inside this SI cover, there were two excellent articles I recommend everyone read.
The first one is the cover story about Scott Bentley, the nations most sought after HS kicker. Click below to read.
A Sure Three-Freshman kicker Scott Bentley can't wait for a Florida State game to come down to one field goal
As I have learned from my time on this site, many of our members here at Tomahawk Nation are recruiting nerds (no disrespect intended), and this is a must read for those of you. This article recalls a young man's recruiting ordeal, his thought process, the struggles he faced in making a decision, and some of the questionable recruiting practices that occurred back then, and are probably even more prevalent today. Bentley had narrowed his choices to FSU and Notre Dame and eliminated 88 other college offers, including Miami and Nebraska. Here are a couple of teasers to motivate you to read up on a little FSU history, and this is not limited to just the recruiting geeks (again with all due respect).
The Seminoles had greeted him as if he were a soccer-style kicking messiah, the missing link to the national championship that has so long eluded them. Fighting Irish head coach Lou Holtz, meanwhile, had promised Bentley the starting kicker's and punter's jobs for four years. Bentley's father, Bob—Notre Dame, class of '67—had told him to listen to Holtz.
This excerpt is in reference to that same visit to FSU, when Chuck Amato asked him if he could kick it out of the end zone.
Bentley's response to Amato has become part of his growing legend: "Probably. But if I don't, I'll make the tackle."
Here are a couple of other nuggets from the story.
For the scores of college football recruiters who courted Bentley, Overland coach Tony Manfredi had this advice: "Don't treat him like a kicker. Treat him like a football player, or you'll lose him."Seminole coach Bobby Bowden grasped that. Holtz did not. "You'll only have to practice for a half hour," Holtz told Bentley. "Then you can go and play golf."
"I don't want to play golf," says Bentley. "I want to run 40's with [Seminole wide receiver] Tamarick Vanover."
When Bentley called a press conference in late January to announce that he was Tallahassee-bound, a desperate Tony Yelovich phoned Bentley's school to try to stop it. "The kid's confused," said Yelovich, a Notre Dame assistant who had spent three years cultivating Bentley.
When Scott first evinced interest in Florida State, Bob had asked, "Why go to the Bermuda Triangle of kickers?" When Bowden visited the Bentleys before Scott's trip to Tallahassee, Bob was downright hostile. "You're taking a Notre Dame degree away from my kid," he said.
And here is an excert from just one of this dealings with the despicable, arrogant, and nariscisstic ND head coach Lou Holtz.
The day of Bentley's press conference, Holtz got on the horn with Brian Ford, a punter-placekicker from Cathedral High in Indianapolis, and talked Ford into breaking a verbal commitment to Vanderbilt. The Commodore coaches were furious.
Then Holtz phoned the Bentleys. Scott was asleep, and Holtz left his number. "What do you think he wants?" Scott asked his father when he awoke. "He probably wants to congratulate you and wish you luck," Bob guessed. "He's class."
The classy coach chewed the boy's head off. Bentley says Holtz accused him of lying. "Did you tell Coach Yelovich you were coming here?" Holtz reportedly demanded. Says Bentley, "I said that there had been times Coach Yelovich put so much pressure on me that I told him what he wanted to hear."
Holtz's pontificating about the sanctity of a recruit's promise to a coach would have been more convincing had he not just finished persuading Ford to screw Vanderbilt. And Holtz wasn't finished with Bentley. "Son, you didn't just make a four-year mistake," he reportedly said, "you made a 40-year mistake. You let me down, and you let your father down."
Anyway, it is a good read and I highly recommend it.
In this same issue, there was this story about our upcoming 1993 season. Click on the headline below to read the story.
His Time Has Come-Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, one of the game's most famous bridesmaids, has groomed a team that should finally win the national title
THEY HAD NO IDEA HOW RIGHT THEY WOULD BE.
Here are a couple more teasers, just to get you to read the entire article. Again I highly recommend you read this to give you a point of reference and put you in our frame of mind at the start of the 1993 season.
From the moribund loser he took over in 1976, Bowden has built one of the nation's top two or three programs. He has done it with sound defenses, terrific kick-return teams, wide-open offenses and the odd "rooskie," which is Bowdenese for trick play. Last season, for the sixth straight year, the Seminoles won 10 or more games and finished among the top four teams in the country. Bowden's 227 victories make him the second-winningest active coach in Division I-A, behind Penn State's Joe Paterno. Even more remarkable, his teams are undefeated in 11 consecutive bowl games, including a 27-14 humbling of Nebraska last New Year's Day in the Orange Bowl. But all of these feats can be eclipsed by two words: wide right.
However, until Florida State can beat Miami—or lose to the Hurricanes without missing a decisive kick in you-know-which direction—"wide right" jokes will be retold ad nauseam.
"We been good, they been better," says Bowden. Then he adds, "These things have a way of evening themselves out."
If that evening out doesn't occur this season, it may never. Only two starters, both linemen, are gone from a Florida State offense that averaged 61 points in its last three regular-season games. (A third starter, tailback Tiger McMillon, hurt his knee in practice Aug. 11 and is expected to be out much of the season.) And after finishing the '92 season playing the best football in the country, the Seminoles reeled in a recruiting class judged by a consensus of experts to be the nation's best.
Bowden has made Florida State's reputation in part by beating name opponents on the road. He revels in being the short guy in the bar who taps the big guy'schest and says, "Anytime, anywhere." More often than not, a team that goes into its own alley with the Seminoles gets its head handed to it. In 12 trips to Ohio State, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Clemson, Michigan and Syracuse under Bowden, Florida State is 9-3.
Now maybe Bowden can rework that Miami script.
Which now gets us to the the start of the 1993 season, and soon to the game played on October 9, 1993.
Heading into the season, the Seminoles' main concern was its defense, which returned only five starters and lost two defensive backs for the season on the first day of fall practice.
However, by seasons end these12 FSU players had received All-American recognition: Clifton Abraham, Derrick Alexander, Ken Alexander, Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Juan Laureano, Kez McCorvey, Corey Sawyer, Clay Shiver, Tamarick Vanover, and Charlie Ward.
Other offensive contributors included Matt Frier (IMO one of the most underappreciated players during this era, also a lady friend I know used to babysit him when he was a kid back in Live Oak, and every time he would make a big play, she would always tell me about it), Sean Jackson, William Floyd, Marquette Smith, Kevin Knox, Lonnie Johnson, Patrick McNeil, and Jesus Hernandez.
On the defensive side, aside from Brooks, Abraham, Sawyer, Ken and Derrick Alexander, we had Devin Bush, Todd Rebol, John Nance, Richard Coes, James Robinson, and Toddrick McIntosh.
Our punter was Sean Liss, and kicker was of course Bentley.
And finally, you want to talk about a recruiting dream class. The incoming freshmen class consisted of Chad Bates, Scott Bentley, Peter Boulware, Gideon Brown, Thad Busby, Daryl Bush, Byron Capers, James Colzie, Andre Cooper, Sam Cowart, Warrick Dunn, E.G. Green, Jermaine Green, Kevin Long, Jeremy Morris, Melvin Pearsall, Julian Pittman, Rock Preston, Phillip Riley, Phillip Simpson, Greg Spires, Tra Thomas, Rodney Wells, Pooh Bear Williams, Rhodney Williams, and Reinard Wilson.
The 1993 season started with FSU pegged as the unanimous preseason #1. With this #1 ranking, FSU kicked off the 1993 college football season in the Kickoff Classic in Giants Stadium routing Kansas 42-0. The Florida State defense quickly silenced the critics with its first shutout since 1991, preserved by a historic goal line stand. This goal line stand was when our defense smothered the Jayhawks 6 times in a row, inside the FSU 1 yard line. That is perhaps one of college football's greatest goal line stands ever.
((watch the video of one of the greatest GLS ever courtesy of physh click here)
Next up at Duke. 45-7, same ole, same ole.
Then our Noles administered a thorough ass kicking of #17 ranked Clemson at Doak, for the first game since the stadium expansion with a crowd of 75,000 on hand, and a visit I am sure Clemson still regrets to this day. Final 57-0.
Next up at #13 North Carolina, we dismissed them 33-7.
The previous year (1992) it took a 10-point rally in the last 5 minutes of the game to beat Georgia Tech, but this year at Doak, the Noles dismantled GT 51-0.
Finally, the big day was here.
In case you are wondering what transpired between the 1989 beating we administered and this1993 game, here are the previous three games results;
October 6, 1990 - No. 9 Miami-31 vs No. 2 Florida State-22 at the Orange Dump. Miami jumped out to a 24-0 lead. Florida State finally got on the board late in the second quarter on a 19-yard Brad Johnson touchdown pass. Florida State pulled to within 24-16 in the third quarter before Miami drove 80 yards in 13 plays for a TD.
November 16, 1991 - No. 2 Miami-17 vs No. 1 Florida State-16 at Doak. "Wide Right I." Miami struck first on a seven-play, 74-yard drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown run. Florida State then scored 16 unanswered points to take a 16-7 lead early in the fourth quarter. Miami then came alive and scored the next 10 points to take a 17-16 lead. The game wasn't over however, until FSU kicker Gerry Thomas missed a 34-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide right.
October 3, 1992 - No. 2 Miami-19 vs No. 3 Florida State-16 back at the Orange Dump. "Wide Right II." Miami escaped a last second game-tying field goal attempt as Dan Mowrey's kick sailed wide right. Florida State opened the scoring when Tamarick Vanover took the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Miami followed with a 24-yard FG and a 29-yard touchdown pass. Florida State then answered with three Mowry field goals to give the Seminoles a 16-10 lead. Torretta then drove Miami 58 yards in seven plays to give UM a 17-16 lead. After an illegal forward pass in the end zone by FSU punt returner Corey Sawyer, Miami was awarded a safety. FSU then marched 59 yards to set up Mowrey's 39-yard field goal attempt, which broke the hearts of many of us Seminoles fans once again.
Back to live action.
For the first time in three years, the outcome of the annual showdown between #1 Florida State and #3 Miami did not come down to a field goal attempt in the game's final minute. FSU did not let it come to that, using a pair of big plays early to derail the Hurricanes, 28-10.
Both of FSU's big gainers went for touchdowns, and both came in the game's opening quarter. Before the Doak record crowd of almost 78,000 could settle into their seats, tailback Sean Jackson swept around right end and raced 69 yards to the end zone to give FSU the lead just 3:43 into the game.
The third ranked 'Canes answered seven minutes later when Donnell Bennett capped a 9 play, 80 yard drive with a 6-yard TD reception from Frank Costa.
With the score knotted at seven, FSU's Fast Break Offense took just three plays to give the Seminoles the lead for good. On third and 10 from the FSU 28, Charlie Ward broke out of the pocket and scrambled to his right. On the run, he lofted a ball over two UM defenders to Matt Frier in stride for a 72-yard score. Watch how slick Charlie was and how effortlessly he throws the ball here.
(If you care, at 1:02 you will see Dwayne Johnson. I wonder if he was thinking "can yousmell what the Rock is cooking?" Which on this day was nothing but air)
Ward gave the Seminoles a 14 point halftime advantage when he scrambled into the end zone from two yards away early in the 2nd quarter. The touchdown was made possible by a key play on the only third down of the drive. On third and seven from our own 43, freshman tailback Warrick Dunn lined up next to Ward in the shotgun. Instead of snapping the ball back to Ward, FSU center Clay Shiver hit Dunn with a direct snap that surprised the Miami defense. Twenty seven yards later, Dunn picked up a first down at the UM 30, and Florida State was on its way to a touchdown.
Thanks to strong play by both defenses, and two Florida State fumbles and a missed field goal by Miami, the score remained 21-7 until early in the fourth quarter. Then the UM kicker narrowed the margin to 21-10 with a 23-yard field goal. The kick ended a 16 play, 74-yard drive that ate up 8:06 and had the Doak faithful fearing another Hurricane comeback.
The Miami defense stiffened, forcing an FSU punt. But UM got nowhere on its next possession. The Seminoles took almost 2:30 off the clock on its next drive, but a punt gave Miami the ball at its own 23.
From there, Florida State strong safety Devin Bush, a Miami native, snatched a Frank Costa pass and went 40 yards for a score to provide the final margin. The interception was the first of Bush's career.
With their spirit broken and crushed, UM was unable to move the ball on its next try, and Florida State then ran out the final 4:21.
On that day, the Seminoles rolled up 450 yards of total offense and averaged 7.4 yards per play, while the FSU defense limited the potent Miami air attack to just 193 yards, despite playing most of the second half without All-American Derrick Brooks and the third quarter without leading tackler Ken Alexander. The victory stopped Miami's three game series winning streak and was Florida State's second in its last nine tries against the Hurricanes.
The previous year after the Miami loss, Bowden kidded to reporters that his tombstone should read "And he had to play Miami." After this game, he again joked to reporters that he was switching the wording on his tombstone to now read "He finally beat 'em before he died."
IMO, the significance of this game was
A) It snapped our 3 game losing streak to the thugs.
2) We ended UM 31 game regular season winning streak.
D) It opened the door for our National Championship run (more on this later). Without this win there is no way we would not have been the 1993 National Champions.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIAMI | |||||
| FLORIDA STATE |
1st 7- 0 Sean Jackson, 69, run (Scott Bentley, kick), 11:17
7- 7 Opp, 6, pass (kick), 4:09
14- 7 Matt Frier, 72, pass from Charlie Ward (Scott Bentley, kick), 2:46
2nd 21- 7 Charlie Ward, 2, run (Scott Bentley, kick), 13:37
21- 7 Opp, 42, field goal failed, 7:41
4th 21-10 Opp, 23, field goal, 14:07
28-10 Devin Bush, 40, interception return (Scott Bentley, kick), 4:59
TEAM STATISTICS
FSU OPP
First downs 17 21
Rushes-yards 30-194 33-127
Passing 256 193
Att-Comp-Int 31-21-0 43-21-1
Total Yards 61-450 76-320
Punt Returns 0-0 2-14
Kickoff Returns 3-54 4-69
Interception Ret. 1-40 0-0
Fumble Returns 1-0 2-0
Punts 6-41.3 8-34.6
Sacks By-Yds 1-8 0-0
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1
Penalties-Yds 11-92 4-30
3rd Down Conversions 6-13 8-19
4th Down Conversions 0-0 0-0
Time of Posession 28:06 31:54
Attendance 77,813
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Sean Jackson 10- 98
Warrick Dunn 6- 67
Charlie Ward 8- 17
William Floyd 2- 13
Phillip Riley 1- 2
Marquette Smith 3- -3
Receiving
Matt Frier 2- 81
Kez McCorvey 5- 77
Tamarick Vanover 7- 66
Kevin Knox 4- 34
Sean Jackson 2- -1
Warrick Dunn 1- -1
Passing
Charlie Ward 31-21-0-256
Kickoff Return
Warrick Dunn 2- 29
Tamarick Vanover 1- 25
Punting
Sean Liss 6- 248
|---------Tackles---------| |---Sacks---| |---Pass Def---| |-Fumbles-| Blkd
DEFENSIVE STATISTICS UT AT Total ForLoss No - Yards Int-Yds BrUp QBH Rcv-Yds FF Kick Saf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clifton Abraham 3 7 10 1.0- 1.0 . . 1 . . . . .
Devin Bush 2 5 7 1.0- 2.0 . 1- 40 2 . . . . .
Todd Rebol . 7 7 . . . . . . . . .
Derrick Brooks 1 5 6 1.0- 3.0 . . 1 . . . . .
Corey Sawyer 4 2 6 . . . 1 . . . . .
Richard Coes 1 5 6 . . . 1 . 1- 0 . . .
Tyrant Marion 2 3 5 . . . . . . . . .
John Nance . 5 5 . . . . . . . . .
Ken Alexander 3 2 5 . . . 1 . . . . .
Derrick Alexander 1 3 4 . . . . . . . . .
Eric Smith 3 1 4 . . . . . . . . .
James Roberson 1 2 3 . . . 1 . . . . .
Toddrick McIntosh . 3 3 . . . . . . . . .
Mack Knight 2 . 2 . . . . . . . . .
Sam Cowart 1 1 2 1.0- 1.0 . . . . . . . .
Connell Spain . 1 1 . . . 1 . . . . .
Alonzo Horner . 1 1 . . . . . . . . .
Travis Sherman 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . .
The rest of the season played out as follows.
The week after beating UM, FSU faced #15 Virginia at Doak, and proceeded to slap around the Cavaliers, 40-14.
After a bye week Wake Forest became Florida State's fourth shutout victim of the season. Also FSU won their 18th straight homecoming game and their 15th straight victory, with a 54-0 rout.
The following week FSU traveled to Maryland where sophomore Danny Kanell, subbing for the injured Ward, was outstanding, completing 28 of 38 passes for 341 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-20 Terp stomp.
Next up was the Game of the Century at #2 Notre Dame, and this was college football's most anticipated regular season game and it really did live up to its billing. Charlie Ward's final pass was knocked down at the goal line by Shawn Wooden (Touchdown Jesus when he jumped off his pedastal and batted down Ward’s pass) as time expired, giving the "chosen ones" a 31-24 win over our top ranked Nole’s before one of the largest television audiences to ever see a college football game at that time.
It now seemed that FSU would once again miss out on the NC because of another last minute loss. Even though ND dominated most of the game, FSU’s gutsy comeback and near win won over the pollsters who then proceeded to only dropped FSU one spot in the rankings to #2. Maybe the door was still just a little open for the Noles.
Many of us were worried how FSU would react to this latest setback the next week at Doak against NC State. That question was quickly answered with a 62-3 thumping of the WolfPack for the Nole’s second straight undefeated ACC championship. Now there was only one hurdle remaining, and that would be the #7 Gaturds in Hogtown.
Florida State concluded an 11-1 regular season by gigging the limp lizards for the sixth time in seven years, 33-21 at the slimy and putrid swamp. This win also ended the Turds' 23 game winning streak at the stagnant cesspool they call the swamp.
Now everything was in place for the January 1, 1994 showdown with #2 Nebraska at the Orange Bowl. This was a rematch of the previous years 2 same teams, in which FSU spanked the Cornhuskers 27-14.
I was at this game, and maybe someday I will share that experience with the rest of you. But that is another story for another day, and for now I will leave you with this link to the story from the January 10, 1994 Sports Illustrated, recapping the Nole’s National Championship victory. (Personally, I do not care for the authors POV).
Wide Left-Florida State claimed the national title with a down-to-the-wire win over Nebraska
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1004716/index.htm
Or for your pleasure, you can watch it right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD4azN7JUxo
YOUR 1993 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
