By BRIAN LANDMAN, ZACHARY SPAIN
Published January 2, 2004
MIAMI - If you can't get enough of Florida State and Miami, you'll love this.
Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford said Thursday night that the league is working on the assumption it will stage a championship game in 2004.
It has petitioned the NCAA to allow an 11-team league, which it will have in the fall with the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech, to hold a title game. The NCAA could expedite its process and give the ACC an answer this month or, more likely, in April.
"The other issue is when Boston College comes in," he said, referring to the 12th member that has accepted an invitation to join the league but continues to negotiate its exit from the Big East Conference. "There's a chance they could be with us next year. There's a lot of discussion going on, and there's going to be a fair amount of movement, and I think everyone agrees that the less we have a lame-duck situation for everybody, the better."
He said that decision could come by the end of this month.
"We will have a championship game next year if we have 12, no question about it," he said. "The schools have also voted to have a championship game at 11 if the NCAA allows us to do so. The (ACC) presidents have signed off on that."
The league has had representatives at the Big 12 and SEC title games to set up a plan to make "sure we do it well." The timetable, while not ideal, is doable, he said.
So, with FSU and Miami set to play in different divisions, they could meet not only in the Labor Day season opener but in a game to determine the ACC's Bowl Championship Series qualifier.
THORPE PROGRESSING: FSU junior receiver Craphonso Thorpe, who broke a leg during the overtime victory Nov. 15 against North Carolina State, is "doing well," team physician Tom Haney said. Thorpe watched the game from the sideline.
PEATTIE SETS MARK: Redshirt freshman placekicker Jon Peattie, a Countryside High graduate, set the Miami season mark with his 22nd field goal, a 51-yarder that put Miami ahead 16-14 at 10:19 of the third quarter. He surpassed the seasons of Carlos Huerta (21 in 1988) and Todd Sievers (21 in 2001) and made the first kick of 50 or more yards in the Orange Bowl since 1992. In Miami's 22-14 Oct. 11 victory over FSU, Peattie connected on three field goals.
PAYTON, PART II: When Hurricanes tailback Jarrett Payton carried for 6 yards midway through the second quarter, he bested his rushing total of 97 yards in Miami's soggy victory over FSU. That was his first start after Frank Gore suffered a season-ending knee injury. Payton had 100 yards on nine carries in the first half Thursday, the best such rushing performance in the bowl since Virginia Tech's Ken Oxendine ran for 102 by halftime in 1997.
NEW LOOK: For the first time in school history, Florida State donned white pants with its garnet home jerseys. The Unity Council, a committee of 12 players who met periodically with coach Bobby Bowden throughout the season, chose the uniform combination. The Seminoles dressed in all-white uniforms on the road against North Carolina, Virginia, Notre Dame and Clemson during the regular season. FSU, which traditionally wears gold or garnet pants, had not worn white since 1991.
