Colleges

It's up to QBs to demand respect

By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published September 22, 2005

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden hasn't been surprised that opponents have taken a similar defensive tack against his team so far this season: They've stacked the box to stop the run and force a young, inexperienced quarterback to make plays.

"Boston College played us the way I would have played us and probably the way Miami played us," he said.

Against the Eagles, redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Weatherford showed he can beat a defense - a top shelf one and not merely the Citadel - through the air.

With his team struggling and down 17-14 early in the fourth quarter, Weatherford calmly completed 8 of 9 passes for 56 yards on one drive, culminating with the go-ahead touchdown to Greg Carr.

"Until they begin to believe, "Hey those quarterbacks are pretty good, you better watch them,' they're going to come up and take away your running game," Bowden said, "From the end of the third quarter to the fourth quarter, we began to see that. That'll force other people to say, "Oh, oh. We better pay a little bit of attention to that forward pass.' "

REMEMBER WHEN: In the final moments of Saturday's game, the Seminoles stopped Boston College on six plays from inside the 2. For Bowden, that evoked memories of FSU's remarkable defensive stand against Kansas in the 1993 opener. Kansas had eight plays from the 2 and 12 inside the 10 and didn't score.

"That was a beautiful sign," he said. "Some of the most successful teams we've had around here were teams that did something like that."

The '93 team, of course, won the national championship.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: ACC officials said that the replay of Lorenzo Booker's fumble at the goal line, which was ruled to go out of bounds in the end zone for a touchback, did not provide indisputable evidence to overturn the call.

"I thought it was our ball on the 1," Bowden said after watching the tape but agreed that if there is doubt, go with what was called on the field.

Athletic director Dave Hart, however, was concerned that the replay official goofed.

"There's too much at stake that we can't have them missing (calls)," he said. "We can't have, "whoops.' That's why we went to instant replay, to avoid the whoops. So we've got to get the instant replay calls right."

TEST AGAINST THE BEST: For the undefeated soccer team, the ACC schedule begins tonight at home in the most challenging of fashions: consensus No. 1 North Carolina (8-0-0).

"I'm sure every team in the country gets excited when Carolina comes to town; it's probably everybody's biggest game," FSU coach Mark Krikorian said. "But the reality of it is, we look at it as another opportunity to measure ourselves."

The Seminoles (7-0-0), ranked No.7 by SoccerBuzz, haven't been found lacking.

They have come back twice to win road games, most recently Friday at powerhouse Florida. FSU trailed by a goal twice before winning 4-2.

"We have a lot of confidence in each other and, of course, in the coaches as well," said star newcomer, sophomore forward Sel Kuralay, who scored two of her team-high nine goals against the Gators. "Being down against Florida, the first thing we did was just grab the ball out of the net and forget about that goal and concentrate on getting one back. That's really worked for us."

RUN NOT JUST FOR FUN: The men's and women's cross-country teams will need about 13 hours on Saturday to run from Crystal River to Daytona Beach in their annual fundraiser, Across the State Relay.

Proceeds, which can be as much as $7,000, will go to the Red Cross disaster fund to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

"It's up to the students who we give to," coach Bob Braman said, "but I doubt if we'll ever change from the Red Cross because of hurricanes. In the past, money would come from other communities (in pledges) and gone into the Tallahassee community, but we're all this together."

The runners typically each run a couple of 10- to 14-mile legs, typical training distance, in pairs. One carries a one-liter bottle, the "baton," that is filled halfway with Gulf of Mexico water at the start and then filled with water from the Atlantic Ocean at the end.

SECOND SEASON: The volleyball team (2-6), coming off a loss Monday at Florida, begins ACC play with matches at Maryland on Friday and Boston College on Saturday.

Brian Landman covers Florida State athletics. Reach him at 813 226-3347 or at landman@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 22, 2005, 01:04:14]