Organized Chaos

Florida State will play Wisconsin in the Dec. 27 Champs Sports Bowl. It doesn’t have the luster of the BCS, but hey, at least the Seminoles have a chance to win nine games in a season for the first time in four years.

This is a major contrast in styles. FSU emphasizes speed, while Wisconsin likes to run the football with a bruising offensive line and an even tougher running back.

FSU was passed over earlier in the week for the Gator Bowl and the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

All 10 of the Atlantic Coast Conference bowl-eligible teams were selected. The ACC has tie-ins with only nine bowls, but any team can fill a slot in another bowl left vacant if that particular league doesn’t have enough teams that qualified.

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There really wasn’t much to say about this game. Florida State was overmatched, as an already underachieving Seminole defense was asked to stop the nation’s second-best offense. Sorry Gator fans, Oklahoma’s offense is better.

FSU duplicated its pattern from last year’s rivalry game. The Seminoles traded field goals for touchdowns, and the halftime score was much worse this time.

I don’t like him, but there’s no doubt that Tim Tebow is a man. Urban better hope his prized QB doesn’t go to the NFL next season.

This game was a dominant show, and this brings me to the worst move of the season. Drew Weatherford came in with FSU down by 26 points. This was his first action against a good team ALL season.

No, let’s not play him in a meaningful situation where he can succeed. I know Christian Ponder was hurt this week (an injury FSU kept quiet, mind you), but man, if I were Weatherford I would have politely told Jimbo Fisher to stick it.

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Florida State police released a probable-cause affidavit on Friday, which revealed details surround the Nov. 12 campus fight between FSU football players and members of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. And while it may not be a complete picture, it gives some semblance of the goings on that day.

Firstly, I’d like to thank Maj. Jim Russell of the FSU Police Department for taking the time during his Thanksgiving break to e-mail me the affidavit. He also gave some crucial notes which helped my story (read it here). I know he has a lot to do and he’s pretty busy, so thanks again.

My story covers the basic details from the document, which was six pages in PDF format. You can read the entire affidavit here, or you can read on for some of the more juicy details.

There’s one fellow throughout reading the affidavit who doesn’t sound like he’s telling the whole truth. I’ll get to that in a second.

The funny thing about this whole thing is it apparently started when Taiwain Easterling and one of the frat boys tried to make peace. Instead of seeing this, Cameron wade though the frat guy was going to slug Easterling so he took it upon himself to throw the first punch. And to think, that maybe if he kept his fists at his side then none of this would have happened.

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Update, Nov. 26, 6:08 p.m.: OK, initial indications from a call I got from work led me to believe Reed and Wade were suspended. That’s not the case, however. Both will be available to play, FSU Coach Bobby Bowden said. He said they have already been disciplined. While true, they were both under investgation at that point and not arrested. They still could receive discipline from the university.

Original post follows:

What a holiday break, eh? Well, Bert Reed and Cameron Wade were arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery on Wednesday in connection with a Nov. 12 fight between FSU football players and members of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

Reed claimed a week ago that he was the mediator in the brawl. I don’t know too many mediators who throw punches.

You have to wonder how many chances Reed will get? He also had a bit of trouble at Bay, so my simple calculations put this at his fifth life. He’s not a cat, but if he were he wouldn’t have many lives left.

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Well, Florida State finally got over that seven-win hump in grand style on Saturday.

Maryland aided the Seminoles more than anything else. As I noted in a preview story, the Terrapins have been hot and cold and coach Ralph Friedgen warned of letdowns in night games. This was another cruddy game for Maryland.

FSU forced four turnovers, returning one for a score, and the Seminoles had their way on the defensive line with six sacks. The offense again was vanilla in its production, but it didn’t need to be spectacular against a Maryland team that is now out of the Atlantic Coast Conference race.

FSU now has momentum heading into the regular-season finale against Florida this weekend. The Seminoles will need all the help they can get.

Also, Myron Rolle came to the game as a Rhodes Scholar. There’s a lot of talk about him playing in the NFL, and he no doubt could, but even Bobby Bowden made note that Rolle wasn’t making a whole lot of big plays this season. He has been a good tackler, but has really not stood out.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves for Oxford next year.

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I took in my first game at Doak Campbell Stadium as a spectator on Saturday. I could have picked a better game to attend, however.

FSU was given a gift when North Carolina State beat Wake Forest prior to kickoff (they showed the game on the new HD screens at Doak, which are quite nice by the way, and small crowd of early-goers roared loudly when Riley Skinner lost the ball on fourth down). But instead of take advantage, the Seminoles laid an egg.

Boston College dominated Florida State along both the offensive and defensive lines. The game, despite being only a seven-point affair early in the fourth quarter, wasn’t as close as it seemed.

The Eagles had basically one running play all game and it was working to set up big plays elsewhere. Meantime, FSU had a whopping 1 yard rushing before its final scoring drive of the game. Boston College’s defensive front was better than Georgia Tech’s and the Eagles proved that fact.

Christian Ponder played more like Chris Rix or maybe as his early-season self. Two of his three interceptions were terrible throws. The one returned 87 yards for a touchdown came when he stared down his receiver. Everyone in the stadium knew what was coming.

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