TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – (AP) -Florida State’s back to where it started the season – ranked 18th nationally and with hopes of having a big year.
The Seminoles (2-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) trounced Brigham Young 54-28 Saturday night to snap the Cougars 18-game home winning streak and climb into The Associated Press poll for the first time since losing its opener to No. 9 Miami.
After avoiding his first 1-2 start in 20 years, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden is gaining confidence in his team.
“It’s looking up,” Bowden said during a Sunday afternoon teleconference. “You hope that you’re reaching another plateau.”
The Seminoles have fallen out of the upper echelon of college football over the last eight seasons as the 79-year-old Bowden’s coaching career winds down.
But he got a glimpse of what it was like in the glory days Saturday night in the rarified air of Provo, Utah.
off. They shredded BYU for 512 yards, including 313 on the ground in a blowout that dropped the Cougars to No. 19 in The Associated Press’ poll released Sunday.
“We wanted to bring quickness to them,” Bowden said. “Anytime that we’ve played BYU down through the years we were always faster and more athletic.”
Florida State’s big win came a week after struggling to beat Jacksonville State at home.
“We went out there and won big,” Bowden said. ‘What does mean? ‘We’re probably further along than we thought.”’
Florida State is now 9-2 under Bowden in games played in the Mountain or Pacific time zones.
Bowden praised his 6-3, 220-pound junior quarterback, Christian Ponder, who led the offensive outburst with his third straight sparkling performance.
“The way he played Saturday, I don’t know who’d I swap him with,” Bowden said. “He’s so heady, so cool. I think his stock is rising like mad.”
Ponder has completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 813 yards and four touchdowns and just one interception and run for another 112 yards and two touchdowns.
The Seminoles will host another unbeaten opponent next Saturday when they meet South Florida (3-0) for the first time.
knee injury Saturday.
Grothe, the Big East’s all-time total offense leader, will be replaced by quarterback B.J. Daniel, a redshirt freshman who went to high school in Tallahassee.
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