Once again, Florida State won't get a national championship ring, but the football gods finally decided to give the Seminoles a break.
It took senior quarterback Casey Weldon's first touchdown since 1988 and eight turnovers by Texas A&M on New Year's Day to give the Seminoles a hard-earned 10-2 victory over the Aggies in the most error-prone Cotton Bowl since 1942."We won this game like we lost the other two, the ones that cost us the national title," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said. "We got a few breaks and played great defense, just like we did in the games we lost. We made the key plays when it counted."
That's something they didn't do in late-season losses to Miami (17-16) and Florida (14-9), which cost the Seminoles the No. 1 ranking they held for most of the season.
The Seminoles (11-2) didn't come in first, but their No. 4 ranking marked their fifth straight Top 5 finish.
"Why shouldn't we?" Bowden said when asked if his team merited a Top 5 finish despite the two losses. "We beat a great defensive football team."
Bowden is 11-3-1 in bowl games. The Seminoles' seven-game bowl winning streak is second only to UCLA's.
"What this win means for me and these boys is we nearly did it," he said of the near-miss championship. "We carried a tremendouse burden this year. You take a season in which you probably had 1,200 plays, and you change two of them, we win the national championship."
"I'm not embarrassed. We didn't dodge the issue. We tried to do it," Bowden said. "We won this game like we lost the other two to Miami and Florida. It was a game we could have lost, and we won it."
Weldon threw four interceptions in his last game as a Seminole and completed only 14 of 32 passes for 92 yards against the nation's top-ranked defense.
"The defense and offensive line carried me, and I almost broke their backs," Weldon said. "But it was a great win. It won't make up for having that championship ring on our finger."
There were a Cotton Bowl record-tying 13 turnovers on a rainy day that made ball-handling treacherous. The 12th-ranked Aggies (10-2) lost a record six fumbles.
"This game was a credit to both defenses," Weldon said. "I have all the respect in the world for their defense. I had trouble gripping the ball but their defense played great too."
A crazy first-quarter play that had officials rushing to the rule book set the tone for the day.
On Texas A&M's first possession, tailback Greg Hill ran for 39 yards. He was tackled by Errol McCorvey at the 1, and as Hill was falling, the ball bounced across the goal and out of bounds.
"The ball just got away from me," Hill said. "It really hurt us. It was my fault. I accept the blame."
Under the old NCAA rules, a touchback would have been declared and Florida State would have been given possession at its 20. In this instance, officials gave FSU the ball at the 2, the spot where they said Hill fumbled.
"This is the second year the rule has been in effect. It's an unusual call, but it's not a touchback because it was fumbled in the field of play," referee Jack Baker said.
The Aggies said it was a good call.
"We didn't get a lot of breaks and that was one of them. But I think the officials made the correct call," coach R.C. Slocum said.
Weldon was sacked for a safety on the next play by A&M linebacker Quentin Coryatt.
"Coryatt came at me so fast, I couldn't get rid of the ball," Weldon said. "I couldn't believe how quickly he got there."
The Aggies threatened again, but Bucky Richardson's pass to Tony Harrison was dropped in the end zone.
"You can't give Florida State the ball seven times and expect to win," Richardson said.
FSU's All-America defensive back, Terrell Buckley, who intercepted a Richardson pass in the end zone, announced after the game he would come out for the NFL draft as a junior.
"Every athlete has things to do he doesn't want to do, but this is a good way for me to go out," Buckley said.
"I thought he might stay, but he has thought about it a lot," Bowden said. "He has a lot of pro potential."'