Jacory Harris, Miami Hurricanes beat Florida State Seminoles

TALLAHASSEE — For seemingly the umpteenth time in his storied career, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden watched his Seminoles come up inches short of a dramatic win against rival Miami.

This time, it wasn't a field goal drifting wide one way or the other, but a low liner from quarterback Christian Ponder that receiver Jarmon Fortson couldn't manage to grab in the end zone as time expired that allowed the Hurricanes to eke out a 38-34 win in both teams' opener on Monday night at Doak Campbell Stadium.

"It's one of those great games you lost," Bowden said, mentioning the 26-25 loss to Miami in 1987 first and then the 31-24 loss at Notre Dame in 1993. "This one here is probably the next greatest football game I have seen.

"And we lost. We had a chance to win it. We had a chance to win it and couldn't come up with the ball."

While the Hurricanes, looking to rebound from a 7-6 season, continue a daunting stretch with games against Georgia Tech on Sept. 17, followed by a trip to Virginia Tech and then a home game against Oklahoma, the No. 18 Seminoles must find some defensive answers on Saturday against Division I-AA Jacksonville State.

FSU's inexperienced defense — 13 of the top 22 players are freshmen and sophomores — did little to slow Miami sophomore quarterback Jacory Harris, entrenched as the starter after former Plant High standout Robert Marve transferred.

Harris, who took a shot to his funny bone and had a fluttering ball intercepted and returned for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, shook that off to finish 21 of 34 for a career-high 386 yards.

That included a 40-yarder to receiver Travis Benjamin in the final moments to set up Graig Cooper's 3-yard touchdown run, his second score of the game, to give the 'Canes the lead for good.

"We had absolutely no pass rush," Bowden said. "That kid had all day long to stand back there and throw. And ours did too."

Ponder was 24 of 41 for a career-high 294 yards and two touchdowns; he added a rushing touchdown. But after he scrambled for 30 yards and then hit tight end Caz Piurowski, the former Land O'Lakes star, for 8 yards to the Miami 4, he threw three straight incompletions after a pass interference penalty put the ball on the 2.

"I'm definitely disappointed," he said. "J-Man (Fortson) was wide open and I take full responsibility. It was a poor throw. I threw it low. It was my fault."

Despite the pass that he missed, Ponder demonstrated greater confidence in himself as an all-around quarterback and greater confidence his teammates to do their jobs and that allowed the Seminoles' offense to make up for a defense that struggled to contain an uncommonly resilient UM.

Last season, the Hurricanes lost most of their close games, including 41-39 to FSU.

"That's what I kept talking about all season," Miami coach Randy Shannon said. "If we get in situations like we were against Georgia Tech or a North Carolina or last year against Florida State, how were we going to respond? Tonight, they responded to it. They stayed poised. They stayed calm and they kept fighting and took that next step."

They simply followed their quarterback.

"Santana Moss said it a long time ago, big-time players are going to come up big in big-time games," Shannon said. "Jacory is one of those types of players that was going to step up with the other guys that we had."

At the end, Harris had to watch the defense try to hang on to the lead.

"I was thinking my team fought through this so long and so hard," he told the AP. "All the preparation and it came down to this."

A few inches.

"We made some good catches," Bowden said, "and then when we had to have it, we didn't get it."