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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- After weeks of inconsistent performances, top-ranked Florida State looked deserving of its ranking Saturday.
Chris Weinke threw six touchdown passes -- three to Peter Warrick
-- as the Seminoles clobbered Maryland 49-10, reaching 10 victories
for the 13th straight season.
|  | | Maryland's Tony Jackson gets surrounded by a sea of Seminoles Saturday. |
The Seminoles (10-0, 8-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) need to
defeat archrival Florida (9-1) next Saturday at Gainesville to
guarantee a second straight trip to the national championship game.
"This is what we needed," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden
said of his team's dominating performance against Maryland. "I'd
have been pretty disappointed if we hadn't played good."
Florida State trailed at one point in each of its previous four victories, barely escaping once -- 17-14 at Clemson, Oct. 23.
Bowden admitted much of the season has been a tuneup for the
showdown with No. 4 Florida.
"Now the rest comes next week," Bowden said. "I doubt if
anything we could do would intimidate them."
Weinke, who did not play in the fourth quarter, threw four
touchdown passes by halftime. He had two 6-yard scoring throws to
Ron Dugans, another 5-yard TD to Warrick and a 30-yarder to Atrews
Bell as the Seminoles built a 28-3 lead.
Weinke combined with Warrick on scoring plays covering 26 and 28
yards in the third period as the Seminoles increased the lead to
42-3. Marcus Outzen's 35-yard touchdown pass to Greg Moore in the
fourth quarter completed Florida State's scoring.
Weinke missed last year's game against Florida as Outzen led the
Seminoles to a 23-12 victory.
"They're going to play good football at home," Weinke said. "We realize that."
The 27-year-old quarterback knows Florida State fans rate the team and its quarterbacks on how they do against the Gators.
"If you don't win that game everybody forgets about the first
10 wins," Weinke said. "We saw two years ago. We felt like we had
a better team going down there and we got beat."
There was no doubt who was better Saturday.
Maryland (5-5, 2-5) was hurt by five turnovers and also had two
punts blocked, offsetting LaMont Jordan's 169 rushing yards -- the
most this year against Florida State.
"Our expectations were to compete on even terms," Maryland
coach Ron Vanderlinden said. "We couldn't move the ball."
Warrick caught nine passes for 134 yards and became the ACC's
career leader with 3,427 receiving yards. North Carolina State's
Torry Holt held the record for a year with 3,379 yards.
"I did not come back this year for records," said Warrick, who
surprised most everyone earlier this year when he decided against
making himself eligible for the NFL draft where he was a certain
high first-round pick.
"I came back to try and win a national championship," Warrick said. "We've got ourselves in position to do that and that's what I'm happy about."
Although he missed two games for legal reasons, Warrick has
caught 62 passes for 844 yards and eight touchdowns. His touchdown
catches Saturday give him the school record with 32, eclipsing E.G.
Green's 29.
Weinke, who was 23-of-33 for 304 yards, matched the school
record for touchdown passes set in 1989 by Peter Tom Willis against
Memphis State.
Jermaine Arrington's 77-yard kickoff return in the fourth
quarter set up Maryland's only touchdown, a 1-yard pass from Trey
Evans to tight end Eric James. The Terrapins also scored on Brian
Kopka's 38-yard field goal in the opening minute of the second
quarter.
Maryland lost its next best scoring opportunity in the third
period when Evans' pass was intercepted in Florida State's end zone
by Clevan Thomas, who had two of the Seminoles' four interceptions.
Freshman quarterback Latrez Harrison, making his first start for
Maryland, was knocked out of the game in the first half with a
sprained ankle.
The Terrapins are 0-10 against Florida State.
Since joining the ACC in 1992, Florida State has won six league
titles outright, shared two and stands 62-2 in conference play.
The Seminoles have not lost at home in eight years, a span of 46
games while winning their last 29 since a 31-31 tie against Florida
in 1994.
Bowden's teams are 107-13-1 this decade and 57-1-1 at home, where
they haven't lost since a 17-16 defeat to Miami in November 1991.
"Thank goodness we haven't had one of those lately," Bowden joked Saturday.
During the 13-year run of 10-win seasons, Florida State's record is 139-17-1.
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Maryland Clubhouse
Florida State Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Chris Weinke finds Peter Warrick in the end zone.
avi: 464 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Weinke connects with Atrews Bell for the 30-yard TD.
avi: 767 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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