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Turnovers Thwart Seminoles

Tribune photo by COLIN HACKLEY

Florida State quarterback D'Vontrey Richardson, left, leads a group of Seminoles off the field after their 12-3 loss to Wake Forest Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium.

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By COREY CLARK

The Tallahassee Democrat

Published: September 21, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Saturday night's home game with No.18 Wake Forest was considered the first true test of the 2008 season for the Florida State Seminoles.

Safe to say, they didn't pass.

Seven turnovers, 139 yards in penalties and just 220 total yards of offense led to a 12-3 loss at Doak Campbell Stadium — their third straight to the Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest All-American kicker Sam Swank missed three field goals, including a 32-yarder that would have put the game away with 2:46 left, but sophomore quarterback D'Vontrey Richardson threw an interception on the very next play to end FSU's hopes of a comeback win.

Swank then iced the game with a 31-yard field goal with 2:07 left.

The loss dropped Florida State coach Bobby Bowden one game behind Penn State's Joe Paterno for the most career wins in major college football. Paterno won his 376th Saturday as the Nittany Lions defeated Temple 45-3.

"We're not where I'd hoped we were," Bowden said. "That was evident."

Richardson, who played the whole second half in place of starter Christian Ponder, was six of 18 on the night for 66 yards and two picks. Ponder wasn't any better, going six of 18 for 52 yards and three interceptions.

"We lost the game," Ponder said. "Wake Forest played great. I don't know what exactly went wrong."
The offense's turnover barrage overshadowed a terrific game by the FSU defense, which held Wake without a touchdown and just 277 yards of total offense.

But as good as the defense was for the Seminoles, the offense was that bad.

Ponder threw an interception on the Seminoles' first play of the game and Antone Smith fumbled on their third. The rest of the half wasn't much better and the Seminoles went into the locker room with zero points and just four first downs.

Florida State was fortunate to be trailing 3-0 at halftime.

Three times the Demon Deacons got inside the FSU 15-yard line and three times they left without any points.

Swank missed a 26-yard field goal — after a holding penalty nullified a 15-yard touchdown pass — in the first quarter.

FSU linebacker Kenny Ingram then batted down a pass on fourth-and-1 at the 11 late in the second quarter to thwart another drive.

Then a few moments later, after Ponder had thrown his second interception of the half, the Demon Deacons had the ball at the FSU 13.

On second down, Riley Skinner kept the ball on a bootleg and ran toward the goal line. At the FSU 2-yard line, as the Wake quarterback was trying to go down, FSU safety Jamie Robinson knocked the ball out with his knee and the Seminoles recovered at the 2-yard line with just 29 seconds left in the first half.

The late fumble was one of a number of first-half defensive highlights for the Seminoles.
The offense, on the other hand, was a different story.

Richardson started the second half at QB for the Seminoles and led them on their first scoring drive midway through the third quarter.

He threw for 27 yards and ran for 21 more to get FSU inside the 20-yard line for the first time all game. That's where the offense stayed, though, for the next three plays and Graham Gano came on and booted a 37-yard field goal to cut the Wake lead to 6-3 with 6:40 left.

Swank, who kicked a 29-yard field goal earlier in the quarter, nailed a 49-yarder at the 4:31 mark and Wake was back in front, 9-3.

Swank's field goal a quarter later put the game out of reach for the Seminoles, who now must regroup before heading to Jacksonville next Saturday to take on undefeated Colorado.

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