FSU, UM In Same Boat: Need A Win

Florida State has lost several important games to Miami during the years, but none stung veteran Seminole coach Bobby Bowden much more than last year's game.

The Hurricanes scored two touchdowns in the final 75 seconds to take a 37-29 win in a turnover-filled contest in Tallahassee that seemed to underline the decline of both programs in recent years.

"It's a game you thought you had won," Bowden said. "They had their second-team quarterback in there and you don't expect a second-team guy to do it and he did in three plays."

And while neither the Seminoles (3-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) or Canes (2-2, 1-0) are ranked again for Saturday's game at Dolphin Stadium, the loser will have a complicated, if not impossible, path to the Atlantic Coast Conference title game in Tampa.

"There's only one answer and that's to win, win and win and hope the numbers match," Bowden said Sunday. "All you can try to do is win the game and that it takes care of whatever is out there."

The Seminoles relied on their running game in Saturday's 39-21 win against Colorado to keep the pressure off sophomore quarterback Christian Ponder, who has struggled in his two starts against Bowl Subdivision teams.

"He's like all young quarterbacks," Bowden said Sunday. "He needs success. With success comes confidence."

Tailback Antone Smith responded with the second-best game of his career, running for 154 yards and three touchdowns against Colorado in a game played on the home field of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.

"What we saw ... was what we were hoping he'd do throughout his career," Bowden said. "He made a lot of things happen on his own.

"It seemed like when he'd run, he'd get what was there but he didn't get by anybody," Bowden said.

But running against the Hurricanes will be tougher. Miami's defense ranks seventh nationally against the run, giving up an average of 65 yards a game.

"We're going to find out more about our team each game we play," Bowden said.

And that's always true against Miami, although the first time in the series the game will not be played at the Orange Bowl, where Bowden won his first national title in 1973.

But Bowden is glad to be out of the outdated venue and instead playing in an NFL stadium for the second straight week.

He knows the Hurricanes haven't changed school colors and like Florida State, hungry to regain the prominence that once prevailed in the rivalry.

"It is Miami," Bowden said. "And Miami's just about in the same boat we're in."

One, however, could be looking for a life jacket after Saturday's game.