Sports: One-sided Tally

One-sided Tally

There's no need for a recount, Gator fans. Steve Spurrier is 0-4-1 at Doak Campbell Stadium.

By JOANNE KORTH

Wile E. Coyote has nothing on Steve Spurrier.

Just like the cartoon genius-at-large, every time Spurrier comes close to coaching Florida to victory at Doak Campbell Stadium, home of the hated Seminoles, an anvil falls on his head.

Beep-beep!

With a college football resume to drool over, Spurrier still is looking for his first coaching victory in Tallahassee, where the No.4 Gators and No.3 Seminoles meet Saturday with national title hopes at stake. Since returning to his alma mater in 1990, Spurrier is 0-4-1 at Doak Campbell.

"We need to go up there and start beating those guys," Spurrier said. "That's what we need to do -- not just show up."

The last time Florida won at Doak Campbell, Ronald Reagan lived in the White House, We Are the World was on the radio and all of Chicago was doing the Super Bowl Shuffle. The year was 1986. A rainy night made the field a mess and a long touchdown run by FSU's Sammie Smith was brought back by a holding penalty. UF held on, 17-13.

Since then, zippo.

"There's got to be something about it that's psychological," FSU senior linebacker Jean Jeune said. "That they haven't beat us here since 1986 could be one of two things: One, they haven't been able to overcome the road factor or, two, we're just unwilling to let somebody come here and beat us in our home."

Florida State owns the nation's longest home winning streak at 34 games and longest home unbeaten streak at 51, dating to a 17-16 loss to then-No. 2 Miami on Nov. 16, 1991.

"Fifty-one games speak for themselves," FSU senior quarterback Chris Weinke said. "Teams coming in here understand that. In the back of their minds they know we probably are the toughest team to beat at home. The record shows that."

Spurrier's list of accomplishments is staggering. He won the 1966 Heisman Trophy as Florida's senior quarterback and coached 1996 Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel. He led the Gators to a national championship and five Southeastern Conference championships.

He revolutionized college football with his innovative passing game. He reached 100 victories at UF in the eighth game of his 10th season, faster than any major-college coach at one school.

Tallahassee just refused to contribute. "It's been hard to win because they're a pretty good team, obviously," Spurrier said. "We're not the only ones who haven't won up there in a long time."

FSU coach Bobby Bowden hasn't had nearly as much trouble winning in Gainesville. In his 25 seasons at FSU, he is 6-6 at Florida Field with victories in 1977, '79, '87, '89, '93 and '99. But Spurrier's play book, the complexity of which rivals any Acme instruction sheet, has come up empty in Tallahassee.

Like 1994, when Florida led 31-3 in the fourth quarter only to have the Seminoles score 28 points for a 31-31 tie. Drat! Or 1996, when UF was ranked No. 1 but couldn't protect Wuerffel in a 24-21 loss. Drat! Or worst of all, 1998, when the Gators lost 23-12 to an FSU team guided by a seldom-used backup quarterback, Marcus Outzen, with questionable passing skills. Double-drat!

That year, the Seminoles turned the tables by making the Fun 'n' Gun look incompetent. Rushing three and dropping eight into pass coverage, FSU held the Gators to 204 yards, then the second-lowest total under Spurrier.

The play of the game came in the third quarter, when Outzen lofted a pass that went through the hands of UF safety Marquand Manuel and into the hands of FSU playmaker Peter Warrick, who wove his way for a 32-yard touchdown and 13-12 lead.

Gators, foiled again!

So preposterous was FSU's win that a videotape was issued to commemorate "one of the greatest victories ever in Doak Campbell Stadium." Not in Our House! is available for $19.99, plus shipping and handling. The tape, featuring everything from the pre-game brawl to Warrick's electrifying play to Bowden singing in the post-game lockerroom, is a must-have for Seminoles fans.

A real belly-laugher.

For Gators, a tear-jerker.

"We've had a lot of chances," Spurrier said. "We just got beat."

That's not to say Spurrier never has won at Doak Campbell Stadium. He was 2-1 against the Seminoles as UF's quarterback, including a 17-13 victory in Tallahassee as a senior.

But as coach, 0-for-Tallahassee.

And the Seminoles do not plan to relent.

"We've got a home-game winning streak going and every time Florida comes into town, that's up in the air," senior center Jarad Moon said. "We don't want to be the class that lets that get away from us."

Beep-beep!

-- Staff writer Brian Landman contributed to this report.