Florida State and Clemson has become one of the greatest rivalries in all of college football. There was a time however when the rivalry was dominated by FSU.
On this day 20 years ago, one FSU star had arguably the greatest individual performance in the history of the rivalry as the No. 5 Seminoles topped 16th-ranked Clemson, 35-28. For future FSU legend and then sophomore Peter Warrick, it was a day to remember.
“That was Pete’s show,” said E.G. Green, a senior wide receiver for the Seminoles in 1997. “It was a game I remember that Pete just kind of took over. It really was his coming-out party.”
Both teams entered the Sept. 20, 1997 contest with 2-0 records. FSU had topped USC and Maryland to open the year. Clemson had beaten Appalachian State before edging N.C. State.
“Death Valley, it’s a very unique place,” said Green, who finished with four catches for 62 yards. “They’re loud and it was hot.”
It was Clemson that would draw first blood on a 32-yard touchdown run by quarterback Brandon Streeter. FSU was able to take a 10-7 lead after the first quarter and then into the locker room following a field goal by Bill Gramatica and a fumble recovery in the end zone by FSU linebacker Sam Cowart.
It took less than four minutes into the second half for Clemson to regain the lead. The Tigers were able to go ahead 14-10 on a touchdown pass from Nealon Greene to Tony Horne.
“They always had really good athletes,” Green said of Clemson. “They made it hard on us.”
After a Sebastian Janikowski field goal cut the lead to one, Warrick began his takeover. It started with a 48-yard touchdown reception from Thad Busby which was followed by a successful 2-point conversion that put the Seminoles ahead, 21-14.
After Clemson kicker Matt Padgett’s field goal late in the third cut the lead to 21-17, Warrick electrified the crowd with a 90-yard punt return for a touchdown less than two minutes into the fourth.
Greene later found Brian Wofford for a 17-yard Clemson touchdown to cut the lead back to three with 10:11 to play. On the next possession however, Busby and Warrick again hooked up for a long touchdown — this one 80 yards to put the exclamation point on the win.
Padgett would add a field goal and with time ticking away, Clemson would get the ball back down by seven. Greene’s final heave on the last play of the game was intercepted by FSU’s Tay Cody to seal the victory.
Daryl Bush and Shevin Smith also came up with interceptions for FSU while Devin Bush led the defense with 12 tackles. As for Warrick, he finished the afternoon with eight catches for 249 yards in addition to 123 punt return yards and three total touchdowns.
“He’s up there with Reggie Bush as one of the top guys in the open field,” Green said of Warrick. “He was making people miss from the first day.”
Warrick would go on to be 2-time Consensus All-American over his final two years in Tallahassee. His biggest day however, came as a sophomore and it came on this day 20 years ago.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole and former editor of Noled Out. Mike has more than seven years experience as a sports writer including the last four in print and online media. Mike graduated from Florida State University in 2009 with a Bachelors in Religion and a minor in Communications. Mike provided press coverage of Florida State's run to the 2013 BCS National Championship. Mike is also a news reporter at Polk County's newspaper, The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida. and contributes to Athlon Sports and ACCSports.com. Mike has been featured on sites as prominent as Yahoo Sports, FoxSports.com, Associated Press and the front page of SI.com while interviewing athletes as high profile as 2013 National League MVP, Andrew McCutchen. Email Mike at Mike@TheDailyNole.com. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson.
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