ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1996 TAG: 9610280127
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: TALLAHASSEE, FLA.
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Virginia's task on the spray-painted, fungus-eaten grass of Doak Campbell Stadium is to do today what no team from outside the Sunshine State has done in the 1990s.
The 14th-ranked Cavaliers are trying to do what no other football visitor to Florida State has done in 27 games, dating to the Seminoles' 1992 entrance into the ACC.
The impossible?
Not really. UVa proved Florida State could be beaten, even by an ACC team, last season in Charlottesville. This, however, is a different world. In these parts, they play for national championships, not ACC titles.
Asked recently to describe his feelings after last year's 33-28 loss at Scott Stadium, the only defeat in FSU's short 36-game ACC history, tailback Warrick Dunn said the Seminoles don't come up short often, as he did on what could have been a game-winning touchdown at Scott Stadium last year.
``I didn't go into a shell and hide,'' Dunn said. ``We lost a football game. Every once in awhile at Florida State, we lose.''
Not here. Not on homecoming, which is scheduled with today's 3:30 p.m. kickoff that ABC is sending up the tubes of 38 percent of the nation.
Since the Cavaliers upset FSU last season, there's a notion the rest of the ACC has closed the gap on the Seminoles. It doesn't appear so from this pressbox seat. But that's no embarrassment.
FSU, over the past decade, is the nation's premier program. OK, the Cornhuskers and Gators may squawk about that, but those programs haven't yet had consistency at the top for as long as the Seminoles.
Florida State is the only program in Division I history to reach 10 victories in nine consecutive seasons, a number that will reach 10 this year. The Seminoles are 101-13-1 since 1987.
Bobby Bowden's program has won 11 consecutive bowl games, and hasn't lost once since the Orange, by one point to Oklahoma, to end the 1980 season.
A decade ago, FSU's stadium was a 50,000-seat, erector-set of a place. The masonry work at a site where about 80,000 will view State's bid for a 21st consecutive homecoming win today has been on more than the facade.
Virginia has been ranked in the Associated Press top 25 for 36 consecutive weeks. Other than Notre Dame in 1993, it is the only team outside the state of Florida to beat the Seminoles in the 1990s.
Florida State has been in the top 10 of the AP poll 34 straight weeks - and 95 of the past 96 weeks, dating to November 1990.
And it was 11th in the exception.
Bowden's team has finished in the AP top five nine straight seasons. No other program in history can say that. Since September 1989, the only visiting team to win at Doak Campbell was Miami, by one point, in 1991.
It didn't take mascot Chief Osceola's flaming spear to burn two words forever into Seminole lore after that loss:
Wide right.
Since Florida State left southern independence for the ACC, the only blemish on the home record is the 31-31 tie with Florida in 1993, a decision avenged a five weeks later in a Sugar Bowl rematch.
Following Virginia's 13-3 home loss to FSU in the teams' first meeting in 1992, the Seminoles haven't won any ACC game by fewer than two touchdowns. That's a statistic that should stay intact today.
Last year, the teams combined for 1,044 yards. This year, there are similarities in the foes. Neither is as versatile offensively as it was in 1995. Each is better defensively. The special teams are truly special.
If Virginia is to somehow beat Bowden's bunch two years in a row - no one other than Miami and Florida has done that since Auburn in 1984 and '85 - it is going to have to score either defensively or on special teams, or both.
Tiki Barber has rushed for 301 yards in two UVa starts against the Seminoles, including 193 yards in last year's upset. Another spectacular day for Barber in what is forecast to be 80-degree heat may not be enough.
The Seminoles are going to try and make UVa quarterback Tim Sherman beat them, and if Sherman's first half-season is a barometer, he can't. As for backup Aaron Brooks, he hasn't gotten the opportunity to build the experience needed for producing in such a challenging situation.
Virginia may lead the ACC in total offense with 386 yards per game, but that's a deceiving figure. The Cavaliers haven't played North Carolina or FSU, ranked 1-2 in the nation in total defense.
The Cavaliers are last in the ACC in pass completions per game (11.7). That's not enough help for Barber. The Seminoles, with 352 yards per game offensively, are averaging 200 fewer than they did a year ago.
However, Bowden's team can stop the run now. It's allowed just 1.1 yards per carry in 200 attempts this season. That's a major improvement over last year.
That's why Virginia needs more of the scoring from its defense (two touchdowns) and special teams (four) the Cavaliers have gotten this season.
After last year, Virginia has won Florida State's respect. Winning a game here is a different matter.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN STAFF Members of the grounds crew prepareby CNBthe playing field for today's ACC clash between Virginia and Florida
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