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FSU's walk in the park ends with a limp

No. 2 FSU has no trouble with Maryland in a 59-7 romp. But QB Chris Weinke hurts his foot and X-rays are scheduled for today.

By BRIAN LANDMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 29, 2000

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- With his left foot in a brace, senior quarterback Chris Weinke limped from the Florida State dressing room into the unknown.

[Times photo: Joseph Garnett Jr.] FSU's Chris Weinke, who set the school record for career TD passes, walks off the field with his ankle wrapped.

He fears his injury, which he suffered in the first half of Thursday night's resounding 59-7 win against Maryland, could be more than a sprain and that leaves his team walking just as gingerly into its biggest test of the season.

In nine days, the second-ranked Seminoles (5-0, 3-0 ACC) meet one-time nemesis, No. 10 Miami, in the Orange Bowl and they might not know for some time whether they will have their leader and Heisman Trophy candidate.

"Right now, I can't move it," Weinke said. "Hopefully, it's just a bad sprain and I'll be able to treat it and be ready to go. But I can't put any pressure on it. I don't think it's broken, but I don't know."

He will have X-rays today.

"I just dropped back and stepped in a hole and inverted my ankle," he said calmly. "I didn't think anything of it and then I did it again about the third or fourth series. The same thing happened. As the game went on, it just kept getting worse. I couldn't put any pressure on my left foot. When I dropped back, I was hobbling really. I couldn't step up in the pocket."

You couldn't tell from the statistics.

Weinke completed 11 of 15 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns to give him 58 in his career. That broke the school record of 57 set by Danny Kanell.

But in the first quarter, the Seminoles offense struggled to capitalize on several scoring chances thanks in large part to their Achilles' heel, penalties. They also saw redshirt freshman Matt Munyon miss an extra point. (He had an extra-point attempt blocked early in the second half.)

Those are the kind of things that can cost you in a close game against a top team.

"We can't afford to have that down there (in Miami)," senior tailback Travis Minor said. "We have to go out there and play a perfect game. We haven't had it yet."

The Seminoles do seem to be getting closer.

Minor, Jeff Chaney and Davy Ford combined for 196 yards as the offense rolled up 613 yards, the most since it gained 616 against the Terrapins in 1995.

The defense largely shut down the Terps (2-2, 0-1), allowing them 224 yards, which wouldn't have been that high were it not for a 74-yard touchdown romp by senior tailback LaMont Jordan and an 85-yard drive that ended on the 1 as time expired.

"They have a good team," said Maryland sophomore quarterback Calvin McCall, the former Orlando Dr. Phillips star who struggled mightily against FSU. "We had some drops and I had some bad throws, but I can't blame the loss on anyone. Everything that could go wrong did tonight."

FSU, up 10-0 on fullback William McCray's 1-yard touchdown run and Munyon's careerlong 44-yard field, took control after a pair of defensive gems.

On the second play of the second quarter, defensive end Jamal Reynolds sacked McCall to force a fumble that bounded out of the end zone for a safety and a 12-0 lead. The FSU defense has scored points in every game this season.

"When the offense sees us out there making a big play, I think it gets them hyped up to do good things," said Reynolds, who has 10 sacks and is nine shy of the school record set by Peter Boulware.

One play later, Weinke hit receiver Robert Morgan for a 58-yard touchdown. Then FSU parlayed an interception by safety Chris Hope into a 2-yard touchdown run by McCray. Munyon missed the extra point, however, for a 25-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

But then the Terps finally gave their fans among the crowd of 47,044 at Byrd Stadium something to cheer.

Jordan, looking to recapture the form that made him a second-team All-American last season and a Heisman Trophy candidate before the start of this season, burst up the middle and beat the Seminoles for a 74-yard score.

"When I scored, I thought it would motivate us and get us back in the game, but it didn't," said Jordan, who had just 188 yards on 64 carries entering the game. He finished with 114 yards on 17 carries. The Seminoles answered in the final seconds of the half on a Weinke 2-yard fade pass to receiver Atrews Bell for a 32-7 lead. Weinke hooked up with Bell again for a 34-yard score on the opening series of the second half and then gave way to Marcus Outzen.

Outzen led FSU to three scores to cap the scoring and, more importantly, give him much-needed playing time just in case he has to take over for Weinke.

"I'm hoping it's a minor injury," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said. "Thank goodness, it was a Thursday night game. We'll have at least two more days to get more information on it."

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