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.

Matthews Orchestrates Florida's Rhapsody

The beginning for Shane Matthews and the Florida offense proved misleading Saturday night. On his first play, the sophomore quarterback saw his pass blocked by an Auburn lineman. Three of the four times Matthews was sacked came in the first half.
But that deflected pass ended back in the arms of Matthews, and even though Florida lost 12 yards on the play, it seemed to be a signal of what was to come.
The 6-foot-2, 184-pounder from Pascagoula, Miss., completed his first nine passes as Florida scored 34 points in the first half. Even though Matthews didn’t throw a touchdown pass, he completed 18 of 28 passes for 207 yards as the Gators routed No. 4 Auburn 48-7.
Four of Matthews’ completions went to Ernie Mills for 97 yards. The early connections with Mills helped set the tone for the entire game for Matthews.
“My confidence really grew when I completed the two outs to Ernie,” Matthews said. “They had stopped us on the first two possessions, and then we started to move the ball effectively, really mixing the run and the pass.
“The defense kept us in the game as always, and the offensive line controlled the game after the first two series.”
The quarterback duel between Matthews and Auburn’s Stan White simply never materialized. White completed 10 of 27 passes for 135 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown pass to Herbert Casey. But the redshirt freshman also threw two interceptions.
Inside linebacker Jerry Odom, who was the recipient of one of White’s interceptions, said some comments by Auburn players helped fire up the Gators even more than last year’s loss did.
“They had said in the paper we would quit tonight, and we just wanted to make them quit,” Odom said. “We really did. This is the biggest win I’ve ever been a part of.”
Florida head coach Steve Spurrier said Matthews deserves to make All-Southeastern Conference, based on his performance so far this season.
“Shane had a tremendous game for a quarterback that didn’t throw a touchdown,” Spurrier said. “He might have had as good a game as I’ve ever seen. I don’t know about All-SEC because I don’t vote. I do think he’s had the best season so far of anybody in the league.”
His passes never found a Florida receiver in the end zone, but Matthews almost scored a touchdown running the ball. With the game tied 7-7, the Gators had third-and-goal at the Auburn 7. Matthews gained 6 yards as defensive tackle David Rocker dragged him down at the 1, but running back Willie McClendon scored on the next play. Florida had regained the lead, and the Gators’ fun began.
What made the game more fun for Florida was knowing Auburn had tied Tennessee, which had pounded the Gators 45-3 in Knoxville. Beating the Tigers soundly sent a message to the Vols, and to Florida State.
“It’s great to beat a team in the top five, like Auburn was,” Matthews said. “They did tie Tennessee, and we know we weren’t as bad as we looked against Tennessee. A lot of people didn’t realize we just had an off night, and nothing worked for us. But we never doubted we were a good football team.
“I’m sure this is going to be in the back of the minds of Florida State because Auburn beat them.”
Matthews did not play in last year’s heartbreaking 10-7 loss to Auburn, which extended the Tigers’ winning streak over the Gators to three games.
“I’m happy for the seniors who had never beaten Auburn,” Matthews said. “I have never seen those guys so happy. We beat Auburn in all phases of the game. It’s great for them to go out on this high note.”
Technically, Florida will not be called the SEC champion even if it finishes with the best record. Matthews said the Gators will call themselves champions if they finish with the best record.
“That is a goal of ours,” he said. “We want to finish with the best record in the SEC. Everybody’s got one loss, and Georgia is a tough team. But I think we’ll be ready for them.”
Odom said the team has taken a renegade approach to its season and thinks it will help the Gators against Georgia, as it did against Auburn Saturday night.
“It’s an incredible feeling because this win puts us on our way,” he said. “We have a chance to have the best season Florida has ever had. And we’re going to do it for the university, Florida fans and Florida people, not for anybody outside the state of Florida.
“People outside Florida, for some reason, do not like us. That’s fine. We will play the next three for us.”

Tide Quarterback Position up for Grabs

On the same field Peyton Manning was putting up unprecedented numbers against the Alabama defense, the Crimson Tide’s offense found itself searching for a quarterback.
Freddie Kitchens’ opportunity came early Saturday night against Tennessee, and he helped the Tide offense make some noise in the first half. Unfortunately for Kitchens and Alabama, a 21-0 first quarter deficit and a Vols team tired of a nine-year drought against the Crimson Tide proved out of reach, especially for an offense that has struggled through its first seven games.
Kitchens said the Vols’ defense threw nothing at Alabama the Tide didn’t expect. It was a game that was full of big plays, the overwhelming majority by the visiting Vols.
“It was a lot of what we were doing,” Kitchens said. “They didn’t do one thing we shouldn’t have been able to handle.
“We came in the second half trying to get back into the thing, but we didn’t do it.”
Alabama coach Gene Stallings wasted little time making the quarterback change once Tennessee shocked the Tide, scoring on its first offensive play – an 80-yard pass and run from Manning to Alabama native Joey Kent. Two touchdowns later, Stallings inserted Kitchens for starter Brian Burgdorf, who had completed 4 of 5 passes for 24 yards, but failed to move the offense on its first two possessions. Kitchens finished with 20 completions in 43 attempts and one touchdown – a 20-yard pass to Chad Key in the second quarter.
Kitchens also threw three interceptions and was sacked six times.
Manning was 20 of 29 for 301 yards and three touchdowns. He also scored on a 1-yard sneak. The 41-14 win was Tennessee’s largest margin of victory over Alabama since the 1969 win by the same margin.
Stallings said right now, Alabama has no starting quarterback, as the Tide prepares for Ole Miss in Oxford this week.
“We are back at square one as far as the quarterback situation is concerned,” Stallings said. “We will re-evaluate at practice and go with the best player.”
Kitchens was able to spark the Tide offense, moving Alabama to the Tennessee 10 before a hit by Jesse Sanders forced his fumble. On the next possession, he led the Tide to its first score, a 20-yard touchdown pass to Key that temporarily cut the Vols’ lead to 21-7.
But a missed field goal late in the first half gave Manning another opportunity before halftime, and the Vols made it count. His 30-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Nash with 43 seconds remaining again made it a three-touchdown deficit. Alabama would get no closer than two touchdowns before the Vols pulled away in the second half.
“They had all the big plays,” said freshman running back Montoya Madden, who scored Alabama’s second touchdown on a 15-yard run late in the third quarter. “I mean it, all the big plays.
“When we would make a big play, they would match it. They kept coming at us, and it took the air out. The touchdown didn’t mean a thing.”
Tennessee right linebacker Scott Galyon said the Vols never assumed they had the game won until the end, especially after suffering through two of the Vols’ eight losses since 1985 against Alabama.
“To some extent, I was surprised at how we were able to put them away,” Galyon said. “But no one on this team took Alabama for granted. Even though their offense hadn’t put up a lot of points, we knew they were capable of doing it.
“Tonight, we were able to get some sacks, pressures and created turnovers. The last two years, we felt coming in, we had the better team, and this year we were finally able to get one.”