Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Florida State to face Va. Tech in New Orleans

Associated Press

No mystery, no intrigue, just this simple fact: No. 1 Florida State will play No. 2 Virginia Tech for the national championship in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4.

In the second season of the Bowl Championship Series, the system of rating teams using polls, computers, strength of schedule and losses worked perfectly.

As expected, the Seminoles (11-0) and Hokies (11-0) finished first and second in the final BCS standings released yesterday, matching their finish in the AP media poll's final regular-season rankings. The USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll also had the teams ranked one and two, as did seven of the eight computers used by the BCS.

"They've been there so many times and we're kind of the new kid on the block," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "Hopefully, you'll get to like us. This is a good group, a hard-working group. We've met every challenge this year but we've not had a challenge like Florida State."

Florida State, national champions in 1993, will be playing in its third national title game in the past four years. Coach Bobby Bowden said he's just happy for another shot, but "I'd just as soon be No. 2 going in. There's a little more incentive. But the idea is to get there and whoever wins the game is going to be No. 1."

Even No. 3 Nebraska (11-1), which dominated Texas 22-6 on Saturday to win the Big 12 title, conceded the Florida State-Virginia Tech matchup was the right one.

The Cornhuskers, who lost their title chance two weeks ago with a shaky overtime win over Colorado, will play No. 6 Tennessee (9-2) in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan 2.

"We'll live with the system," Nebraska coach Frank Solich said after his team avenged its only loss of the season.

In the other BCS games, it's Southeastern Conference champion No. 5 Alabama (10-2) vs. No. 8 Michigan (9-2) in the Orange Bowl and Big Ten winner No. 4 Wisconsin (9-2) vs. Pac-10 winner No. 22 Stanford (8-3) in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. The payout for each team in a BCS game is about $12.5 million, which is usually split among the conference members.

The Crimson Tide (10-2) beat No. 10 Florida 34-7 Saturday night to earn their place in the Orange Bowl - their first trip to the game since 1975, when coach Mike DuBose played on the team that lost to Notre Dame 13-11.

The Florida Gators (9-3), meanwhile, will play No. 9 Michigan State (9-2) in the Florida Citrus Bowl, and No. 14 Texas (9-4) was matched against No. 24 Arkansas (7-4) in the Cotton Bowl.

The Spartans will have a new coach in Bobby Williams when they play Florida. Williams, an assistant under former coach Nick Saban, was promoted from interim to permanent coach yesterday.

Also, No. 23 Miami's 55-0 win over Temple on Saturday sent the Hurricanes (8-4) to the Gator Bowl against No. 17 Georgia Tech (8-3) on New Year's Day.