Emerald Bowl Recap

Florida Stage 44, UCLA 27
Thanks, UCLA. Another day, another Pac-10 loser. We now stand at a tremendous 0-3 in the postseason, with three bad losses to three teams we should have beaten. Even though Chris Markey ran through the Seminole defense like Charlie Weis goes through a box of donuts, the well-hyped DeWayne Walker and the Bruin defense couldn't stop the offensive machine that is commanded by lame duck coordinator Jeff Bowden. FSU had the 73rd ranked offense in the NCAA this year and evidently, that was more than enough to continually burn UCLA's 32nd ranked defense. The player responsible for most of that burning was tailback Lorenzo Booker, one of the few Seminoles that had actually been to California before this week. Booker is from Ventura County and needed 130 tickets for the game, and he surely didn't disappoint his friends and family. He accounted for half of FSU's offensive yards and a pair of TDs to lead the offensive charge. Drew Weatherford also had a solid game for the Seminoles. He hit the 300 yard passing mark for only the third time all season and after missing Greg Carr the first seven or so times he threw in his direction, finally began completing passes to him in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. Of course, the blocked punt FSU returned 25 yards for a score as well as Cowan's terrible redzone pick-six didn't make it any easier for the Bruins to win. Chris Markey led UCLA with 144 rushing yards and reached the 1000 yard milestone for the season as the Bruins put an exclamation mark on another disappointing season. Now the Pac-10's hopes to get a bowl win this week rest on the shoulders of the conference's other ursine team.