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Thrown for a loss: it should have been a coming-out game for Florida State coach BOBBY BOWDEN in the league he built. Instead, it was the finish to one of the worst weeks of his life

Sporting News, The, Sept 20, 2004 by Matt Hayes

Dadgumit, he just can't get a break. This couldn't have been planned more perfectly, a prime-time arrival of the new monster conference in college football and the reclamation of a national power in one memorable event. Yet there was Bobby Bowden, less than 24 hours before beginning what he privately believed would be a memorable season, finishing an unforgettable week.

The Florida State coach buried his 15-year-old grandson Bowden Madden on Thursday, days after Madden and his father, John, died in a car accident after leaving a Bowden family gathering on Labor Day weekend. A day later, does anything else really matter? Especially not another improbable, unthinkable loss to bitter rival Miami in the coming-out party for the new ACC.

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Bowden once awkwardly invented a colorful word when describing his frustrations after an incredibly improbable loss, saying he was "bumfuzzled." This time, after the Hurricanes tore his guts out again with an overtime victory, he simply was heartbroken. And it didn't have a damn thing to do with pigskin.

"This is life," Bowden said quietly in the bowels of the rickety old Orange Bowl. "Somebody can't tell you how it feels when it hasn't happened to them."

If it hadn't been for Hurricane Frances, the slick Tallahassee roads wouldn't have taken his former son-in-law and one of his 21 grandchildren. He wouldn't have been so consumed by something he has no control over while trying to prepare for the annual game of the year for Florida State, and he could've enjoyed the sport-altering moment staring back at him on a sticky south Florida night.

This was a night to celebrate the new ACC, the onetime basketball conference that added Florida State 12 years ago and since has grown into the nation's best football conference. And that was before Miami officially hitched up with last week's come-from-behind 16-10 victory against FSU. This is the league Bobby Bowden built, as he forced the rest of the conference to get better or get beat. By the end of last season, the league officially had become top dog--then the ACC added the big, bad Canes.

Consider this: Maryland has won at least 10 games each of the past three seasons. Virginia is loading up on talent and primed for a 10-win season, and Bobby's son Tommy has Clemson finally playing to its potential. Georgia Tech and Wake Forest--yep, Wake Forest--will beat or scare the begeebers out of any league team any week. Then there's former FSU assistant Chuck Amato, who has orchestrated such a magnificent turnaround at N.C. State that he has become the first option to replace Bowden when Grandpa decides to walk away.

And that's just it. This could've been the year Bowden rode off, after this ultra-talented FSU team nailed down his third national title.

Who knows how it all will play out? Bowden and the 'Noles still might find their way back to the national title game, but even without it, his legacy within the ACC is cemented. When his team fully joined the conference in 1992, it was a finesse league; it was FSU and the Eight Dwarves. As the ACC begins this new era, it has evolved into a last, physical league that can line up and bow tip with anyone.

Two years ago, Maryland manhandled SEC heavyweight Tennessee, 30-3, in the Peach Bowl. A year later, in the same bowl, Clemson beat up the Vols, 27-14. Auburn was last year's SEC law)rite and a national title contender, and it scored three lousy points in a loss to Georgia Tech. Remember Tyrone Willingham's magical first season at Notre Dame? Yeah, that was N.C. State physically punishing the Irish in the Gator Bowl. And that was Wake traveling across the country two years ago to whip Oregon in the Seattle Bowl.

So please, let's not jump on the homecoming float just because Miami bolted from the Big East for more money.

"Those guys are going to find out there are no Rutgers in this league," says FSU tailback Leon Washington.

They should have found out last week. The Canes' inaugural game in the ACC was playing out just as Bowden had planned all summer--it would be the springboard to the Seminoles' first national title run since 2000. But dadgumit, he just can't get a break. The 'Noles have invested nearly five years in quarterback Chris Rix, babied and nurtured his immature and erratic--yet, at times, highly talented--ways. And he still doesn't get it.

The 'Noles were up, 10-0, in the fourth quarter, their defense dominating like those nasty units from the 1990s. Rix just had to steer clear of trouble. FSU was driving at the Miami 39 to begin the fourth quarter and could've locked down the win with a field goal. A play later, Rix badly overthrew Craphonso Thorpe, and Miami safety Greg Threat intercepted the ball at the 13. The Canes eventually got a field goal off the turnover, a momentum surge that carried into overtime and another lump-in-your-throat loss for FSU.

"As important as football is for me," Rix says, "it's just a game."

Thrown for a loss: it should have been a coming-out game for Florida State coach BOBBY BOWDEN in the league he built. Instead, it was the finish to one of the worst weeks of his life

Sporting News, The, Sept 20, 2004 by Matt Hayes

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