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FSU gives Bowden a birthday win

TALLAHASSEE - The Seminoles kept their slim chances of going to Tampa Bay to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship alive Saturday and handed coach Bobby Bowden a great present for his 79th birthday. After falling behind 10-0 early in the game, Florida State (7-2, 4-2) came charging back to beat the Clemson Tigers (4-5, 2-4) 41-27.

With the win, Florida State becomes bowl eligible but still has to win their remaining conference games next week against Boston College and at Maryland in two weeks and have Wake Forest lose a conference game in order to win the Atlantic Division and play for the ACC championship.

The Demon Deacons beat Virginia 28-17 Saturday and have games at North Carolina State and finish the ACC schedule at home against Boston College. N.C. State and Boston College have a combined record of 4-7 this year in ACC play.

Clemson came out of the box launching a five-play 80-yard drive that took slightly more than two minutes off the clock to open the game and take a 7-0 lead.

The Tigers' defense forced the Noles to go three and out on their opening possession and came back to kick a 41-yard field goal to take a ten point lead.

During the next possession junior wide receiver Preston Parker took the ball on a reverse play behind the line of scrimmage and ran for forty yards. However, the drive stalled and facing fourth and 12 from the Tigers' 35-yard line, senior kicker Graham Gano came out and kicked a 52-yard field goal.

While Gano holds the FSU team record with 17 straight field goals, his first kick of the game required a bit of luck as the ball hit the upright but wound up going over the cross bar.

Senior defensive end Neffy Moffett tied the game with an 18-yard interception return during the next drive to tie the game.

Sophomore quarterback Christian Ponder scored the first Seminole offensive touchdown with slightly more than a minute left on a one-yard run through the middle.

During the second half, the Seminoles took control of the game and never again relinquished the lead.

Ponder finished the game completing 16 of 27 passes for 153 yards, a touchdown and interception and 30 rushing yards along with the score on the ground.

Senior running back Antone Smith carried the ball eight times for 57 yards and a pair of scores while junior wide receiver Corey Surrency caught two balls for 52 yards but one of those was a score.

The win was the 380th of Bowden's career putting him only one game behind Penn State's Joe Paterno for the most wins in the top tier of college football.