If you thought for a moment that 79-year-old Bobby Bowden was ready to retire as head coach of Florida State, forget it, especially after his Siminoles defeated Wisconsin 42-13 in the Champs Sports Bowl on Saturday (27-12 -08). .
For Bowden, the win over Wisconsin was like déjà vu, a big offensive play and a nasty, opportunistic, forceful defense that took over the Badgers and sent them right back into the hole they came out of. The Siminoles’ special teams got in the Badgers’ noses. When Florida State had to punt, they had the right player: Graham Gano, winner of the Lou Groza Award for the best kicker in the nation. All Gano did was average 48-plus yards on 5 punts and put 3 of them inside 4, including 2 at the Wisconsin 1-yard line.
Speaking of driving your opponent back against the goal line, Gano had just the right touch and earned him the MVP award. When, if ever, have you heard of a bettor who won an MVP award in a game of bowling?
On the defensive end, both Derek Nicholson and Dekoda Watson returned fumbles for touchdowns, Nicholson for 75 yards and Watson for 51. Talk about excitement. After both teams failed to score in the first quarter, Florida State scored 2 touchdowns in each of the second, third, and fourth quarters.
Wisconsin was continually beginning to go further into its own territory and never really stopped tracking. PJ Hill managed to gain 140 yards on 15 carries for the Badgers, but quarterback Dustin Sherer was just 4-for-9 for 55 yards through the first three quarters. It was an ugly end to the Wisconsin season. Initially, the Badgers ranked 9th in the AP Top 25 poll, but Wisconsin has always been overrated in recent years. The loss left them 7-6.
The win put Florida State at 9-4, the Siminoles’ first 9-win season since 2004. Bobby Bowden is used to getting better, having posted at least 9 wins in 17 of 18 years before slipping in recent seasons. Many of his key players return next year, which doesn’t give him a good reason to quit, even at 80 years old.
The Champs Sports Bowl game was Florida State’s 27th consecutive NCAA-leading bowl game, improving Bowden’s personal record for bowl games to 21-10-1. Bowden has 382 career wins by him, just one shy of Joe Paterno’s 383 at Penn State, the highest collegiate record. Paterno is 82 years old.
Both Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno will likely be carried out of a football stadium on a stretcher when they stop training. These guys are icons and extremely competitive. Although both would deny it, each would like to go down in history with the most wins in history, and they show it every year they return to the bench.
Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley
