Florida St Whips Tigers in Bowden Bowl II, 54-7

---

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. -- Not that anyone needed to tell Tommy Bowden, but his

Clemson team isn't ready to challenge Florida State for the Atlantic Coast

Conference championship.

After scoring its first touchdown in over a decade in Tallahassee, No. 10

Clemson (8-2 overall, 6-2 ACC) fell apart Saturday night against No. 4

Florida State (9-1, 7-0) and lost, 54-7, in front of 82,514 at

Doak-Campbell Stadium.

Other than a touchdown, Clemson had little to show that it did any better

than its previous four trips to Doak-Campbell.

Clemson responded to FSU's early 10-0 lead with a touchdown, but after that

Clemson looked like any other Clemson team in Tallahassee in the past

decade.

Florida State's Brett Cimorelli kicked a 28-yard field goal on the

Seminoles' first drive. After a 75-yard punt by Clemson's Jamie Somaini was

downed at the Florida State 2-yard line, Chris Weinke struck quickly for

Florida State's first touchdown. He threw a 98-yard touchdown pass to Marvin

Minnis on the first play after the punt to give FSU a 10-0 lead with 7:17

left in the first quarter. Minnis got behind Clemson defensive back Charles

Hafley and help arrived too late to stop the touchdown.

It appeared early in the game that Clemson's offense might be able to move

the ball against Florida State. Clemson scored on a six-play, 80-yard drive

on its third possession.

Dantzler completed a 44-yard pass to Rod Gardner on the first play of the

drive. A 22-yard completion to Justin Watts kept the drive alive on

third-and-10 at the FSU 36. Dantzler ran ten yards to the 4. Zachery scored

on a 4-yard run with 4:58 left in the first quarter, Clemson's first

touchdown in Tallahassee since a 73-yard run by Terry Allen in 1989.

Clemson moved the ball into Florida State territory again midway through the

third quarter. A pass interference penalty gave Clemson the ball on FSU's

38-yard line. That was as far as Clemson could get on that drive. A 13-yard

sack of Woody Dantzler and an incomplete pass stopped the drive. And with

just over eight minutes left the second quarter, the rout was on.

Clemson had a chance to go into halftime down by less than two touchdowns.

Florida State faced third-and-8 at the Clemson 37 with 2:26 left in the

half. Weinke completed a pass to Marvin Minnis over the middle. However,

Brian Mance and Darrel Crutchfield both missed chances to stop Minnis for a

10-15 yard gain. Instead, he took the ball to the 1-yard line.

Randy Golightly scored on the next play to give FSU a 23-7 lead with 2:09

left in the half.

Clemson had a chance to cut into the lead when Chris Weinke fumbled with 13

seconds left in the half. Jason Holloman recovered the ball at the Florida

State 26. However, Dantzler threw an interception on the next play.

After FSU was forced to punt on its first drive of the second half, it

scored on three straight possessions. Golightly scored on a 1-yard run with

10:17 left in the third quarter and FSU's Jeff Chaney carried nearly the

entire Clemson defense on a 4-yard touchdown run with 4:27 left in the third

quarter to give FSU a 40-7 lead.

BOX SCORE

                   1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH  FINAL


                   --- --- --- ---  -----


Clemson             7   0   0   0     7


Florida St         10  13  17  14    54




First Quarter


     FSU-FG Cimorelli 28, 9:03


     FSU-Minnis 98 pass from Weinke (Cimorelli kick), 7:17


     Cle-Zachery 4 run (Hunt kick), 4:58


Second Quarter


     FSU-FG Cimorelli 35, 12:12


     FSU-FG Cimorelli 28, 6:51


     FSU-Golightly 1 run (Cimorelli kick), 2:09


Third Quarter


     FSU-Golightly 1 run (Cimorelli kick), 10:17


     FSU-FG Cimorelli 34, 7:09


     FSU-Chaney 4 run (Cimorelli kick), 4:27


Fourth Quarter


     FSU-Chaney 42 pass from Weinke (Cimorelli kick), 12:18


     FSU-Ford 82 run (Cimorelli kick), 8:13




                          Cle      FSU


                          ---      ---


First downs                17       28


Rushes-yards            36-95   40-250


Passing                   167      521


Comp-Att-Int          15-38-3  27-43-0


Return Yards              151       62


Punts-Avg.             8-40.1   3-36.3


Fumbles-Lost              3-1      2-2


Penalties-Yards          8-59   13-143


Time of Possession      27:13    32:47




INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS





RUSHING-Clemson, Zachery 14-76, Dantzler 12-8, Rambert 3-6,


Simmons 7-5. Florida State, Minor 13-102, Ford 2-81, Chaney


10-52, Jones 6-23, Goolightly 4-4, Weinke 5-(minus 12).





PASSING-Clemson, Dantzler 7-21-2-91, Simmons 7-16-1-72, Lazzara


1-1-0-4. Florida State, Weinke 27-43-0-521.





RECEIVING-Clemson, Watts 6-65, Zachery 4-10, Gardner 3-75,


Rambert 1-13, Scott 1-4. Florida State, Bell 6-111, Walker 6-109,


Minnis 4-163, Boldin 4-54, Chaney 2-51, Gardner 2-21, Golightly


2-14, Minor 1-(minus 2).





A-82,514.

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