The Daily Nole

30-Year Nole Anniversary: The “Puntrooskie”

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Florida State and Clemson has become the premier match-up in the ACC over the last decade. Since 2009, the winner of the annual contest has gone on to win the Atlantic division each year and since 2011, the conference.

Still perhaps the most memorable moment in the series took place before FSU joined the ACC. And it took place on this day 30 years ago.

It was a top-10 match-up — the first-ever at Clemson — as the 10th-ranked Seminoles headed to Death Valley on Sept. 17, 1988. After opening the year with a 31-0 loss to Miami, FSU had bounced back with a convincing win over Southern Mississippi and sought to take down the No. 3 Clemson Tigers.

Special teams and trick plays would come to play a big role in the contest, but it was Clemson who reached into its bag of tricks to get the scoring starter. On a reverse pass, Chip Davis found Gary Cooper for a 61-yard touchdown with 5:10 remaining in the first quarter.

FSU answered with a 40-yard strike from Chip Ferguson to Dexter Carter, but a 7-yard keeper by Rod Williams put the Tigers ahead 14-7 at the break. After getting a defensive stop early in the third quarter, FSU cornerback and eventual Jim Thorpe Award winner Deion Sanders told Clemson players that he was going to take an ensuing punt back the other way. Sanders made good on his promise, going 76 yards to knot the game at 14.

FSU’s next possession would result in FSU’s first lead as fullback Dayne Williams muscled his way into the end zone from a yard out to give the Seminoles a 21-14 lead. The score would remain the same until the game’s final three minutes when the Tigers drew even on a 19-yard rumble by Tracy Johnson, the Clemson fullback.

It looked as though the only two options on the table for Clemson would be to win or tie after forcing a 3-and-out on FSU’s next possession. But facing a 4th-and-4 from his own 21-yard-line, Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden still had his mind set up on winning as he called for the fake that he and his staff had dubbed “puntrooskie”.

As punter Tim Corlew faked as though the ball went over his head, Williams caught the snap and handed the ball between his legs to defensive back LeRoy Butler. As Williams and the rest of the FSU special teams unit took off to the right, the Tigers followed.

Butler stayed mostly still before heading left down the sideline. The play resulted in a 78-yard run all the way down to the Clemson 1-yard-line. Florida State was unable to punch it in, but kicker Richie Andrews had no trouble with a 19-yard field goal that put FSU ahead for good and served as the game-winner in a thrilling 24-21 victory.

“We joke about it to this day because LeRoy Butler still thinks he scored, he doesn’t even know I kicked the field goal,” Andrews said in a July 2015 interview. “Two weeks after that game, some people approached my parents when we were playing at Tulane and they had actually caught the ball I kicked to win that game.

“It was documented that it is the original game ball because our old equipment manager (Craig Campanozzi) put special markings on the laces to make sure our balls didn’t get mixed up with anyone else’s,” Andrews added. “I have the ball that won the ‘puntrooskie’ game.”

Neither team would turn the ball over in the contest and statistically, things were close to even. Felton Hayes led the FSU defense with 15 total tackles while Ferguson passed for 241 yards in the win.

Butler recorded 14 tackles in the win, would go on to be a Consensus All-American at FSU in 1989 and play in four Pro Bowls and two Super Bowls in 12 NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers. To FSU fans however, the “puntrooskie” will always be the first thing that pops into their minds when Butler comes up. That memorable moment happened 30 years ago on this day.

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

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