Seminoles Reach for Elusive National Title

Florida State has been the bridesmaid in the chase for the national championship the last four seasons.
FSU is 42-6 in the same period of time, but early losses each season have killed the Seminoles’ chances of ending the season as the top team in the country. Following four consecutive national finishes in the top four, including a 10-2 season in 1990 that was supposed to have been a rebuilding year, FSU finally could be on the verge of winning it all.
“The best thing I can say about this team is last year we had more talent than any team I’ve been around,” said FSU coach Bobby Bowden, who with 205 victories ranks eighth on the all-time list of Division I coaching winners. “The one thing we didn’t have was experience. Well, this year we’ve got the one thing.”
Most of the preseason publications, as well as a poll of 55 NCAA Division 1A head coaches, agree, ranking the Seminoles No. 1 as they begin their first season as an independent before beginning competition in the Atlantic Coast Conference in ’92.
This could finally be the year for Bowden and FSU, if they can survive a schedule that opens with 1990 Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer and the Brigham Young Cougars in the Pigskin Classic. The schedule also includes a trip to Michigan, as well as dates with Syracuse, Louisiana State, Louisville, South Carolina, Miami and Florida.
“It does seem like if we lose, it’s early, and we lost the two back-to-back to Auburn and Miami last year,” Bowden said. “If we didn’t have to go out and play the dadgum games in the first part of the season, we’d have won more national championships in August than anybody. So my No. 1 job is to make sure we don’t have any letdowns, especially early, but that’s so dadgum hard with our schedule.”
Casey Weldon, who became the starter for an ineffective Brad Johnson following consecutive losses to Auburn and Miami in 1990, responded by leading the Seminoles throughout the rest of the season unbeaten to finish third nationally in passing efficiency behind Detmer and Virginia’s Shawn Moore and was named the most valuable player in FSU’s spring game. Returning with Weldon is the entire backfield – fullback Edgar Bennett, tailback Amp Lee, who scored 19 touchdowns in ’90 – and six other returning offensive starters.
On defense, the Seminoles return nine starters, led by their leading tackler, 6-foot-2, 220-pound sophomore inside linebacker Marvin Jones. Jones was in on 133 tackles last year, including eight for losses.
In the secondary, Terrell Buckley has been referred to as “the second coming of Deion Sanders,” and for more reasons than just his flamboyant style and flashy clothes. Buckley returned two interceptions for touchdowns last year and scored twice more on punt returns.
Even considering all of that talent, FSU’s road to its first national title won’t be an easy one. Bowden calls this season’s race for No. 1 “as wide open as it’s ever been and similar to last year.”
There are certainly quite a few teams confident of their chances:
Three-time national champion Miami went into the season with a battle for starting quarterback twice in the 1980s – with Bernie Kosar, Vinnie Testaverde and Kyle Vanderwende in ’83 and Craig Erickson and Steve Walsh in ’87. The Hurricanes won the national championship both years. Again, Dennis Erickson has a quarterback controversy on his hands as he tries to find someone to replace Craig Erickson.
Junior Gino Torretta, who already owns the school record for passing yards in a game with 468, played sparingly behind Erickson in ’90, completing 21 of 41 passes for 210 yards and appears to be the front-runner after Bryan Fortay broke a finger and missed most of the spring. Whoever wins the quarterback’s job will have to deal with the losses of receivers Randall Hill and Wesley Carroll, and the Hurricanes also must find replacements for Outland Trophy winner Russell Maryland and All-American linebacker Maurice Crum.
Miami opens the season at Arkansas and will play three top-25 teams – Houston and Penn State on Sept. 14 and Oct. 12 at home and at Florida State on Nov. 16.
Michigan appears to be the favorite outside the state of Florida. Quarterback Elvis Grbac returns behind what could be the best offensive line in the nation. The Wolverines, who haven’t won a national championship since 1948, were six points from an unbeaten season in ’90, but face another typically challenging Big 10 schedule. Outside the conference, Michigan must also deal with Notre Dame and FSU early, but both games will be in Ann Arbor.
Notre Dame survived the NCAA investigation of head coach Lou Holtz’s program at Minnesota, rumors of his departure for the NFL and allegations of steroid abuse by former player Steve Hoffman. The question this year is can Notre Dame also survive the departures of Lombardi Award winning nose tackle Chris Zorich, linebacker Michael Stonebreaker, cornerback Todd Lyght, and of course, the defection of Rocket Ismail to the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.
As usual, the Irish should also challenge for the national title, with Rick Mirer returning at quarterback and flanker Clint Johnson. Johnson, nicknamed “Cosmic,” has already been tagged as the next Rocket and does have his speed (4.3 in the 40-yard dash). A key for the Irish offense will be whether Mirer can get the ball to tight end Derek Brown, who has yet to catch more than 15 passes in a season.
Although Notre Dame no longer has to contend with Miami, the Irish again have their usual tough schedule – playing Michigan, Michigan State, Southern California, Tennessee and Penn State.
Florida is the favorite to win an official Southeastern Conference championship this year, but the Gators also expect to challenge for the championship on the national level. Steve Spurrier, who was named the SEC Coach of the Year for leading Florida to a 9-2 season in his debut year in Gainesville, will have the SEC Player of the Year, junior quarterback Shane Matthews, at his disposal again this season.
Matthews completed 229 of 378 passes for 2,952 yards, the second-best single season mark in conference history, and 23 touchdowns.
With NCAA probation lifted, the Gators are now ready to reap the rewards of their success after posting the best SEC record three times in the past seven seasons without championship rings to show for their efforts. Twenty-five years after Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy at Florida, the Gators are optimistic about their chances in ’91.
“I think all the Gators are pretty happy with the way things are going,” Spurrier said. “All the NCAA sanctions are behind us. I’ve got to tell you this is probably the most high-pressure situation I’ve ever been in, but it is one I would want to be in and expect to be in at the University of Florida.”

George Teague: He's Getting Things Done

George Teague didn’t fall off the turnip truck before his freshman season at Alabama. It was no accident or sheer luck that put him in position to make an appearance as a freshman in the loss to eventual national champion Miami in the Sugar Bowl. Although Teague is a young man who is very proud of his work ethic, he is quick to say that he had some help through every stage of his athletic and personal growth. George Teague is one player whose high school career especially helped prepare him for his life as a student-athlete at a major university.
 Teague’s freshman season at Alabama consisted of some moments that could have provided some heady thoughts for many athletes fresh out of high school. Along with Antonio London, the 6-1, 185-pound cornerback was one of only two true freshmen to see playing time off last year’s 10-2 Southeastern Conference co-championship Crimson Tide, and Teague made the most of his time. He made two tackles in the 20-14 win over Vanderbilt and intercepted his first pass (which he calls his highlight so far) in the 62-27 rout of Ole Miss.
For an ordinary freshman, such flashes of success in his first season could produce either a swelled noggin or more pressure to build on that success. But because of where Teague attended high school, he is not the typical freshman. Rather, he is an athlete who already had a taste of the pressure of playing in prime-time games from his days at Jeff Davis High School in Montgomery, with the two biggest coming in his senior season against the school that looms as the Auburn for the Vols.
Teague and then-unbeaten Jeff Davis knocked off Spence McCracken’s also ranked Robert E. Lee Generals 28-14 before getting shocked by Carver in the regular season finale and then ousted 20-17 in the first round of the 1988 Class 6A state playoffs in the rematch with Lee in one of the most explosive and dramatic fourth quarters a high school football crowd could expect to witness.
It was the entire atmosphere that prepared Teague for what he would experience at Alabama.
“Oh, yeah, I think it helped me a whole bunch,” said Teague. “The coaches at J.D. were really great, and I was lucky to come to a big school like Alabama from a big high school like Jeff Davis. There’s no comparison between high school and college football, but I was at least exposed to a lot of people watching me play. Of course, at Alabama, you have 80,000 sets of eyes on you. I still get nervous, but it definitely helped to have been exposed to it to a certain degree in high school.
“Coach (Bubba) Lewis talked to me and let me know that it would be different here, but also that there was nothing I can’t do if I continue to work hard and dedicate myself.”
If Teague became too excited after his dedication helped him earn playing time in front of those 80,000 pairs of eyes, the events that dominated the front pages of newspapers throughout the state following the Sugar Bowl brought him back to reality. The coach who had recruited Teague, and the coach who had been impressed with his natural abilities enough to play him as a freshman, had left for Kentucky. In Bill Curry’s place is a new coach, one who will naturally take his own view of things. George Teague fully expects to be in the forefront of the eyes of Gene Stallings as well.
“When Coach Curry left, it really hurt me,” he said. “He was one reason I came to Alabama, along with the academics and football tradition here. When he left, I was really hurt, but it never entered my mind to leave.
“I guess the coaching change did set me back, but I’ve decided that, even though we have a new coaching staff, I can still control what I do on the football field. If I do my part, through hard work and dedication, I think I can impress the coach, no matter who he is. I’ve heard some good things about Coach Stallings, and I don’t expect any drastic changes. He’ll look at the players and see what we have. I’ll still play cornerback, but I think he’ll want me to learn to play both sides.”
Teague doesn’t plan on relaxing in his status as the No. 1 contender to fill the place vacated by the graduation of John Mangum opposite returning senior Efrum Thomas. He sees junior college transfer Mark Miller and Mike Campbell, who saw action as a redshirt freshman a year ago, as his chief rivals for the other corner.
“I felt good going into the spring this year, but there will be a lot of competition,” he said. “It’s not going to be an easy job, even though I am going in No. 1. Last year was nice, but it doesn’t mean a thing this year, unless it means that I have more pressure on me because people are expecting great things from me. But the new coaches might like different things than what Coach Curry liked or even I like. I feel the spring will have a lot to say about anyone who wants to play on this football team. We all have to show Coach Stallings what we have, try to learn to do everything to win our positions.”
The pride in Teague’s game is the grace of his feet. He takes a lot of satisfaction in his footwork and hopes that, combined with some lessons taught him by two who have excelled in Crimson Tide secondaries, will have him as prepared to defend opposing quarterback passes as he was for the college atmosphere coming from a huge Montgomery high school.
“I’m trying to get even better with my footwork,” he said. “I want to keep my agility and lower my speed a little, and that should give me a tremendous edge.”
Teague’s first football role model perhaps inspired him to work on his agility. Former Georgia tailback Herschel Walker (now with the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings) was his man, and Teague even played tailback himself until he discovered he was too little to play in the backfield for his ninth-grade team. He tried his hand in the secondary.
But Teague feels that the year he spent watching and listening to Thomas and Mangum can do nothing but help his chances at earning a starting job.
“John Mangum talked to me about learning to read defenses and coming off your plant to break on the ball,” Teague said. “John is a complete guy who will do absolutely anything to help you. A person like him deserves everything.
“Efrum is really great, too. You watch some of the things that he does, and it’s some of the things that he does, and it’s unbelievable, but he does them like he’s not even thinking about it. He’s just there. Efrum is a smart man. You can’t push anything past him.”
After finishing his first semester with a 3.0 grade point average, Teague expects to study electrical engineering at the University.
Looking back on his preparation to play college football, there is someone’s contributions he notes who wasn’t named Herschel, Mangum or Efrum. It isn’t a name a sports fan would know, but Teague sincerely appreciates what they did for him.
“A lot of thanks goes to my parents and family for helping me get to where I am,” said Teague, the son of a retired Air Force master sergeant. “They inspired me to continue to work hard. My dad coached me in football when we lived in Germany, and he’s always been behind me.”
Teague hopes the momentum instilled from his parents, coaches and glory days at Jeff Davis will make those 80,000 pairs of eyes take notice in 1990.