20-Year Nole Anniversary: FSU Beats Florida in Match-Up of No. 1 vs. No. 2

Regular season match-ups between No. 1 and No. 2 are rare in college football, but on Nov. 30, 1996, that’s what the fans at Doak Campbell Stadium were in store for.

No. 2 Florida State had not lost at home in more than five years as rival and top-ranked Florida came to town on this date 20 years ago, but the Gators arrived in Tallahassee as a slight favorite. Led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel and head coach Steve Spurrier’s fun n’ gun offense, the Gators came in averaging better than 48 points per game.

“We had practiced great all that week and we just felt like we were the better team that year,” said Connell Spain, a senior defensive lineman for the Seminoles in 1996. “We honestly had no doubt in our mind that we were going to beat them that day. I don’t think they had any idea of the pressure we were going to put on Danny.”

Throughout the course of the day, the FSU pass rush was relentless. Spain finished with one of six Seminole sacks and Andre Wadsworth added two. In addition to knocking Wuerffel to the turf six times, FSU came up with three interceptions: one each from Shevin Smith, Henri Crockett and Samari Rolle.

“The main thing was to get to Danny Wuerffel,” Spain said. “We wanted to make sure he knew that we were going to be there all day. You could see he was rushing throws, just trying to get rid of the ball because he knew what would happen if he didn’t.”

Florida State raced to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter behind a Scott Bentley field goal, a Pooh Bear Williams touchdown following a blocked punt and a touchdown pass from quarterback Thad Busby to tight end Melvin Pearsall. The Gators would answer in the second quarter however with a pair of Wuerffel touchdown passes to trim the lead to 17-14 at the break.

“With a high-powered offense like Steve Spurrier runs, we knew they would have their run,” Spain said. “We just wanted to make sure we could mitigate those as much as we could.”

Though the defense stole the show for the Seminoles, running back Warrick Dunn powered the offense with 185 yards rushing. After a scoreless third quarter, Williams’ second short touchdown run gave the Seminoles the breathing room they needed. After Wuerffel’s third touchdown pass with 1:15 to play, FSU preserved the 24-21 win by recovering the ensuing onside kick.

Fans stormed the field and tore down the goal posts at the game’s conclusion. Unfortunately for the Seminoles, the euphoria of the victory would last only a month. Thanks to a Texas upset of Nebraska in the inaugural Big XII Championship and a Florida win over Alabama in the SEC Championship, the Gators and Seminoles would rematch for the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, 1997.

One day after Ohio State rallied to beat No. 2 Arizona State in the Rose Bowl, the third-ranked Gators got the better of FSU the second time around, scoring the game’s final 28 points in a 52-20 victory in New Orleans. Florida was able to make adjustments from the earlier loss in Tallahassee and take advantage the second time around.

“Anytime you play a Steve Spurrier team twice, it can be a daunting task,” Spain said. “He put Danny in the shotgun, mass-protected the whole game and chipped the ends. As seniors, I just hate that it was the Gators we lost to in the last game of our career.”

Still, when Spain looks back on his playing career, it is the 24-21 win at Doak Campbell Stadium on this day 20 years ago that stands out above the rest.

“It really went by pretty fast and when I look bad on it, here we’re sitting 20 years later and it’s still a very memorable game to a lot of fans and even nationally,” he said. “For me, it would be (No.) 1, because I was a senior playing my last game at home against a great rival. We knew that game was going to catapult us into the national championship.”

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson