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FSU sloppiness leads to defeat
Posted: Tuesday January 05, 1999 03:04 AM
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Florida State's motto for its drive to the national championship game was "Discipline to the Desert." It didn't work. In a very undisciplined performance, the Seminoles repeatedly made mistakes with bone-headed penalties and costly turnovers in their 23-16 loss to Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl on Monday night. Those errors included two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and 110 penalty yards. "They say if you keep making the same mistakes you are stupid," offensive guard Jason Whitaker said. "I guess we are." Coach Bobby Bowden said the Seminoles seemed to be hurt by the long layover since they ended their regular season on Nov. 21. Tennessee had last played on Dec. 5. "Our discipline wasn't very good," Bowden said. "We were a very, very rusty football team, but they were, too." The Seminoles started a third-string quarterback, Marcus Outzen, due to injuries that sidelined Dan Kendra and Chris Weinke. Outzen said he did all he could. "I don't think I failed to win the game," he said. "I think I did some good things. Of course, I did some bad things. I don't think the game was on my shoulders. The team didn't win this game. In every aspect of the game our team made mistakes." It wasn't all mistakes. Tennessee shut down Florida State's most lethal weapon, All-American wide receiver Peter Warrick. He caught only one pass for seven yards. "We planned to go to him more," Outzen said. "They played a safety over him more. ... They had more people toward his side than the other side." Warrick, however, had only single coverage when Volunteers cornerback Dwayne Goodrich intercepted Outzen's pass and returned it 54 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to put Tennessee ahead 14-0. Outzen said he expected Goodrich to fade back when Warrick ran a corner route, but instead he came up and caught the ball in front of Warrick. "I didn't see the corner or I would have never thrown it out there," Outzen said. "But usually when he runs an out route, that means the corner was backing up. I didn't see it." Florida State's offensive line failed to block well enough to effectively run the ball, Outzen said. Tennessee also sacked Outzen four times. "We wore our defense out not keeping their offense off the field," Whitaker said. "I'll take the blame for the loss. The offensive line did not perform up to par."
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