FSU’s 1993 National Title Team’s Silver Anniversary — Part VIII: Boston College Does the Unthinkable

It’s been 25 years since Florida State claimed its first national championship. The 1993 team delivered FSU college football’s ultimate prize for the first time. In a multi-part series commemorating the silver anniversary of Florida State’s first title team, we’ll be remembering that season with five former players who played a prominent role in the team’s success.

Fresh off a heartbreaking 31-24 loss to Notre Dame in South Bend, Florida State returned to Tallahassee with a record of 9-1. In the AP Poll, the Seminoles had fallen just one spot to No. 2 while the Coaches Poll saw FSU take a 2-spot plunge to No. 3. No matter where they were in the polls at the moment, destiny didn’t appear to be in their hands.

“This is really when a team follows the leadership of their coaches,” then sophomore linebacker Todd Rebol said. “If our coaches would have let us hang our heads or our senior leaders’ attitudes had changed, it could have affected us. When we hit the practice field Monday, we were able to hit the reset.”

Florida State was preparing for a night contest with NC State on what was Senior Day in Tallahassee. As the Seminoles were making their trip back from Thomasville to Tallahassee, word started to spread about what was happening on the same field where they had lost the week prior.

“We knew if we got another chance, it wasn’t going to slip through our hands,” linebacker Derrick Brooks, a then junior linebacker, said. “I was not expecting Boston College to do what they did.”

With just 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Boston College held a 38-17 advantage over Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish weren’t going quietly. In a 9-minute span, Notre Dame answered with 22 straight points to take a 39-38 lead, putting the game into the hands of quarterback Glenn Foley and the Eagles’ offense.

“Any other year, I would have felt like it was over after the Notre Dame game,” said Clifton Abraham, a redshirt junior cornerback for FSU at the time. “For some reason, I still felt good about it.”

In South Bend, Foley was able to march Boston College 49 yards to the Notre Dame 24-yard-line, setting up a 41-yard field goal attempt for kicker David Gordon.

“We were hoping we’d be able to come back and play Notre Dame again,” said Kez McCorvey, the Seminoles’ leading receiver in 1993. “That Notre Dame-Boston College game — everyone was paying attention. Everybody on the team believed God gave us a second chance. That’s obviously crazy, but it’s the mindset of college kids at that time. God doesn’t care who wins football games, but you couldn’t tell a whole group of Seminoles that. We believed we were destined to play for a national championship.”

For a head coach named Tom Coughlin, who would develop a knack for ruining teams’ perfect seasons, Gordon lined up from just inside the left hash mark. The kick initially floated to the right, but stayed straight and split the uprights. It was over. Boston College had defeated Notre Dame, 41-39.

“We were all tired before our game started after that ball curved in,” Abraham said. “We all said that was it.”

“For the life of us, we didn’t think Boston College had it in ’em,” said Clay Shiver, the starting center for the 1993 team. “We watched the last kick at Burt Reynolds Hall. We walked out of Burt Reynolds Hall wide-eyed and looking at each other. I still get chills thinking about it.”

After the upset in South Bend, the Seminoles still had to get ready for a contest against the Wolfpack. NC State was a 7-3 team and had been ranked in the top 25 two weeks prior, but after what had transpired at Notre Dame, there was no stopping the Seminoles on Senior Night.

“Boston College became our favorite team,” Rebol said. “That was kicked right before we had to go on the field. After that kick, we realized our goals were back on the table. I think it helped us refocus. We still would have to come out and play good, sound football against NC State, but the excitement and the feeling in the locker room was all positive. Everyone was looking each other in the face and just saying, ‘we got this’.”

Quarterback Charlie Ward got the scoring started less than five minutes into his final game at Doak Campbell Stadium with a 2-yard touchdown run. It took just 19 seconds for FSU’s lead to double as Ward hit Kevin Knox for a 23-yard touchdown after the Wolfpack fumbled on their first play of the ensuing drive.

“The coaches did their best to keep us focused on NC State,” Shiver said. “As soon as we knew the Notre Dame score, we knew it was over.”

Steve Videtich connected on a 46-yard field goal to get NC State on the board with 6:30 to play in the first quarter, but that would be the Wolfpack’s lone highlight of the evening. With short second-quarter touchdown passes from Ward to Knox and Lonnie Johnson, along with a touchdown run from fullback William Floyd, the Seminoles took a commanding 34-3 lead to the locker room.

“It just so happened that we saw the Boston College kick and we knew what we had to do against NC State,” Brooks said. “We went out to show the world how good we really were. It was over before it started. They didn’t stand a chance.”

The Seminoles added four more touchdowns in the second half. Ward threw his fourth touchdown pass of the night to Matt Frier before Pooh Bear Williams, Warrick Dunn and Clyde Allen all added touchdowns in a 62-3 romp for the Seminoles.

“NC State didn’t have a chance,” Abraham said. “I actually felt bad for them. They just happened to be who were playing that night.”

Florida State closed the home slate with a 62-3 win over NC State on Nov. 20, 1993. (Newspaper Archive Photo)

On Senior Night, it was the seniors who shone brightest. Ward accounted for 308 total yards and five touchdowns while Sean Jackson rushed for a team-high 90 yards. On the pass-catching side, Frier and Knox, both seniors, tied with a team-high 91 yards receiving.

Senior linebacker Ken Alexander led the team with five tackles while senior defensive end Derrick Alexander came up with an interception. Redshirt junior Corey Sawyer grabbed two picks for an FSU defense that forced six NC State turnovers.

During his later NFL days, Shiver recalled having a teammate with the Dallas Cowboys who played for that NC State team.

“They actually came into the day feeling good about it,” Shiver said. “They thought we were down and unmotivated and that they might catch us sleeping. After the Notre Dame thing happened, they knew it was going to be a long night. It’s really neat to get to see it from the other perspective.”

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