Danny Kanell never gave up, even with his team trailing by 28 points going into the fourth quarter.
Kanell threw for 232 yards and a touchdown in the final period as seventh-ranked Florida State rallied to tie No. 4 Florida 31-31 Saturday."Every time we scored, I came back to the bench and said the same thing, `It's not over yet,"' said Kanell, who completed 16 of his last 17 passes. "Things were just clicking."
Kanell found the range after the Seminoles switched to the shotgun formation in the second half. He was 34-for-40 and 349 yards after the break.
"I don't know what happened to our defense," said Florida coach Steve Spurrier. "I thought we were in good shape."
The tie, the first between the Seminoles and Gators since 1961, ended the slim national championship hopes of both teams and kept the Gators winless at Tallahassee since 1986.
"It was a big lesson we've learned," said Florida safety Michael Gilmore. "It's not over until it's over."
After Rock Preston's 4-yard touchdown run with 1:45 left cut Florida's lead to 31-30, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden went for the tying extra point instead of a 2-point conversion that could have given the Seminoles the greatest fourth-quarter comeback win in NCAA history.
"I thought we'd go for two, but coach Bowden felt we had come too far to not get something out of it," Kanell said.
Bowden, known as a gambling coach, played it safe this time.
"I felt like if you're behind 31-3 and you have a chance to tie it up, you'd better go ahead and do it," he said. "I wish we could've won it, but that would've really been asking too much."
Florida State got the ball back with 22 seconds left at its 29-yard line, but ran out of time as it was driving for a possible winning score. The game ended with the Seminoles at the Florida 43 following a 19-yard pass to Kez McCorvey and a 9-yard run by Kanell, who couldn't get out of bounds before time expired.
But Kanell still was the hero for Florida State, which beat Florida last year under the leadership of Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward.
"Kanell can do anything Charlie could do, except run," Preston said. "Charlie could come back and so can Danny."
The Seminoles (9-1-1) are assured a berth in a major bowl coalition game - the Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton or Orange - by virtue of their Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
Florida (9-1-1) will go to the Sugar Bowl if it beats No. 3 Alabama in next week's Southeastern Conference title game. The loser of the SEC championship game will play in the Citrus Bowl.
Florida State's Warrick Dunn ran for 46 yards to become the fifth Seminole back to gain more than 1,000 yards in a season. The sophomore also caught 10 passes for 96 yards.
Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel threw for three touchdowns in the first half, including a pair to record-setting Jack Jackson. The Gators also took advantage of three Florida State turnovers to build a 24-3 halftime lead.
The Gators led 31-3 before Florida State scored its first touchdown on a 5-yard run by Zack Crockett 2 minutes into the fourth quarter.
At that point, Florida State's `Omar Ellison said the Seminoles were worried about getting embarrassed.
"We just wanted to score some points to make this thing respectable so we could go to class on Monday," he said.