| | By Bob Harig
Special to ESPN.com
As much as he enjoys playing golf, Bobby Bowden couldn't envision spending every day on the course. Even though he has more grandchildren to dote on than there are days in the week, Bowden is not ready to babysit.
|  | | Bobby Bowden thinks the Seminoles have enough to win another title. |
At age 70, Bowden is as enthused about beginning his 25th season as the head coach of the Florida State Seminoles as the day he took the head job at his alma mater, Howard College, in 1959.
Bowden has no fears when it comes to defending the national title his team captured in 1999, giving him his first undefeated season and second championship. He'll gladly take his chances again with another loaded squad that returns 61 lettermen and is expected to romp through the Atlantic Coast Conference and into the Orange Bowl to compete for the title for the third consecutive year.
But Bowden couldn't stand it if his program suffered a dropoff to, say, three or four losses.
And that is what drives him.
"The consistency, more than winning the national championships, is the most satisfying part," said Bowden, whose Seminoles open the 2000 season on Aug. 26 against Brigham Young in the Pigskin Classic. "I've always said that I'd hate to go 10-2, 11-1, (win a) national championship, then 6-5, 7-4. I couldn't take it. I can't stand the losing."
Perhaps that is what keeps the Seminoles on their amazing run of 10-victory seasons that dates all the way back to 1987. During that stretch, FSU has finished no lower than fourth in the national polls. Since joining the ACC eight seasons ago, the record is 62-2.
Through all that success, complacency has never set in.
"There's no program in the history of college football that has duplicated the success they've had," Maryland coach Ron Vanderlinden said. "I mean, 13 consecutive years they've finished in the top four in the nation? That's incredible."
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The Contenders
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Florida State is always in the national title picture -- 13 consecutive top-five finishes prove that -- but here are five other teams that could be celebrating in the Orange Bowl in January.
Nebraska: Gee, this was a tough one. The Huskers, ranked No. 1 in both preseason polls, are led by QB Eric Crouch, who runs an offense that could literally score every time it gets the ball. The defense is tough and the schedule isn't, so the Huskers should be in the title game.
Alabama: The Crimson Tide has speed, depth and experience. That's a pretty good combination to have, right? Bama has a gamebreaker in Freddie Milons, and if it finally figures a way to beat Tennessee (five straight losses), the Tide could cruise through the SEC.
Miami (Fla.): This sounds familiar: Great defense, good running game and a cocky attitude. The only thing missing is Jimmy Johnson's hair gel.
Wisconsin: OK, so Ron Dayne's gone, but Michael Bennett is a gamebreaker, the line is huge and QB Brooks Bollinger isn't exactly a slouch. The defense will be solid, and if they figure out how to beat Michigan, the Badgers could go to Miami instead of Pasadena.
Texas: There are some questions, but if Mack Brown straightens out the QB mess with Major Applewhite and Chris Simms, the pieces are in place for a title run. The defense is vicious and the offense is solid. Wins over Stanford, Oklahoma, Colorado and, likely, Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game would land Texas in Miami. |
Even more so is the fact that the Seminoles remain hungry. Nobody is satisfied after winning last year's national championship with a Sugar Bowl victory over Virginia Tech.
In fact, there are several players still around from the team that lost to Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl a year earlier, denying FSU a national title. The year prior, in 1997, a blown lead late in the game against Florida cost the Seminoles a shot at playing for the championship.
"To overcome the things we had to overcome as a football team last year just proved to us as players we can get it done," said quarterback Chris Weinke, 28, who decided to return for his senior year and is one of the reasons the Seminoles are a favorite to again advance to the championship game. "I think going into this season now we have that confidence. We have the experience. Although we lost some guys, the guys who are filling those shoes have been around here.
"When you've been able to reach the top, you know what it takes going into the next year. Whereas last year if we hadn't won the big game, you would come in this year and say, 'Is that true -- we can't win the big one?' "
The Seminoles managed to sidestep several distractions last year. They began the season ranked No. 1 and stayed there all year despite the off-the-field problems of star receiver Peter Warrick, whose highly-publicized department store scam led to embarrassment and a suspension.
Warrick eventually returned, and the Seminoles never missed a beat. In fact, the closest they came to defeat was a 17-14 victory at Clemson -- Bowden's 300th career win, which came at the expense of his son, Tommy.
"Winning the national championship last year was not half as amazing as winning it the way we did," Bowden said. "Having to put up with all those distractions ... it would be nice not to have those. Now, how much will that help this year's team? Well, you hope it helps them a lot."
Trouble seems to follow the Seminoles around. This season, they've already had to deal with starting safety Derrick Gibson getting arrested and charged with
soliciting an undercover policewoman for sex.
If that wasn't bad enough, Bowden came under fire for his handling of the situation, which some thought was too lenient. So much for avoiding off-the-field distractions.
On the field, the Seminoles have more than enough talent to defend their title. Several young receivers can step in for Warrick, although none have his big-play ability. Senior tailback Travis Minor, who rushed for 815 yards a year ago, could play more of a role. Three of the five starters on the offensive line return.
The defense is again stout, even without tackles Corey Simon and Jerry Johnson. The return of ends Roland Seymour and Jamal Reynolds, along with linebackers Brian Allen, Bradley Jennings and Tommy Polley, has FSU coaches smiling.
Perhaps their biggest worry is the kicking game, where cannon-legged Sebastian Janikowski will no longer be booming kickoffs into the end zone and connecting on long field goals.
The Seminoles certainly have the talent to repeat, but to do it again, FSU will have to overcome recent history. Nebraska, which begins this season ranked No. 1 in both the ESPN/USA Today and Associated Press polls, is the only team in the past 20 years to win back-to-back national championships.
"That just shows you how hard it is to win a national championship," Bowden said. "I mean, it's hard to win a national championship. There are just so many variables that you can't control -- injuries, off-the-field problems, things that will eliminate people. That's why it's so hard to repeat.
"We might get all the bad breaks this year. Or we might get all the good ones again. But we'll have to have a bunch of them to win it again."
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