TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The day could not have gone any better for Florida State.
The No. 22 Seminoles put the brakes on a six-year losing streak against arch rival Florida with a 31-7 victory Saturday, and moments afterward they slipped into next week’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship game with a big boost from Maryland.
The Terrapins beat North Carolina State 38-31 to keep the Wolfpack from clinching the ACC’s Atlantic division.
“This is just a topping to a great day for us,” Florida State Coach Jimbo Fisher said. “What a perfect day for Florida State football.”
Fisher’s players were already celebrating what turned out to be a relatively easy victory over the Gators and the locker room got even noisier when the result came in from College Park, Md.
“To find out after beating Florida that you’re going to the ACC Championship Game, that’s pretty special,” Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder said.
Ponder had already finished his work, throwing for 221 yards and three touchdowns in his final game at home, helping Fisher finish the regular season 9-3. Ponder connected with Rodney Smith (39 yards), Taiwan Easterling (15) and Willie Haulstead (29) on touchdown passes.
In his first year as a head coach at any level, Fisher and the Seminoles advanced to the ACC title game for the second time and first since 2005, when they upset Virginia Tech. The Seminoleswill play the Hokies again with the winner slated for the Orange Bowl.
Saturday’s resounding victory over Florida also gave Fisher, 45, a sweep of in-state rivals in his first season as the Seminoles’ coach. The Seminoles hammered Miami 45-17 last month.
“We’re becoming a factor again in this league and a factor again in this state.” Fisher said. “That makes us relevant.”
The Seminoles (6-2 ACC) put away the game with a 21-point second quarter, getting three touchdowns in just over nine minutes to take a 24-7 lead into halftime.
Florida (7-5, 4-4 SEC) capped its worst regular season under Urban Meyer with its first loss to Florida State since Meyer took over in Gainesville in 2005.
“Obviously we’re down,”Meyer said. “I didn’t believe we’d be that far down, but we are.”
Meyer’s dominance against Florida State was one of the major reasons Bobby Bowden was forced out last season as coach and Fisher promoted from offensive coordinator/ coach-in-waiting.
The Gators were awful Saturday, committing four turnovers and scoring only on their opening drive. John Brantley’s 21-yard touchdown to Robert Clark was set up by Andre DuBose’s 62-yard kickoff return.
Florida had won the last three in the series by an average of 30 points. The Seminoles’ 24-point winning margin was its largest over Florida since a 52-17 victory in 1988.
Florida hadn’t lost five games in a season since 2004, former coach Ron Zook’s last at the school, and it was the first time in 10 years as a head coach that Meyer has seen one of his teams lose five times. It was also the secondworst beating a Florida team has suffered under Meyer, surpassed only by a 31-6 loss to Alabama earlier this year.
Florida was unable to overcome its mistakes and couldn’t get its offense untracked, totaling just 276 yards. Jordan Reed’s 74 yards on 13 carries led the way.
The Gators drove deep into Seminoles territory just before half, but the drive ended with 55 seconds left when Florida State’s Mike Harris cut in front of the intended receiver for an interceptionat the 7.
Nothing worked for the Gators, who had three turnovers in the first half and were stopped short on a fake punt.
Sports, Pages 33 on 11/28/2010