Kick boots Seminoles past rival Miami, 13-10
MIAMI — Gary Cismesia tossed blades of grass skyward on the Florida State sideline, trying to decipher which way the wind was blowing.
Unable to figure it out, he went with the simplest plan: Kick straight.
With one swing of his strong right leg, Cismesia put a swift end to 15 years of Florida State's kicking woes against Miami. His 33-yard field goal with 8:01 left put the 11th-ranked Seminoles ahead to stay in their come-from-behind 13-10 win over the 12th-ranked Hurricanes on Monday night.
"I didn't win the game," Cismesia said. "My team won the game."
It was the second straight win in the series for the Seminoles, who also eked out a three-point win over their Sunshine State rival in last season's opener — and took a piece of Orange Bowl sod back to Tallahassee as a souvenir from this one.
Drew Weatherford, who was awful in the 2005 win, was solid this time — throwing for 175 yards, 62 of them on a pair of pivotal third-down conversions that set up the Seminoles' lone touchdown early in the fourth quarter. And Florida State's defense was dominant in the second half, holding Miami to 17 yards.
"In this series, it's been defense, defense, defense," Miami coach Larry Coker said. "Our defense has won in the past at times. But not tonight."
Michael Ray Garvin intercepted Kyle Wright's final pass with 29 seconds left, sealing the win.
Florida State's offensive hopes almost entirely hinged on the passing game, since Miami's defensive front held the Seminoles to 1 yard on 25 rushes. Still, even a performance like that wasn't enough to carry the Hurricanes, who wasted a 10-3 halftime lead.
"You don't know how hard it is to beat Miami," Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden said. "I mean, I've been playing these guys for 31 years. They've probably got as good a defense as there is in the country, unless it's us."
Charlie Jones had a 4-yard touchdown run for Miami, which hadn't lost to Florida State in the Orange Bowl since 1998 — and has now lost three of its last four games overall dating back to last season.
The revamped Miami offense struggled mightily; Wright was 18-of-27 passing, but gained only 132 yards.
