Florida State University - Renegade / Tally Ho Yearbook (Tallahassee, FL)

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Florida State 44 East Carolina 3 GREENVILLE, N.C. (Sept. 12) — Making his first appearance of the season, tailback Sammie Smith galloped for 244 yards and a touchdown to lead Florida State to a 44-3 road win at East Carolina. With Florida State holding a slim 6-3 sec- ond quarter lead on the strength of two Derek Schmidt field goals, Smith took a quick pitch to his left and rambled 83 yards. East Carolina fumbled the ensuing kickoff and John Hadley recovered at the E.C.U. 20. Four plays later, Schmidt hit his third field goal, this one from 28 yards out and F.S.U. settled into a comfortable 16-3 halftime lead. The Seminole offense tacked on 14 points in each of the last two quarters as the Pirate defense tired. In the third, Dayne Williams rushed in from the 1 after a 44-yard drive and then two series later, wide receiver Randy White gathered in a Danny McManus pass for a 59-yard touchdown. Backup quarterback Chip Ferguson, play- ing in his home state, engineered the two scoring plays in the final period. He used five plays, including a 52-yard pickup by Smith, before sending Dexter Carter in for a 5-yard T.D. He then wrapped up the day with a 10-yard sprint on a bootleg. In piling up 548 yards of total offense, three F.S.U. quarterbacks handed off to eight different runners and threw to eight different receivers. Meanwhile, the F.S.U. defense was stin- gy, holding the Pirates scoreless in the sec- ond half and giving up only 61 passing yards all night. Smith, who missed the Texas Tech opener with a knee sprain, was named Sports Il- lustrated Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. Sports Information Tailback Sammie Smith slips away from a Pirate tackier aided by the great blocking of the offensive line (Below). Tailback Dexter Carter is in an open field again (Left). The Osceola O Sports 111

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■B I Florida State 40 Texas Teeli 16 TALLAHASSEE, FL (Sept. 5) — Breaking a 13- 13 tie after one quarter, the F.S.U. offense flew into high gear, scoring 17 second-quarter points en- route to a 40-16 win over Texas Tech in the season opener. Both offenses were red hot early. F.S.U. took its very first offensive series of the season, 67 yards in six plays, and watched quarterback Danny McManus pass to Ronald Lewis 11 yards for the touchdown. The Red Raiders stormed back, driving 72 yards in seven plays for their score, a 1-yard run by running back )ames Gray. Again, McManus took his team down the field, this time covering 78 yards in 10 plays and hand- ing off to Dayne Williams for the 2-yard T.D. An F.S.U. partisan crowd of 52,893 was not happy when Gray scored his second touchdown, this one a 3-yard run, following another Texas Tech drive that netted 85 yards at the close of the first quarter. Derek Schmidt ' s 44-yard field goal led off the second quarter for F.S.U. after Eric Hayes came up with the first of his two fumble recoveries at the Tech 28. McManus used three plays before taking it in himself from the 6. Following a Red Raider field goal, McManus tossed a 37-yard scoring pass to Herb Gainer after a 67-yard drive. With the 30-16 halftime lead, the Seminole de- fense shut the doors on Tech the rest of the way. F.S.U. tacked on points in the third quarter on a 3- yard Williams run and in the fourth period on a 42- yard field goal by Schmidt. McManus and Gainer both had outstanding games with McManus completing 19 of 34 tosses for a career-high 275 yards and Gainer catching six of those aerials for 128 yards and the T.D. The Seminole offense did not seem to miss first string tailback Sammie Smith (sprained knee) as it cranked out 507 yards. Florida State won its 11th consecutive season opener. Sports Information Ronald Lewis gave the Nole fans plenty to shout about by snagging anything thrown to him.

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Pictured below, Ronald Lewis making a spectacular catch amidst three Tiger defenders. Florida State 41 Memphis State 24 TALLAHASSEE, FL (Sept. 19) — Florida State scored 21 first-half points and held off a Memphis State rally to raise its record to 3-0 on the season with a 41 24 win. At first it looked like a Florida State rout. Before the game was yet 12 minutes old, tailback Dexter Carter had scored from 4 yards out and Dayne Williams had added a pair of 1-yard runs to pull out to a 21-0 lead. All three were at the end of long Danny McManus-led drives that covered 68, 71 and 75 yards. The Tigers didn ' t give up, however. They cut the lead to 24 10 at the half and 24-17 at the 14:12 mark of the third quarter following a 41 yard interception return by M.S.U. cornerback Mike Nettles. The Tiger ' s first two scores also were results of Seminole miscues. In the second quarter, McManus ' first interception led to a John Butler 35 yard field goal, and then Sammie Smith ' s sec- ond fumble of the day was recovered by Nettles. Five plays later flanker Charles Wilson got behind the F.S.U. secondary for a 50-yard bomb from Tiger quarterback Tim Jones. Following Nettles ' interception return in the third period, the Tribe ' s Carter fumbled the kickoff after a return of 39 yards out to the 50 and M.S.U. 112 had the ball again. But the F.S.U. defense dug in and forced the Tigers to punt the ball. The F.S.U. offense was finally able to shift back into high gear and score the next 17 points. A 41- yard field goal by Derek Schmidt was sandwiched in between a 7-yard run and a 14-yard catch by Carter. For the third consecutive game, the Seminoles rolled up more than 500 yards of total offense (533). But it wasn ' t pretty, as F.S.U. lost four fum- bles, including three by Smith, and threw two interceptions. Carter, a sophomore tailback who was listed as a third stringer before the season, accounted for 311 yards of total offense. He rushed for 135 yards, caught four passes for 63 yards and returned four kickoffs for 113 more. Fellow sophomore Ronald Lewis caught five passes for 107 yards and senior Paul McGowan was the defensive star with 16 tackles, including two for loss. Sports Information NCAA leading scorer Derek Schmidt adds to his total against Memphis State (top right).