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FSU can't sink any deeper

Brad Culpepper was a defensive tackle at Florida (1988-91). As a senior he was a first-team All-American and recipient of the Draddy Trophy as the nation's top scholar-athlete. He spent 1992-2000 in the NFL with the Vikings, Bucs and Bears and is an attorney with Morgan, Colling & Gilbert in Tampa. Culpepper is Kim Hammond's brother-in-law. He shared his disdain for the Seminoles with Times writer Bruce Lowitt.

By BRUCE LOWITT, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 30, 2002

Brad Culpepper was a defensive tackle at Florida (1988-91). As a senior he was a first-team All-American and recipient of the Draddy Trophy as the nation's top scholar-athlete. He spent 1992-2000 in the NFL with the Vikings, Bucs and Bears and is an attorney with Morgan, Colling & Gilbert in Tampa. Culpepper is Kim Hammond's brother-in-law. He shared his disdain for the Seminoles with Times writer Bruce Lowitt.

• This is it • Gators more pathetic than hateable • Five worst moments in Florida's season • Five key players for Florida against FSU • Five worst moments in FSU's season • Five key players for FSU against Florida • Divergent paths coming together

What was the FSU theme for football at the start of the season? Let's Roll? Now I think it's beep-beep-beep.

Isn't that what garbage trucks sound like when they back up? Didn't FSU back into its ACC championship?

And how strong is that conference when you can win with close to a .500 record? That's pretty embarrassing. But I can understand. They got into that conference to improve their basketball team and that's been accomplished in the past 10 years, hasn't it?

Oops. Maybe not. Maybe they haven't gone through three coaches, maybe they have. I can't remember. Never mind.

If they were in the SEC they'd beat Vanderbilt. Kentucky would be a good game, too. It probably would go into overtime And the Seminoles might even prevail -- if they're not wide right . . . or wide left.

It's funny how one of the newspapers might have written that Bobby Bowden was taking a page out of Steve Spurrier's book and rotating quarterbacks, and that once Bowden read that he wasn't going to have any comparison to Steve so he kicked the guy off the team.

Free Shoes University is living up to its reputation. It's nice to see that's still intact.

Chris Rix was going to win the Heisman Trophy, right? Now I'd say the MVP of this game right now is the Tallahassee police department.

Any time you can elevate Rix into the starting position, I think that gives us a good chance to win. I mean, Rix has lived up every bit to his billing as the next Dan Kendra. Weren't both of those guys high school quarterback of the year?

I think I've got some insight into Coach Bowden. I don't want to name any names -- I don't want to name Brad Johnson or Casey Welson -- but sources inside the FSU program state that any time Bobby Bowden has the headset on, the team is doomed.

And I'll be danged. Every time I flip on the TV, big boy Bowden, senior Bowden, has that headset on.

But maybe it's not as bleak as Florida State fans might think. The word on the street is that Darnell Dockett has the Seminoles perfecting his ankle-twist play.

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