Bowden Back For 34th Meeting Vs. Miami

Sports Betting News - September 7th, 2009 - Written by John

Defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews announced over this past summer that 2010 would be his final season at Florida State, and with time running out on Jimbo Fisher's "head coach-in-waiting" clause, that may not be the end of the farewell.

Current head coach Bobby Bowden, on a renewable one-year contract has said that he would coach as long as he is healthy and the team is winning. He also said he hoped to return Florida State to it's once-dominant status before he walked away, and if the Seminoles improve on their nine-win season last year, 2009 might be the season he was waiting for.

Bowden will be on the sidelines for his 34th season with the 'Noles, kicking off what could be his final season against one of his most notorious rivals when the Miami Hurricanes arrive today.

"Anytime you go into a season it's always exciting because you've been practicing against each other all spring and fall," Bowden said last week to Seminoles.com. "You just want to see what you've got."

The Miami-Florida State rivalry is one of the most heated rivalries in sports, with pregame punches delivered at times and dramatic finishes being absolute staples. Bowden has also been a main-stay through the years. While eight Miami skippers have come and gone, Bowden has remained with the team he single-handedly brought to relevance. He has seen it all through the years, including four missed field goals that would have tied or won the game, games played on flooded fields, and meetings between Heisman Trophy winners with National Title implications. Their meetings have been ratings gold mines, accounting for the two highest-rated college football games in ESPN broadcast history. The 2006 contest, also on Labor Day, was the most-watched football game ever, registering a 6.9 rating. However, both programs have stumbled in recent years, neither winning more than nine games in a season.

"We're both probably pretty close," Bowden continued on Seminoles.com. "Both of us have been through very much the same cycle. Whoever wins this game will feel like you're further along."

It has been a rivalry of streaks. Florida State lost six straight games to Miami in the early part of this decade, but has since won three of the last four. All of the previous four have been won by an average of four points. Not that the interstate rivalry isn't always a nail-biter. Bowden has been on the sideline for four missed field goals against the 'Canes, starting with Gerry Thomas' famous 'wide right' in 1991. A year later, Dan Mowrey was the center of 'wide right II' when his kick sailed off the mark in a 19-16 loss.

But the final has been relatively free of heart attacks. Despite only winning by three a year ago, Florida State controlled the entire game, putting up 41 points to fend off the rain and the home squad. Florida State still trails the all-time series 30-23.

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