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Penalties Help Doom FSU To First Loss

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Doug Blackburn/Tallahassee Democrat

Published: September 21, 2008

TALLAHASSEE Florida State coach Bobby Bowden didn't focus on the five interceptions after his team's disheartening 12-3 loss to Wake Forest on Saturday. He didn't point to the two fumbles his Seminoles lost, either.

Bowden instead directed his attention on FSU's Achilles' heel - penalties.

Twelve times the officials brought out their yellow flags against FSU, for a grand total of 139 yards.

Thirteen times, if you count the offsetting personal foul penalties on the first play of the game.

"That's what you call self-suicide," Bowden said. "We self-destructed."

There was no worst penalty, though most were costly.

The first of four personal foul penalties whistled against the Seminoles hurt plenty, that's for sure.

Kendall Smith had separated Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner from the ball, and cornerback Tony Carter scooped it up and had FSU 33 yards from a touchdown.

Until the yellow flag came out near midfield, where defensive end Everette Brown was called for a personal foul for pushing Skinner down after the fumble and away from the play. After the 15 yards were marched off, FSU had the ball on its own 33 instead of the Wake 33.

"We were being too aggressive," Brown said, "trying to make the big plays too soon. Most of the penalties tonight were just careless play. They could have been avoided."

Brown was by no means the only Nole guilty.

Wide receiver Preston Parker, making his first appearance after a two-game suspension to start the season, was whistled for a personal foul in the second quarter after a play in which FSU moved to within one yard of a first down.

Instead of third-and-1, the Seminoles found themselves staring at second-and-24. It was that kind of night.

"We self-destructed," Bowden said. "We couldn't give ourselves a chance to win the game.

"Every time we came close to scoring - penalty. It was above and beyond the call of ignorance - not duty."

Wide receiver Corey Surrency came into the game with three touchdown catches and no penalties. Against the Demon Deacons, Surrency had zero catches, but twice was whistled for 15-yard blocking-below-the-waist penalties.

Rover Myron Rolle, a junior who already has his undergraduate degree, drew a 15-yard personal foul penalty late in the third quarter after hitting tight end Andrew Parker out of bounds.

That extra yardage tacked on to an already long completion took the Demon Deacons from their own 19 to FSU's 33 and led to Sam Swank's third field goal minutes later, giving Wake Forest a 9-3 lead.

"The one thing I don't like is payback," Bowden said. "You catch yourself doing things you shouldn't do. We had a couple of stupid penalties out there."
And 12 total.

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