KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Florida State averted
possible disaster by one yard.
Linebackers Kendyll Pope and Jerel Hudson stopped quarterback
Seneca Wallace at the 1-yard line on the final play of the game
as the fourth-ranked Seminoles held on for a 38-31 victory over
Iowa State in the Eddie Robinson Classic.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden passed Bear Bryant and moved
into sole possession of second place on the all-time Division
I-A wins list with his 324th - but not before the Seminoles
nearly squandered a pair of 24-point leads.
"The way that we were playing first half, I thought, man, this
might be our year," Bowden said. "Then second half, we were
just the opposite. We couldn't stop them. We went out there
and could not do what we wanted to save our life."
The Cyclones, who have dropped 30 straight games against ranked
opponents, started the final drive on their 35 with 2:32 left.
Wallace put Iowa State in position to force overtime by
scrambling for 20 yards to the 1 with four seconds left.
Iowa State coach Dan McCarney elected to have Wallace attempt an
option run around right end, but he was snuffed out by Pope and
Hudson.
"I wanted to force Wallace back inside to (Michael) Boulware and
we combined to make the tackle," Pope said. "My hat goes off to
Seneca and the whole (Iowa State) team."
Wallace, who completed 22-of-33 passes for 313 yards and two
touchdowns, earned raves from the Seminoles.
"We knew coming in we were going to get tested," Pope said.
"Seneca gave us a lot of problems. He is one of those
quarterbacks like Michael Vick who could scramble, run and
pass."
Coming off its first four-loss season in 15 years, Florida State
believes it can contend again for a national title. But Bowden
has to be concerned about a defense that gave up four long
drives in the second half that resulted in 17 points.
"(Wallace) did everything we expected him to do," Bowden said.
"This team did not ever give up and they would just not allow us
to take this game in the second half."
After Iowa State closed to 31-24 on Wallace's one-yard run 1:59
into the final period, Florida State appeared to regain control.
The Seminoles put together an 11-play, 80-yard drive, taking a
38-24 lead on Chris Rix's 31-yard touchdown pass to Anquan
Boldin with 8:12 to play.
But the Cyclones came right back, closing within seven points on
Wallace's 40-yard pass to Jamaul Montgomery with 5:26 to play.
"We made a lot of mistakes tonight, but I'm really proud of the
comeback we made," McCarney said. "I think we really grew up in
the second half. I saw my team mature a lot."
A 15-yard late hit penalty forced the Seminoles to give up the
ball after one first down and Wallace went back to work, sending
the partisan Iowa State crowd at Arrowhead Stadium into a
frenzy.
"It felt like a home game for ISU," Rix said. "Their fans did a
great job in supporting them the entire game."
Touted by his school as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate,
Wallace kept alive the last drive with three third-down
completions, including an 18-yarder to Montgomery that gave the
Cyclones a first down at the Florida State 21 with 21 seconds
left.
With Iowa State out of timeouts, Wallace was flushed out of the
pocket on the next play but eluded tacklers and raced down the
right sideline before being forced out of bounds just shy of the
goal line.
"I feel bad for our team, but we won't accept losing," McCarney
said. "We made a lot of mistakes as coaches and players and we
have a lot to work on."
While Bowden cannot be happy with the way his club finished the
game, the Seminoles came out fired up, racing to a 24-0 lead one
play into the second quarter.
Florida State scored on the game's first possession, then
used an interception return for a touchdown, a blocked punt and
a fumbled kickoff to score 17 points in less than seven minutes.
After Nick Maddox opened the scoring with a six-yard run, Alonzo
Jackson returned an interception 48 yards to make it 14-0 with
6 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter.
Iowa State had a chance to get on the board, but B.J. Ward
blocked Tony Yelk's 50-yard field goal attempt. The Seminoles
took a 17-0 lead on Xavier Beitia's 35-yard field goal.
Things got worse for Iowa State as Ward forced Montgomery to
fumble on the ensuing kickoff. The Seminoles took over on the
11 and needed just three plays to go up 24-0 on Rix's three-yard
TD toss to Boldin on the opening play of the second period.
Rix completed 17-of-25 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns,
while Greg Jones paced the Seminoles on the ground with 113 yards
on 22 carries.
But Florida State seemed to let up with the big lead. Hiawatha
Rutland's 36-yard TD run and Wallace's 29-yard scoring strike to
Kyle Knock enabled the Cyclones to close to 31-14 at halftime.
Rutland rushed for 93 yards on 17 carries.
Iowa State's offense dominated the second half, although the
Cyclones had to settle for Adam Benike's 33-yard field goal with
1:16 left in the third period following a 10-minute possession.
However, Atif Austin's 39-yard interception return set up
Wallace's one-yard run that made it 31-24 early in the final
period and set the stage for the frantic finish.
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