THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 31, 1995 TAG: 9508260489
SECTION: FOOTBALL '95 PAGE: Z15 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COLLEGE FORECAST
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 131 lines
When Florida State joined the Atlantic Coast Conference three years ago, the plan was for the Seminoles to boost the league's football profile to the level it already enjoyed in basketball.
No one can say Florida State has not done its best to live up to its side of the deal. The Seminoles have been the nation's most successful program the last three years - losing only three games and winning one national championship.
But, Florida State's success has done nothing to polish the conference's image as a whole.
In fact, as the Seminoles have stomped ruthlessly over league foes without stumbling once, its national image in football became more suspect.
Critics refer to the ACC as Florida State and the eight dwarfs. They contend that the Seminoles have revealed ACC football for what it is - mediocre.
Look at the three-year record and you can understand such riducle.
The Seminoles are 24-0 while outscoring league teams, 1,010-275.
The gap is not shrinking, either. It is getting wider.
In its first season, Florida State had to rally to defeat Clemson, 24-20, and Georgia Tech, 29-24. It squeaked by Virginia, 13-3.
But Florida State has not come close to losing the last two years.
Its closest call in 1993 was a 40-14 win over Virginia, and the closest last year was a 31-18 victory over North Carolina.
No one is predicting anything will be different this year. The Seminoles will use the ACC for a stepping stone to a shot at another national championship.
``If I said I thought one of the league teams would beat Florida State this year, you would want to know who would beat them and I don't know who it would be,'' Clemson coach Tommy West said.
``You hear that stuff about `on any given Saturday anything can happen.' Yeah, that might be. But I think for someone in our league to beat Florida State, they are going to have to play almost perfect and Florida State is going to have to make mistakes.
``I don't believe talent-wise anyone has caught them. They are very talented, as well as being very physical.''
As for the gap between Florida State and the rest of the league, West used last April's NFL draft to make a point.
``Florida State had five defensive players drafted before anyone else in the league had anyone drafted,'' West said. ``That speaks for itself. It kind of tells you how wide the separation is between them and the rest of us.''
North Carolina coach Mack Brown and North Carolina State coach Mike O'Cain both say that Florida State's strength is derived from a recruiting advantage that it has in its state.
``In North Carolina, we may have 40 Division I-A players a year coming out of high school,'' O'Cain said. ``In Florida, they are going to have 240. Florida State doesn't have to leave the state to recruit. We have to leave our state to have a chance. From a recruiting standpoint, they have a tremendous advantage over everyone else in the conference.''
Brown said recruiting surveys do not provide much optimism that anyone in the league will catch the Seminoles soon.
``The experts have us (UNC) 15th or 20th in recruiting,'' Brown said, ``but they have Florida Sate in the top four. Every year they recruit as well as anyone in the country. They have more depth, more quality depth, than anyone.''
Brown, though, said trying to catch the Seminoles isn't just an ACC problem.
``It is a problem for everyone in the nation. No one else is beating them much, either. Look at their record against Southeastern Conference teams,'' he said.
Brown contends the ACC, as a whole, has gotten better in the last three years and is much better than what the Seminoles have critics believing.
Maryland coach Mark Duffner makes the same arguement.
``We had five teams ranking among to top25 and five teams went to bowl games last season,'' Duffner said. ``I think both percentages are the best of any conference.''
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden agrees the league is better than its national image.
``You might say, `Well, nobody in the league has beaten you,' but no one else has beaten us either except for Miami (twice) and Notre Dame since we have been in the ACC,'' Bowden said.
``So, other teams are not doing all that good, either. Maybe the conference is not as bad as everyone thinks. Maybe it is just we have been one of the top teams in the country and they just haven't been able to whoop us yet, you know?''
There are statistics the ACC can throw on the table to prove it is not as bad as everyone thinks.
The ACC had more teams (five) ranked in the final regular-season polls last season than any other league. The Southeastern had only four. The ACC has sent five teams to bowls the last two seasons, and has had four or more bowl teams for six consecutive years.
The ACC is second only to the Pacific 10 in all-time bowl game winning percentage. It is also the only league to have had each of its schools play in a bowl game over the last six seasons.
``I really do think the conference is stronger than we realize,'' Bowden said, `` and it is going to be tougher this year.
``The degree of how much better, I don't know. But last year some of those teams were on the verge of being very good. I think the main thing is going to be if Virginia and North Carolina, those two and maybe N.C. State, can hold their consistency, you know. I kind of think they can.''
All three are predicted to finish in the top 25 by various publications.
Both North Carolina and N.C. State believe they have the potential for outstanding offenses, but both have defensive concerns.
Virginia was selected in a preseason poll of league media to finish second to Florida State and was the only school other than FSU to receive a first-place vote.
The Cavaliers lost only three offensive starters and four defensive starters from last year's Independence Bowl team that finished 15th in the AP poll.
Clemson, in its second full year under West, is another team that Bowden thinks will be tougher. The Tigers lost 17-0 to Florida State last year after a 57-0 trouncing the previous season.
``We were more respectable, but I don't think you can say anyone has closed the gap on them until you beat them,'' West said.
Bowden is of the same opinion.
``I don't think the rest of the league is going to get the respect it deserves until someone does beat us,'' Bowden said. ``It is going to happen, too. I just don't know when.''
And neither does anyone else. MEMO: Special Section ILLUSTRATION: Photo
``I don't think the rest of the league is going to get the respect
it deserves until someone does beat us,'' Seminoles coach Bobby
Bowden said. ``It is going to happen, too. I just don't know
when.''
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