Chris Rix struggled Friday, but his backups have little - or no - experience.
By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published September 12, 2004
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden has had the discussion with his offensive assistants each of the previous three seasons about whether to stick with Chris Rix at quarterback.
He never expected to broach that topic this season. Not in Rix's fourth as the starter. Not when it seemed he had finally improved his decision making.
Well, here he goes again.
Rix completed 12 of 28 passes for just 108 yards with two interceptions in Friday's 16-10 overtime loss at Miami, a huge setback for a team aiming for a return to the Bowl Championship Series finale.
"We looked at the film together and discussed everything, and I told them to do a lot of thinking and looking at what they think we should do," Bowden said Saturday afternoon.
"I'll meet with them (today), and we'll sit down and decide what approach should we take. Should we try to get Wyatt (Sexton) some playing time? Should we give Wyatt a shot at it? Or was (Rix's poor performance) because of the way he was harassed and pushed and hit and beat on. Did that cause the lack of consistency that you were hoping to get and the turnovers.
"We'll analyze that to the best of our ability and go from there."
Sexton, a third-year sophomore, has thrown five collegiate passes, completing three for 56 yards. All came against North Carolina and Duke last season, teams few would ever confuse with Miami.
Bowden said the Hurricanes defense, despite losing four first-round choices and three other starters, might be better than last season's group.
"I didn't think they could do that. They really surprised me," Bowden said. "A lot of our problems was them."
Not to make excuses or come off as an apologist for Rix, but Bowden pointed out the Seminoles played without starting center David Castillo (chest injury), were without starting guard Bobby Meeks (ankle sprain) for much of the game and lost their other starting guard, Matt Meinrod, early in the second half.
Bowden said Sexton probably couldn't have evaded some of the blitzing Rix did. Miami did sack him three times. He also said Sexton is still developing and likely needs another season before he's ready to be the guy.
"You never know until you give him a shot, do you?" Bowden said. If that sounds like he's conflicted, he probably is.
He surely is frustrated that the Rix-led offense racked up a measly 165 yards. You have to go back to a game at LSU on Sept. 6, 1980, when FSU had fewer yards (132). Not only that, but the defense scored the Seminoles' touchdown on a fumble recovery and set up the field goal with a fumble recovery.
Still, Bowden has been one of Rix's staunchest supporters and at times has been rewarded for his confidence. He also has seen some teams open with a deflating loss and immediately try to reinvent themselves.
"They get to thinking, "We must be bad. Let's change everything. Let's change offenses. Let's change this. Let's change that,' " he said.
"The other team wins the national championship, and you find out you didn't play all that bad and you should have stayed with what you were doing and you might ... have gotten good enough to sit up there with them. You have to be very careful."
Bowden said he and his staff hadn't worked on a plan to ensure Sexton - or freshmen Drew Weatherford or Xavier Lee - would see some meaningful playing time this season, if not with an eye toward the future then to hedge against an injury. (Rix did go down for a few minutes after a punishing hit but only had the wind knocked out of him.)
"But," he said, "we're liable to come up with one."
