Mullen led his Gators to nine wins./CARMEN MANDATO
Sunday, 4 a.m.
It was bad enough that FSU was beaten. It was worse that they were clubbed with history books.
-- It had been five years since the Seminoles lost to Florida.
-- It had had bee 10 years since FSU gave up at least 40 points to Florida.
-- It had been 36 seasons since the Seminoles had failed to reach a bowl game.
-- It had been 41 seasons since the Seminoles had a losing record.
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All streaks ended Saturday, when FSU was shellacked by Florida 41-14, a disappointing end to an underachieving season. It was obvious for most of the year that the Gators were having a more positive season, but Saturday was proof that the teams are headed in the opposite directions.
"Personally I don't think it's as far (away) as it may look," coach Willie Taggart of FSU said. "I think part of it is where we're at in our program and our program has never been in this situation before, so it's something we all are going through. I've been through something like this, no one here really has, so that part of it is frustrating. We have some pieces in place but I think we all see our areas of where we need help and then we got to fix those things."
For the Gators, beleagered quarterback Feleipe Franks threw for 254 yards and three touchdowns. Lamical Perine ran for 129 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown. Trevon Grimes caught five passes for 118 more yards.
"Great team win for us today," Gators' coach Dan Mullen said. "We came out, we wanted to play our best offense, defense and kicking game of the year and execute in all four phases this week. We talked throughout the year about, we want to get better and better and better and better as the year goes on, playing a complete game. I really think we did."
Miami 24, Pitt 3: This is a conference title competitor?
Pitt was handled easily by Miami, which finished at 7-5 despite a dreadful passing attack. Against the Panthers, N'Kosi Parry hit just six of 24 passes for 52 yards, bu the Hurricanes held Pitt to 200 yards of total offense.
“A year ago, we were the ones going to the Coastal and got upset at their house. They’re the ones going to the Coastal this year and got upset at our house,” Richt said. “I think our guys rose to the occasion. It was very obvious that it was a dominating defensive performance. I thought it was a dominating special teams performance as well.”
Marshall 28, FIU 25: It was a tough day for the Panthers, who had only to win to earn a trip to the Conference USA Finals. Instead, FIU fell to Marshall, and Middle Tennessee upset UAB. Middle Tennessee will play UAB for the Conference title next week.
Quarterback James Morgan was intercepted twice for FIU, one of them returned 25 yards by Omar Cobb for a touchdown. Morgan had just five interceptions in FIU's first 11 games.
A blocked punt also gave Marshall a touchdown.
“This was a tough one,” FIU coach Butch Davis said. “The good news for the seniors is that this isn’t the end of the season. We still have an opportunity to get that ninth victory (in a bowl game) and send the seniors out with a victory.”
Charlotte 27, FAU 24: It was with only 25 seconds left to go in their season that the FAU Owls found out they weren't going to a bowl game.
At one point, FAU had a 21-10 lead, and a .500 season and a bowl trip both were possible. But Charlotte rallied for the win, then pulled it out when Jonathan Cruz kicked a 56=yard field goal with 25 seconds to go.
“I don’t think I’ve been a part of a college football non-winning season before,” said FAU coach Lane Kiffin. “Things came so easy last year with the blowouts. … I think when we got in these (tight) games, we really struggled.”
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