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TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Ticker) -- This Sunshine State contest will not need a recount. Chris Weinke threw three touchdown passes, including a pair to Marvin Minnis, and third-ranked Florida State made its case for a berth in the national title game by routing No. 4 Florida, 30-7. Weinke also boosted his candidacy for the Heisman Trophy, completing 23-of-44 passes for 353 yards with two interceptions in his final collegiate home game. "It doesn't get any better than this," said Weinke, who also passed Ben Bennett of Duke to become the career passing leader in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 9,789 yards. "This is why I came back (for my senior year)." Ovecoming flu-like symptoms, the 28-year-old Weinke opened the scoring with a 17-yard pass to Atrews Bell and later connected on scoring strikes of 34 and 51 yards to Minnis, who caught eight passes for 187 yards. The game was a pleasant diversion to what has been a chaotic week due to the stalled presidential election. In fact, many media members covering the recount in Tallahassee were forced out of hotels that were reserved months in advance for tonight's pivotal game. Those lucky enough to have tickets saw Florida State coach Bobby Bowden again make life miserable for Steve Spurrier, his long-time rival. The outspoken Spurrier remained winless in six visits to Doak Campbell Stadium (0-5-1) as the Seminoles extended the nation's longest current home winning streak to 35 games and their home unbeaten streak to 52 games. The Seminoles (11-1) concluded the regular season with their sixth straight win and hope that the convincing victory will eliminate any of the fuzzy math in the Bowl Championship Series ratings. Florida State fell behind No. 2 Miami in last week's BCS poll but could move back into the second spot this week with the win over the highly regarded Gators (9-2). Miami shut out Syracuse, 26-0, and boasts a win over FSU. "I'd rather leave it up to a computer than a person," Bowden said. Five times in the last seven years, the winner of the November meeting between these schools has gone on to play for the national title. Bowden won his 314th game to pass Amos Alonzo Stagg and move into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time Division I-A list. Florida is still alive for a BCS Bowl and will play Auburn in the SEC title game on December 2. Spurrier, who suffered his worst loss to Florida State since taking over at Florida in 1990, tried both Jesse Palmer and Rex Grossman at quarterback, but neither was effective. Palmer was 17-of-30 for 180 yards with two interceptions and Grossman was 10-of-16 for 98 yards and was picked off once. Two of the interceptions were by cornerback Tay Cody. The second was returned 58 yards and set up the final score of the game, a 33-yard field goal by Bret Cimorelli in the fourth quarter. While the Seminoles capitalized, the Gators missed on some key chances. Cornerback Bennie Alexander failed to hold on to an interception and Weinke followed with the TD pass to Bell. The only score for the Gators was a five-yard TD toss from Palmer to Aaron Walker in the first quarter that tied it at 7-7. But the Seminoles never looked back in scoring the last 23 points. Weinke completed a 41-yard pass to Bell later in the first quarter and followed immediately with the 34-yard TD pass to Minnis to make it 14-7. The Seminoles took complete control in the third quarter when William McCray capped an 80-yard TD drive with a one-yard run. Later in the period, Weinke lofted the 51-yarder to a wide-open Minnis. There were concerns that the Seminoles would be hurt by injuries in the backfield, but Travis Minor, playing with a sore ankle, kept the Gators' defense honest by rushing for 88 yards on 27 carries. The game ended on an embarrassing note for the Gators, who failed to get off a play in the final seconds near the Seminoles goal line. Grossman appeared to be unaware of the clock and let time expire. The frustrated Gators were flagged for 14 penalties for 116 yards.
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