1988 Florida State Seminoles football team

1988 Florida State Seminoles football
Sugar Bowl champion
Sugar Bowl, W 13–7 vs. Auburn
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
Record	11–1
Head coach	Bobby Bowden (13th season)
Offensive coordinator	Wayne McDuffie (6th season)
Offensive scheme	No-huddle spread
Defensive coordinator	Mickey Andrews (5th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Doak Campbell Stadium
Seasons ←  1987 1989  →

1988 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Notre Dame		–		–				12	–	0	–	0
No. 2 Miami (FL)		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
No. 3 Florida State		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
No. 5 West Virginia		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–				10	–	2	–	0
No. 13 Syracuse		–		–				10	–	2	–	0
Army		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Louisville		–		–				8	–	3	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				8	–	4	–	0
Northern Illinois		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Pittsburgh		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Memphis State		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Southwestern Louisiana		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Rutgers		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Akron		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Penn State		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Tulane		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Temple		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Tulsa		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Boston College		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Cincinnati		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
East Carolina		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Navy		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1988 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University in the 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Bobby Bowden and played their home games at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Defensive back Deion Sanders was a Heisman finalist, finishing in eighth place.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 3	9:00 p.m.	at No. 6 Miami (FL)	No. 1	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (rivalry)	CBS	L 0–31	77,836
September 10	7:00 p.m.	Southern Miss	No. 10	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 49–13	53,129	[1]
September 17	2:30 p.m.	at No. 3 Clemson	No. 10	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC (rivalry)	CBS	W 24–21	85,576	[2]
September 24	4:00 p.m.	Michigan State	No. 9	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN	W 30–7	61,757
October 1	8:00 p.m.	at Tulane	No. 6	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA		W 48–28	34,364	[3]
October 8	2:00 p.m.	No. 7 (I-AA) Georgia Southern	No. 6	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 28–10	59,109
October 15	2:00 p.m.	East Carolina	No. 5	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 45–21	56,391	[4]
October 22	2:00 p.m.	Louisiana Tech	No. 5	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 66–3	51,703	[5]
November 5	8:00 p.m.	at No. 15 South Carolina	No. 5	Williams–Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	ESPN	W 59–0	75,000	[6]
November 12	7:00 p.m.	Virginia Tech	No. 5	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 41–14	50,910	[7]
November 26	7:30 p.m.	Florida	No. 5	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	ESPN	W 52–17	62,693	[8]
January 2	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 7 Auburn	No. 4	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl)	ABC	W 13–7	61,934	[9]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[10]

Roster

1988 Florida State Seminoles football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class FB 22 Edgar Bennett So RB 31 Marion Butts Sr TB 13 Dexter Carter Jr QB 5 Chip Ferguson Sr QB 14 Brad Johnson Fr RB 33 Sammie Smith Jr QB 11 Casey Weldon  Fr QB 4 Peter Tom Willis Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 6 LeRoy Butler Jr DL 53 Odell Haggins Jr CB 2 Deion Sanders Sr DB 28 Dedrick Dodge So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 9 Richie Andrews So	Head coach Bobby Bowden Coordinators/assistant coaches Wayne McDuffie (Offensive coordinator) Mickey Andrews (Defensive coordinator) Skip Holtz (Graduate assistant) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Rankings

Further information: 1988 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	1 (44)	1 (41)	10	10	9	6	6	5	7	6	5	5	5	5	4	4	3
Coaches	1 (37)	1 (37)	12	12	9	8	7	6	7	7	8 (1)	5 (1)	5 (1)	5 (1)	4 (1)	4 (1)	3 (1)

^[11]

Game summaries

At Miami (FL)

Florida State at Miami (FL)

1 2 3 4 Total #1 Seminoles 0 0 0 0 0 •#6 Hurricanes 3 14 7 7 31 Date: September 3 Location: Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida Game attendance: 77,836 TV announcers (CBS Sports): Brent Musburger, Pat Haden, and John Dockery

Scoring summary 1 11:46 MIA Carlos Huerta 46-yard field goal MIA 3-0 2 14:27 MIA Cleveland Gary 2-yard run (Carlos Huerta kick) MIA 10-0 2 0:11 MIA Rob Chudzinski 19-yard pass from Steve Walsh (Carlos Huerta kick) MIA 17-0 3 8:54 MIA Leonard Conley 5-yard pass from Steve Walsh (Carlos Huerta kick) MIA 24-0 4 1:30 MIA Pee Wee Smith 17-yard pass from Craig Erickson (Carlos Huerta kick) MIA 31-0

See also: 1988 Miami Hurricanes football team and Florida State–Miami football rivalry

^{[12] [13]}

Southern Miss

See also: Southern Miss Golden Eagles football

	1	2	3	4	Total
Southern Miss	0	10	0	3	13
Florida St	14	14	14	7	49

At Clemson

Florida State at Clemson

1 2 3 4 Total •#10 Seminoles 0 7 14 3 24 #3 Tigers 7 7 0 7 21 Date: September 17 Location: Memorial Stadium Game attendance: 82,500

Scoring summary Q1 CLEM Cooper 61 yard pass from C. Davis (Seyle kick) CLEM 7–0 Q2 FSU D. Carter 40 yard pass from Ferguson (Andrews kick) Tie 7–7 Q2 CLEM R. Williams 7 yard run (Seyle kick) CLEM 14–7 Q3 FSU D. Sanders 76 yard punt return (Andrews kick) Tie 14–14 Q3 FSU D. Williams 1 yard run (Andrews kick) FSU 21–14 Q4 CLEM T. Johnson 19 yard run Tie 21–21 Q4 FSU Andrews 19 yard field goal FSU 24–21

See also: 1988 Clemson Tigers football team and Clemson–Florida State football rivalry

^[14]

Michigan State

Michigan State at Florida State

1 2 3 4 Total Spartans 0 0 7 0 7 •#9 Seminoles 7 6 0 17 30 Date: September 24 Location: Doak Campbell Stadium Game attendance: 61,757

See also: 1988 Michigan State Spartans football team

At Tulane

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida St	10	21	0	17	48
Tulane	0	14	7	7	28

See also: 1988 Tulane Green Wave football team

Georgia Southern

See also: 1988 Georgia Southern Eagles football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Georgia Southern	0	0	3	7	10
Florida St	7	0	0	21	28

East Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
East Carolina	0	14	0	7	21
Florida St	14	14	3	14	45

Louisiana Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Louisiana Tech	0	3	0	0	3
Florida St	28	7	17	14	66

At South Carolina

See also: 1988 South Carolina Gamecocks football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida St	14	17	14	14	59
South Carolina	0	0	0	0	0

Virginia Tech

See also: 1988 Virginia Tech Hokies football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Virginia Tech	0	7	0	7	14
Florida St	0	14	20	7	41

Florida

See also: 1988 Florida Gators football team and Florida–Florida State football rivalry

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida	7	3	0	7	17
Florida St	21	3	21	7	52

Vs. Auburn (Sugar Bowl)

Florida State vs. Auburn

1 2 3 4 Total •#4 Seminoles 10 3 0 0 13 #7 Tigers 0 7 0 0 7 Date: January 2 Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans Game start: 7:45 p.m. CST Elapsed time: 3:11 Game attendance: 61,934 Game weather: Indoors Referee: John Soffey TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf

Scoring summary 1 9:48 FSU Dayne Williams 2-yard run (Richie Andrews kick) FSU 7–0 5:57 FSU Bill Mason 35-yard field goal FSU 10–0 2 11:00 FSU Bill Mason 31-yard field goal FSU 13–0 4:09 AUB Walter Reeves 20-yard pass from Reggie Slack (Win Lyle kick) FSU 13–7

Main article: 1989 Sugar Bowl

See also: 1988 Auburn Tigers football team

^[15]

1989 NFL Draft

Main article: 1989 NFL draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Deion Sanders	Cornerback	1	5	Atlanta Falcons
Sammie Smith	Running back	1	9	Miami Dolphins
Pat Tomberlin	Guard	4	99	Indianapolis Colts
Marion Butts	Running back	7	183	San Diego Chargers
Victor Floyd	Running back	11	287	San Diego Chargers
Stan Shiver	Defensive back	12	310	Green Bay Packers

^[16]

References

1. "Seminoles regroup, rout Southern Miss, 49–13". The Orlando Sentinel. September 11, 1988. Retrieved March 28, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
2. "Fake punt with 1:33 to go helps FSU beat Clemson". The Miami Herald. September 18, 1988. Retrieved February 2, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
3. "FSU tames Tulane, 48–28, as Sammie gains 212 yards". The Miami Herald. October 2, 1988. Retrieved February 7, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
4. "Parker sparkles in FSU's 45–21 victory over East Carolina". Tallahassee Democrat. October 16, 1988. Retrieved March 5, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
5. "Ferguson is lone sore spot as Florida St. romps, 66–3". The Miami Herald. October 23, 1988. Retrieved July 7, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
6. "Seminoles destroy South Carolina 59–0". The Palm Beach Post. November 6, 1988. Retrieved February 2, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
7. "20-point period fires up FSU, 41–14". The Miami Herald. November 13, 1988. Retrieved February 2, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Big plays by FSU bury Gators, 52–17". The Miami Herald. November 27, 1988. Retrieved November 11, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
9. "'Prime Time' steals the show". Birmingham Post-Herald. January 3, 1989. Retrieved November 11, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
10. "1988 Football - Year in Review".
11. "Florida State 1988 AP Football Rankings". collegepollarchive.com. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
12. NoleFan.Org
13. "MIAMI CRUSHES FLORIDA STATE". Chicago Tribune . September 4, 1988. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
14. Gainesville Sun. 1988 Sep 18. Retrieved 2017-Aug-27.
15. "SUGAR BOWL: FLORIDA STATE 13, AUBURN 7 : In Prime Time, Sanders and Florida State Stop Auburn Short". Los Angeles Times . January 3, 1989. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
16. "1989 NFL Draft". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved November 23, 2019.