By BRIAN LANDMAN and MICHAEL SNYDER
Published December 29, 2003
MIAMI - One of the most compelling numbers in the recent Florida State-Miami series is each team's sack total.
In the past four games, the Hurricanes have 11, seven in the 2001 meeting, while the Seminoles have none. The Hurricanes have won all four games. Coincidence? Hmm.
"It's become more difficult in today's style of football to get sacks," FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said Sunday. "I don't know if sacks are the measure in determining how effective you were at pressuring the quarterback. I'd rather see them getting after the quarterback, hit him, get him conscious of somebody in his face, disrupt his rhythm and timing and ball placement. I think that's more important than actually sacking the quarterback."
A harried quarterback can lead to an interception or turnover. In the Oct.11 regular-season game against the 'Canes, the Seminoles didn't sack Brock Berlin but hurried him about six times and had three interceptions.
"We do need to get some sacks; it's always what you shoot for," Andrews said, "but pressure is the defining element."
We'll see in the Orange Bowl on Thursday.
C.P. PHONE HOME?: If you want a gauge of the intensity of this rivalry, all you had to do was peek at FSU linebacker Kendyll Pope's cellular phone at halftime of the Oct.11 meeting. He had a smack-talking message from former 'Cane and longtime friend Clinton Portis.
RUBBING HIM THE WRONG WAY: Andrews praised the 'Canes receivers for running precise, effective underneath routes that against man coverage offers the chance to use one another as a screen-setter. Sometimes the Hurricanes shrewdly use the umpire.
"I still don't understand why they're on our side of the ball," Andrews said. "They're in the way more than they're helping. I wish I could get enough people to get that sucker out of our way and put him over there. He's running for his life all the time he ain't looking for holding. I don't know how I got into that."
WHAT A DIFFERENCE: For much of his career, FSU senior linebacker Michael Boulware heard - mainly through his brother, Peter (Baltimore Ravens All-Pro), and draft analysts - that he would move to safety in the NFL. But the bowl likely isn't his swan song at linebacker.
"After the last Miami game, I played my first real physical game and took on blocks well, and (I hear) a lot of teams are looking at me as a (weak-side) linebacker. It's amazing. It switched in the middle of the year."
ROSCOE IS READY: The first time Roscoe Parrish played against Florida State this season, he wound up in the hospital. This go around, Parrish would like to continue the pain the Seminoles have felt in four straight losses to the Hurricanes.
"Yeah, I'm pumped up for this game because I didn't play the first game, only played the quarter," said Parrish, UM's third-leading receiver (24 catches for 322 yards and two touchdowns) and top punt returner.
Miami coach Larry Coker joked with Parrish about whether the speedster would play the whole game. It hasn't been a season of laughs for Parrish, who has numerous injuries and the death of his grandmother to deal with.
The worst moment on the field came when the teams met during the regular season. Parrish was stretching to pull in a Berlin pass when corner Stanford Samuels slammed him in the chest. Parrish was on the turf a few minutes before leaving under his own power - something he doesn't remember. He spent two days in the hospital while his family feared he might have serious lung damage. It turned out he had just a bruise, which resulted in blood in his urine. He missed a game.
Parrish harbors no ill feelings for the team or Samuels. "I don't have anything against him," Parrish said. "He was trying to make the tackle, didn't know it would go down like that. So I can't have anything against him. He just made a good, big hit."
Coker said he's hoping Parrish responds to all the adversity with a big showing Thursday night. "Roscoe's been through a lot."
'CANES INJURY UPDATE: Linebacker Jarrell Weaver, who was Miami's top special teams player, has practiced and may play. He broke his left foot against Rutgers on Nov.22. Center Joel Rodriguez broke his left leg in the same game but isn't likely to play. Coker has upgraded his status from "only in an emergency" to questionable. If Rodriguez sees action, Chris Myers still will start.
LEAVE DRIVING TO TOURISTS: Though the 'Canes are staying at Westin Diplomat Hotel on Hollywood Beach, about 35 minutes from campus, they were not allowed to bring their cars, helping keep bowl distractions to a minimum.
