COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Miami Once Again May Take Spoiler’s Role as Bowden Seeks His 200th Victory

MIAMI — The plot calls for one of football’s most respected coaches to earn his 200th career victory by beating a school that has twice denied him the national championship.

Reviews are mixed.

Thumbs up, said Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden, who will try for No. 200 Saturday against Miami.

Thumbs down, Hurricanes Coach Dennis Erickson said.

“If he doesn’t get it this game, I’m sure he’ll get it some other game,” Erickson said. “I’d prefer he wait a week or two.”

The game didn’t need the anticipation of a Bowden milestone to sell out the Orange Bowl. With Florida State (4-0) ranked second and Miami (2-1) ranked ninth, the hype would have been high anyway.

But the Seminoles say the chance to give Bowden No. 200 against his chief tormentor is tantalizing.

Bowden, 60, is 6-10 against Miami; he’s 193-62-3 against all other teams. Losses to the Hurricanes cost him a No. 1 finish in 1987 and 1988.

The odds of reaching 200 against anybody are long. Ten major college coaches have done it, and only one is active--Penn State’s Joe Paterno, who has 221 wins.

The odds of beating the Hurricanes are long, too. They have won 33 in a row in the Orange Bowl. They haven’t lost two games in one season since 1985.

“My biggest concern is stopping them,” Bowden said. “They can get 50 points as easily as they can get 25. It’s a game of inches when you play them--you miss one inch, and they put it in the end zone.”

A Florida State victory would strengthen its bid for a national title and move the Seminoles into first place should top-ranked Notre Dame slip at home against Stanford. The Cardinal gave the Irish (3-0) a tough game last year before losing 27-17 and played 12th-ranked Colorado tough in its season-opener, losing 21-17.

A loss probably would drop Florida State several spots in the rankings. No. 3 Michigan figures to have little trouble at Wisconsin and No. 4 Auburn should roll at home against Louisiana Tech. No 5 Virginia and No. 6 Tennessee are idle.

Other games involving Top Ten teams have No. 7 Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, No. 8 Nebraska at Kansas State and No. 10 Florida at home against Louisiana State.

“It gets you hyped up,” Stacey Satterwhite, an Oklahoma State defensive tackle, said of the game against the Cowboys’ arch-rival, Oklahoma.