THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280626
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: OPERATION ACC
Last stop on a nine-day tour of the Atlantic Coast Conference
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLAHASSEE, FLA. LENGTH: 94 lines
It is business as usual for the most part as the football season moves closer to kickoff time at Florida State.
The Seminoles and their fans are talking national championship. The big games on the schedule are against Florida and Miami.
Same ol', same ol'. For the most part, that is.
The difference this season is that the usually high-stepping, fun-loving, trash-talking Seminoles are showing a little more respect for their ACC brothers.
Set to begin their fifth year in the league, the Seminoles are in the unique position of no longer being unbeaten in the ACC.
They are now 31-1 against league teams and while the record remains one of domination, that single defeat, coming on a November evening last year in Charlottesville, was a big one with major significance.
``I don't know if we thought we were invincible in the league or not, but it showed us we could be beaten,'' receiver Andre Cooper said Tuesday.
The defeat allowed Virginia to share the ACC title with the Seminoles. It also escorted any idea of winning a national championship out of the Seminoles' mind.
``That pretty much ended our season, as far as our goals were concerned,'' recalled Thad Busby, who moves into a starting role at quarterback this season.
``It was tough playing out the rest of the season and getting ready to play in the (Orange) bowl knowing it wasn't for the national championship.''
Florida State fans, who still see the ACC as only a good basketball conference, were humiliated by their football team losing to Virginia.
``How could you do this to us?'' they demanded.
Most of them called it a fluke.
``But those fans weren't there. They didn't see the game or the feel the atmosphere,'' Cooper said. ``You have to give Virginia credit. They were a good team with a lot of talented players.
They beat us, and that's it.''
Coach Bobby Bowden said anyone would be foolish to consider the Virginia game a fluke.
``Virginia had the place packed. They were wild that night and did what they were supposed to do,'' he said.
Bowden, who should know, says he considers coach George Welsh's program one of the best in the country.
``Maybe the fans aren't willing to believe Virginia is a national power yet, but other coaches would agree with me,'' Bowden said.
``They have proved they can play with anybody.''
Maybe it's because the game is homecoming, or maybe it's because even Seminole fans believe Virginia might be for real, but Florida State has sold more tickets for the rematch on Oct. 26 than for any other home game except Florida.
``It had to take getting beat for us to start a rivalry with someone in the ACC.
``I just can't stand that George Welsh now,'' Bowden said with a wink and a hearty chuckle.
Truthfully, Bowden has never implied privately or publicly that the ACC was as soft as his team made it seem with so many lopsided victories.
With the season starting off with games aginst Duke and North Carolina State, it might seem that way again.
But Bowden knows better.
He warned the Seminoles before the Virginia game if they did not play their best they could lose.
``We were certain we would beat Virginia,'' Cooper said, ``but that was not because of not having respect for Virginia.
``We feel we are going to win every game we play. We were just as confident playing Miami or Florida as we were playing Vir;ginia.''
Still, the Seminoles are looking at the ACC more closely this season and with more respect.
``You can watch film and tell that league teams are catching up on what we are doing,'' Busyby said.
``I don't know how that is going to affect wins and losses, but it affects game plans and how they prepare for us. They know how to stop us now.''
Offensive lineman Todd Fordham said he has thought a lot about losing to Virginia since November.
``I was on the first Florida State team to win an ACC game, but I also was on the first team to lose an ACC game,'' Fordham said.
``It is something of a burden, but really it probably was good for us. We know we are not going to win games in this league because other teams are going to fold when the going gets tough.''
But because it is Florida State, some things won't change.
Any other school in the league would celebrate a 10-2 season that ended with a victory over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
``We did that last year and our fans acted like we were 0-12. It is a bad season anytime we don't win the national championship,'' Cooper said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Even before last season's loss at Charlottesville, Seminoles coach
Bobby Bowden knew Virginia was a team to take seriously. by CNB