Florida St. Gets It Half Right, Beats Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. â€”  Another slow start for top-ranked Florida State, another come-from-behind victory. And this time, it was the same guy who made the early going hopeful for Virginia who wound up spoiling the Cavaliers’ aspirations.

Chris Weinke, after three first-half interceptions, threw three touchdown passes, including one for the go-ahead score to Marvin Minnis in the third quarter, as the Seminoles rallied for an easy 35-10 victory Saturday night.

“We stopped ourselves. They didn’t stop us,� Weinke said. “Without the three interceptions early on, we would have put a lot more pressure on them.�

As it was, once Florida State and Weinke got going, the Seminoles were fine.

Weinke completed 24 of 35 passes for 297 yards with three touchdowns, including a four-yarder to Minnis for the Seminoles’ first first-half touchdown in three games.

Still, Coach Bobby Bowden said he’s concerned about the slow starts.

“It scares me, but as long as they end up like they ended up, I can survive, I guess,� Bowden said after career victory No. 301. “It’s funny. You look at the score and you say, ‘Yeah, boy, they’re No. 1.’ But gosh, you look at the first half and you say, ‘Gee, I don’t know whether they are No. 1 or not.’ �

Weinke’s go-ahead pass to Minnis with 3:16 left in the third quarter was the second scoring play for the pair and gave the Seminoles, 9-0 overall and 7-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, a 14-10 lead. It was 21-10 just 2:46 later.

Two fourth-quarter touchdowns capped the scoring for the Seminoles. One was a 50-yard pass to Peter Warrick that was highlight-film material.

Warrick, held in check to that point, took the short pass in the right flat and outran and outdanced several defenders, finally breaking free with a cut to the left side.

Virginia (4-4, 3-3), which led, 10-7, at halftime, lost quarterback Dan Ellis when he was hit hard on consecutive plays at the end of the first half and suffered a concussion.