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1989 Florida State football

1989 Miami-Florida State: Seminoles Win A Battle; Canes Win A War

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For at least seven years, 1987 through 1993, the Miami-Florida State rivalry blazed red-hot, one of the best in both college football and all of sports. 1989 had an ironic twist—more often than not, the Hurricanes got the best of the Seminoles. Florida State won the ’89 battle, but even then, it was Miami who ended up winning the war before it was all over.

You can read more about the complete seasons of both teams, as well as their key players, at the links below. This post focuses specifically on the 1989 Miami-Florida State game.

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It was a humid night in Tallahassee on October 28. Florida State was building momentum on their season after a rocky start left them 0-2 and out of the national championship picture. The Seminoles had responded with five straight wins, three over ranked teams. Beating #2 and undefeated Miami would validate their turnaround.

The Hurricanes were dealing with an injured quarterback. Craig Erickson had missed the last two games and been replaced by freshman Gino Torretta. It hadn’t come back to bite the ‘Canes yet, but the freshman had not faced an opponent of this caliber or a road environment that would be this loud.

And it showed on his first pass. Torretta was picked off by LeRoy Butler. FSU’s Dexter Carter immediately ripped off a 37-yard run for a touchdown. A first-quarter flurry was underway.

To his credit, Torretta settled down and led a 65-yard TD drive that tied the game. Florida State marched right back with another touchdown. Miami raced back the other way and got a field goal. All the back and forth left this a 14-10 game with FSU in front as the first quarter came to a close.

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The remaining three quarters would be marked by Hurricane mistakes and missed opportunities. Miami drove to the one-yard line in the second quarter. Torretta’s third-down pass was intercepted in the end zone by Kevin Grant. The ‘Canes drove to the one-yard line in the third quarter. Kirk Carruthers recovered a fumble. The recovery went with Carruthers’ two interceptions and made it a dream night for the linebacker.

Florida State made the turnover hurt when they drove 99 yards for a touchdown that gave them some breathing room. After a field goal extended the lead to 24-10 it was time for Miami to make yet another drive to the FSU one-yard line. This time they were stopped on downs.

On the night, the ‘Canes committed six turnovers—four of them interceptions by the freshman quarterback. They were flagged for nine penalties totaling nearly 100 yards.

Lest we think that the evening was only marked by Miami shooting themselves in the foot, let’s also point out that Florida State dominated the line of scrimmage. The Seminoles rushed for over 200 yards, 142 of them from Carter. The Seminoles moved up to #6 in the polls with the win. The Hurricanes fell to #7.

Miami would rebound though, winning out and beating top-ranked Notre Dame in the season finale. The Hurricanes went on to the Sugar Bowl back at #2 and beat Alabama. When the Irish knocked off #1 Colorado in the Orange Bowl, it handed Miami the national title.

As for Florida State, they kept on coming. The Seminoles won out and then blasted Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl. FSU finished #3 and had a lot of people believing they were the nation’s best team, even if the two early losses made it impractical to crown them as champs.

1989 Florida State Football: They Just Took Too Long To Get Rolling

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The 1989 Florida State football team just took a bit too long to get started. By season’s end they were one of the best teams in the nation—in fact, a lot of observers felt they were the best. But a slow start meant that no one was arguing their case for a national championship.

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Florida State came into the season with high expectations. They were ranked #6 in the preseason polls and this was now the third year of the Bobby Bowden Ascendancy, where the program was one of the consistently elite teams in the country from 1987-2003.

The Seminoles’ best player was strong safety LeRoy Butler, a consensus All-American. Other players who got some love from the All-American voters were inside linebacker Kirk Carruthers, linebacker/nose tackle Odell Haggins, defensive tackle Eric Hayes and center Michael Tanks. With this kind of quality in the trenches, it was easy to see why Florida State would become so good.

There was new personnel elsewhere. Peter Tom Willis was first-year starting quarterback in his senior year. He was supported by Dexter Carter in the backfield and a balanced receivers corps of Lawrence Dawsey, Ronald Lewis and Terry Anthony. But the biggest absence was the hole left by cornerback and return man extraordinaire Deion Sanders, now in the NFL. Terrell Buckley eventually became a pretty good replacement, but no one could truly fill Deion’s shoes.

Florida State’s first game was with an unheralded Southern Miss team, played in Jacksonville. The quarterback was a unheard-of kid with a strong arm by the name of Brett Favre. The young gunslinger led a late touchdown drive that stunned the Seminoles 30-26 and sent them tumbling to #16 in the polls.

It got worse a week later at home against Clemson. Florida State was still an independent in 1989, so this wasn’t the big ACC divisional game that it is today, but with a loss on the books, FSU could ill-afford another. And that’s what happened, as Clemson came into Doak Campbell and handed the ‘Noles a 34-23 loss.

The national championship hopes were gone, and the season could get away completely with a trip to LSU up next. The Tigers were in similar straits—they had opened the season ranked #7, but lost their opener to Texas A&M. It was a battle of desperate teams and Florida State got off the schneid with a 31-21 win.

After blasting Tulane 59-9, voters moved FSU back into the Top 25. The next game was at Syracuse, at a time when the Orangemen had a 16-game home winning streak and had gone 20-2 over the last two regular seasons. This was the game where Florida State really began putting it together. They had a 20-3 lead in the second half, when Buckley returned a punt for a touchdown and Butler came up with a Pick-6 to cap a 41-10 rout.

Florida State won easily at what was then a struggling Virginia Tech program. The Seminoles were set to host #11 Auburn, a team that would eventually share the SEC title. This was the third year in a row FSU and Auburn had played.

Florida State had gone on the road and won a 34-6 blowout in 1987, a game that really announced the Seminoles as national contenders at a time when that wasn’t taken as a given. The two teams ended the previous year by playing in the Sugar Bowl and Deion intercepted a pass in the end zone to preserve a 13-7 win. FSU made it three in a row with a 22-14 win that pushed them up to #9 in the polls. Long before Jameis Winston led an epic drive to win the 2013 national championship, Florida State was in the business of tormenting Auburn.

One week later though, was the game everyone in Tallahassee was really juiced up for, and it was with #2 Miami. The Hurricanes had beaten Florida State each of the previous three years, including a gutwrenching game that swung the national championship in 1987, and a blowout in 1988 when FSU was ranked #1. It was time for some payback.

Butler intercepted the first pass of redshirt freshman quarterback Gino Torretta, and one play later, Carter ripped off a 37-yard touchdown run. The prime-time crowd was electrified early, and Edgar Bennett scored on a later touchdown run. A back-and-forth first quarter ended with FSU ahead 14-10.

Miami had opportunities over the second and third quarters, but Florida State made all the biggest plays. They intercepted a Torretta pass in the end zone and recovered a fumble on the one-yard line. After that latter, FSU drove 99 yards, the biggest blow being a 51-yard pass from Willis to Lewis. It gave Florida State a 21-10 lead and it was the dagger. They won 24-10 and moved up to #6 in the polls.

Florida State closed the season with three straight wins, beating a decent South Carolina team, and what was then just a decent Florida team, sandwiched around blowing out a bad Memphis team. The Seminoles closed the year ranked #5 and got a ticket to the Fiesta Bowl, their third straight major bowl appearance.

Nebraska was the opponent, and the Cornhuskers took a 7-0 lead. FSU opened up in the second quarter, with Willis throwing three touchdown passes and they led 21-10 at half. Willis threw two more scoring passes in the second half and Florida State capped off their comeback season with a 41-17 rout.

Florida State finished the season third in the nation, trailing only Miami and Notre Dame, each of whom finished with one loss. Had the ‘Noles managed to split their first two games, the strength of their finish and their win over the Hurricanes would have surely had them at #1. Instead, they had to accept the value of a major bowl victory, a Top 5 finish and the belief of lot of people—myself included—that they would have won a national playoff.