THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 25, 1995 TAG: 9508250820
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLAHASSEE, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
No team is ever more willing to be a target for the football season than the Florida State Seminoles.
Others flinch or try to run from being selected No. 1 in preseason polls. The Seminoles embrace it.
``We are disappointed if we don't begin the season No. 1,'' quarterback Danny Kanell said. ``We like that kind of challenge.''
But it was not the anticipation of another championship season that dominated the headlines in Tallahassee on a wind-tossed Thursday morning.
The Seminoles were bracing for a couple of storms - one named Jerry, blowing across the state, and the other named the NCAA.
Florida State began last season under a cloud of scandal and with five players on the sidelines because of team-imposed penalties.
Seminoles fans who thought the so-called ``Footlocker scandal'' was behind them learned this week that the NCAA is still investigating.
Head coach Bobby Bowden, who admits he is alarmed by the rough treatment Alabama got from the NCAA, said he was concerned by the news.
``I can tell you that I don't know anything we have done wrong,'' Bowden said. ``We try our best to do things right. It is what's out there that I don't know about that worries me.''
Bowden said, however, that his players would not be affected and would keep their focus on pursuing the ACC title and the national championship.
Indeed, Kanell was more concerned about Jerry and the other tropical storms following in its wake than the NCAA.
``We don't want any practices to be washed out,'' Kanell said. ``We've had a time with the heat, and we don't want to lose more practice time.''
As for the NCAA investigation, Kanell said it was a little like the weather.
``That is out of our hands, so there is no need for us worrying about it,'' he said. ``All we can do is get ready to play football.''
The Seminoles open the season next Saturday in Orlando against Duke.
They will be ready, too.
Bowden believes this is his quickest team ever, capable of outrunning everyone else to the national championship.
``We have got good players, no doubt about it,'' Bowden said.
``It's not a pat hand yet, but if we put everything together and stay healthy, we have as much chance as anyone to win the title.''
One reason Bowden is so optimistic is the maturity of Kanell, who finished up grandly last season after a shaky start.
Bowden already is comparing Kanell to Charlie Ward, the Heisman Trophy winner who took the Seminoles to the championship two years ago.
``Charlie struggled early as a junior, his first season as a starter,'' Bowden said. ``Then in the Georgia Tech game he brought us back to win and that gave him all the confidence he needed.''
Kanell filled his confidence tank in the final regular-season game last season by directing a 28-point comeback in the fourth period to salvage a 31-31 tie with Florida.
``No quarterback has ever done what he did for us in that game,'' Bowden said. ``Then he goes out in the Sugar Bowl game against Florida again, and they are saying, `OK, old buddy, let's see if you can do it again,' and he did.
``I'm as confident as I can be in him. He is hitting passes this year that he wouldn't even have attempted a year ago. If we don't win the championship, it ain't going to be his fault.''
Kanell agreed that he is much more prepared for this season than a year ago.
``Charlie told me how much difference a year made, and I know now what he meant,'' Kanell said. ``I went through some bad times last year, but I learned from them as well as from the good times.''
Unless the NCAA finds something that Bowden doesn't know about, there should be only good times for the Seminoles this season. ILLUSTRATION: Color file cover photo
How good is Danny Kanell? According to Florida State head coach
Bobby Bowden, his star quarterback won't be blamed if the Seminoles
don't end up on top: ``If we don't win the championship, it ain't
going to be his fault.''
B\W Photo
FSU head coach Bobby Bowden hopes an NCAA probe doesn't railroad the
Seminoles' season.
by CNB