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CLEMSON, South Carolina (Ticker) -- Bobby Bowden has learned a lot of things in compiling 300 career wins. One of them is the benefit of having a good kicker. Sebastian Janikowski broke a tie with a 39-yard field goal with 5:26 remaining, giving Bowden and top-ranked Florida State a 17-14 victory over his son, Tommy, and Clemson in an historic Atlantic Coast Conference matchup. It was the first meeting in Division I-A history that featured a father and a son as the respective coaches. "Mama's happy, I know," Bobby Bowden said of his wife, Ann, who was wearing an outfit split down the middle between the colors of Florida State and Clemson. "She wanted a close game that I would win because I'm older. She wanted her boy to look good and he looked good -- he looked too good to suit me." It appeared the elder Bowden might have to work overtime to become the fifth coach in Division I-A history to reach 300 wins, but Clemson freshman Tony Lazzara missed wide left on a 41-yard field goal attempt with 1:57 left. "I'm very happy that my players and coaches let me win my 300th," Bobby Bowden said. "When I saw they missed the field goal my thought was, 'You've got it.' We were sitting there talking about what we were going to do in overtime." Florida State cornerback Tay Cody got a hand on the ball. "I came off the end free," Cody said. "Nobody got a hand on me. I was fortunate enough to get a hand on the ball. Our season depended on it so I knew I had to give my best effort." Clemson was faced with a 4th-and-1 from the FSU 25 when the younger Bowden opted to let Lazzara try the potential game-tying kick. "I thought about going for a first down before attempting a field goal, but we had only been across the 50 one time in the second half," he explained. "I don't think we could have scored for that reason, because they have so many guns to come at you with. I at least wanted a chance to kick a field goal, but Florida State was playing too good and too hard and I think the next time I would probably go for the first down. I would have hated to leave that game and never have had the opportunity." Janikowski, the Lou Groza Award winner last season, converted a pair of 33-yard field goals earlier in the game, the first of which came after an apparent miss from 28 yards. But the miss actually came on a dead ball, since the Seminoles snapped the ball after the play clock expired. Normally close to automatic, Janikowski missed from 45 yards in the second quarter and 47 in the third but converted with the game on the line. Florida State (8-0, 6-0 ACC) remained on pace for a berth in the Sugar Bowl, this season's national championship game. Clemson (3-4, 3-2) missed a chance to give Tommy Bowden his 22nd career victory, losing for the eighth straight time to Florida State and falling to 2-11 all-time against the Seminoles. Lost in the shuffle was the return of Florida State star wide receiver Peter Warrick. Warrick had been suspended pending the outcome of felony theft charges, which were reduced following a plea. He caught a career-high 11 passes for 121 yards but did not impress his coach due to dropped balls. "I believe the distractions we had last week must have carried over because Pete didn't catch the ball," Bobby Bowden said. "Pete had a couple of times to win the darn game. I've never seen Pete do what he did tonight since he was a freshman. After what happened, maybe that's the way it should be. Maybe he can get it back together." Chris Weinke completed 24-of-49 passes for 258 yards and one interception, hitting Ron Dugans seven times for 83 yards. Travis Minor gained 100 yards on 29 carries as the Seminoles put up 356 yards of offense to 265 for Clemson. On its second possession, Clemson drove to the Florida State 29 but Woody Dantzler threw an incomplete pass on 4th-and-8 and the Seminoles took advantage, driving 55 yards in 10 plays to Janikowski's 33-yard field goal that opened the scoring. Dantzler was 9-of-24 for 102 yards with one interception and carried 24 times for 86 yards. Travis Zachery was the Tigers' only other ballcarrier, rushing for 40 yards on 13 attempts. After Janikowski's missed 45-yarder, Tommy Bowden got a chance to pull off some trickery against his father, who has built a reputation as the master of gadget plays. On 4th-and-13 from the Florida State 46, Tigers punter Ryan Romano threw a 23-yard pass to linebacker Braxton K. Williams, setting up Dantzler's seven-yard scoring pass to Rod Gardner that made it 7-3 with 6:17 left in the half. Tommy Bowden credited his brother-in-law, defensive backs coach Jack Hines, for the successful fake. "We work on that fake punt every week and Jack Hines is responsible for that, and he had noticed on previous Florida State films where this play would be successful," the Clemson coach said. "Jack should be given all the credit for the success of that play and I only called it in the ballgame." "I told him after the game that he out-tricked me, 3-0," the father said. Clemson held FSU to a three-and-out then drove 80 yards in eight plays, with Dantzler's one-yard TD run pushing the lead to 14-3 with 2:09 left before the half. The Seminoles defense stiffened, starting the second half with a three-and-out and getting the offense the ball on its own 34. A 12-play, 51-yard march followed and the deficit was cut to 14-6 when Janikowski booted a 33-yarder with 9:21 left in the third quarter. After a failed possession by Clemson, Janikowski misfired from 47 yards, but the defense held again and Minor made the Tigers pay, running in from a yard. The ensuing two-point conversion attempt appeared to be stopped, but once again Florida State benefited from its own tardiness, getting penalized five yards for delay of game. Weinke took advantage, lobbing the tying two-point pass to fullback Dan Kendra in the middle of the field. "When we joined this conference in '92, I said the natural games were going to be Florida State and Clemson and Florida State and Georgia Tech, since we are down here on the southern end of the conference," Bobby Bowden said. "We've had a couple of good battles with Tech and now we've had one with Clemson that they could have won as easy as we won. "I sure am proud to win it. This is one of those games you go out there and play and you feel like you're losing, you're losing, you're losing and you're going to get beat. Then all of a sudden you win it and I don't even know how. This was a great game."
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