BYU football: Seminoles take home more than just a victory

PROVO — Florida State linebacker and defensive captain Dekoda Watson punctuated his team's 54-28 upset victory over seventh-ranked BYU by positioning himself on the LaVell Edwards Stadium turf only a dozen yards away from the end zone, where the Seminoles seemed to spend most of their time Saturday night.

With cameras flashing and teammates surrounding him, Watson reached down and retrieved a handful of the new stadium turf — the winner's spoils.

Call these Seminoles "sodbusters" — they'll take it in stride and with plenty of pride.

In 1962, an FSU professor addressed the Seminole team and challenged them to beat favored Georgia and "bring back some sod from between the hedges at Georgia."

The 'Noles obliged, returning with an 18-0 upset and a handful of Georgia's turf, presenting the sod to the professor at the next practice.

The sod was buried at the FSU practice field as a symbol of victory.

A monument followed, and a tradition was born.

Any time FSU is an underdog in a road game, playing at the University of Florida or competing in a conference championship or bowl game, the story is retold to Seminole players and the contest deemed a "sod game."

"This is where experience pays off," said longtime Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. "Here at FSU, we have been to Nebraska, we've been to Michigan, we've been to Ohio Sate, we've been to LSU, we've been everywhere and we've won a lot of them.

"So I felt coming into this game that was a big advantage for us because (the Cougars) were sitting on top of world, they were in the top 10 and we were not even ranked," he added. "And I thought we had a chance at slipping up on them — I felt like we had a tremendous chance to catch them not ready."

While Watson was the official "sod" designee, perhaps a more fitting FSU representative would have been quarterback Christian Ponder, who completed 21 of 26 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns. But he did as much damage with his feet as he did with his arm, scrambling for 77 yards, another score and multiple FSU first downs.

Offensively, Florida State could do little wrong, while the BYU defense could do little right.

The Seminoles suffered zero turnovers, zero sacks and just a paltry two tackles for lost yardage.

Meanwhile, the 'Noles racked up 512 total yards, converted 12-of-15 third-down chances and scored on all but three of their possessions Saturday night, including a perfect 8-of-8 inside the red zone — the area from which Watson retrieved his postgame swatch of sod.

e-mail: taylor@desnews.com