Shuffling Leads to Getting Decked

Ohio State Coach John Cooper’s playbook does not look like Steve Spurrier’s at Florida, but Cooper used a Spurrier tactic in the Sugar Bowl with his game of musical quarterbacks.

Florida alternated quarterbacks on every down against Florida State in a 32-29 victory in the last game of the regular season. So Cooper, who had used Stanley Jackson and Joe Germaine throughout the season, rotated them with even more frequency, sometimes playing both quarterbacks within the same series.

“We alternated our quarterbacks a little more in this game than we did in earlier games,” Cooper said. “Tried to borrow a little bit from Coach Spurrier, I guess.”

“That’s two times in a row we faced rotating quarterbacks,” Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said. “I prefer one quarterback.”

Germaine completed 10 of 26 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown and two interceptions. Jackson was six of 10 for 34 yards with an interception. He also rushed nine times for 26 yards.

The two were sacked a total of six times.

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Two key players were lost to injury in the first half.

Florida State linebacker Daryl Bush, a senior, left the game in the first quarter with ligament damage in his left knee. Ohio State senior offensive guard Rob Murphy sprained his right knee in the second quarter.

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Ohio State’s loss left Michigan as the only Big Ten team to win on New Year’s Day. Penn State and Wisconsin also lost Thursday. Overall, the Big Ten finished 2-5 in bowl games, with losses by Michigan State and Iowa and a victory by Purdue.

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If the Seminoles looked a little faster than normal Thursday night, it’s because they played on artificial turf for the first time this season.

“We probably have as much athletic ability and speed as any college football program in the country,” Bowden said. “We knew they had some guys that could run, but we had more that could run.”