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  Saturday, Oct. 16 7:00pm ET
Weinke heating up as FSU stays unbeaten
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Top-ranked Florida State played around for a half Saturday night and then played a half.

Chris Weinke threw two third-quarter touchdown passes to former walk-on Atrews Bell and Sebastian Janikowski kicked four field goals as the Seminoles shook off a lethargic first half to beat Wake Forest 33-10.

Travis Minor
Florida State's Travis Minor finds a hole for first down yardage as Wake Forest's linebacker Kelvin Moses pursues.

"We didn't play great, but we came away with a win," said Weinke, who completed passes to 10 receivers for a career-high 354 yards. "We will have to be sharper for 60 minutes the rest of the way."

But at halftime, Florida State had only three field goals by Janikowski and a 9-3 lead.

"They had a good plan for us," Bowden said. "And we weren't sharp tonight. We'd better be sharp next week or we'll get our butts whipped."

Bowden will try to become only the fifth Division I-A coach to reach 300 victories next week when the Seminoles travel to Clemson, which is coached by his son, Tommy.

Florida State (7-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) extended its unbeaten streak at home to 45 games, including 28 straight victories.

The Seminoles, 104-13-1 in the 1990s, have won the most games in a decade in NCAA history.

Janikowski kicked field goals from 31, 34, and 52 yards in the first half and then added a 32-yarder in the fourth quarter.

"This week the defense had to hold together for the offense," Bowden said. "Our defense played just about as good as they could."

Wake Forest (3-3, 1-3) totaled only 178 yards and 11 first downs, scoring its only touchdown on the final play of the game.

"They just smother you," Wake Forest coach Jim Caldwell said. "We couldn't get anything going offensively."

Wake Forest's Morgan Kane came into the game averaging 134 yards rushing a game, but was held to just 28 yards on 12 carries.

Florida State also struggled on offense in the first half.

"We want to get better every week and we didn't get better this week," Weinke said.

"I couldn't hit an open receiver, that's the bottom line," Weinke said. "I probably missed three touchdown passes in the first half."

The Seminoles were playing for the second straight game without receiver and return specialist Peter Warrick, their do-everything offensive threat. He is hoping to have a felony theft charge reduced so he can return to the team.

And the Seminoles lost senior receiver Ron Dugans with a chest contusion in the first half, leaving the Seminoles without their three most experienced receivers.

Florida State scored the game's first touchdown 4:17 into the third quarter when Bell caught a 16-yard pass from Weinke to give the Seminoles a 16-3 lead. The duo hooked up again on a 9-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the third period as Florida State built its lead to 23-3.

"A walk-on being able to make plays at Florida State, it doesn't get any better than that," Bell said. "My whole season has been making the most of opportunities whether it's a guy being hurt or a guy being suspended."

Following a fumble recovery by Florida State's Tommy Polley, the Seminoles took a 30-3 lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter when Anquan Boldin ran in from the 2 out of the quarterback position.

Wake Forest scored its only touchdown on a 1-yard pass from C.J. Leak to Fabian Davis as time ran out.

Wake Forest took a 3-0 lead on a 24-yard field goal by Matt Burdick just three minutes into the game, but could only manage 66 yards of offense and three first downs by halftime.

"I thought we had a pretty dominant showing," Florida State defensive end Roland Seymour said. "I think we needed one because at times we've been lackluster."
 


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