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Oct 30, 2009 6:47 pm US/Eastern
FSU, NC State To Face Off At Noles' Homecoming
By Solange Reyner
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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PROVO, UT - SEPTEMBER 19: Christian Ponder #7 of Florida State Seminoles passes the football to teammate Tavares Pressley #39 during the game against Brigham Young University Cougars at La Vell Edwards Stadium on September 19, 2009 in Provo, Utah.
Melissa Majchrzak/Getty Images
Three weeks ago, Bobby Bowden's future at Florida State was a point of contention.
Lately, most of the focus has been on junior quarterback Christian Ponder, who was added to watch lists for two postseason honors in the past two weeks – the Manning Award for the nation's top quarterback and the Maxwell Award for the nation's top player.
Ponder, who threw for 395 yards while leading the Seminoles to a comeback win against North Carolina last week, won't take any of the credos.
"They're playing really well,'' he said of his teammates. "When I put up the yards I do, it's because of them. If I don't have time to throw, it's not going to get done. So all of the accolades need to go to them. They're playing their hearts out," Ponder told CBS WFOR news partner The Miami Herald.
Ponder leads the Atlantic Coastal Conference in yards (2,176), passer rating (155.8), and percentage (70), and has thrown more yards this year than he did in all of 2008. His performance hasn't equaled wins for the Seminoles (3-4, 1-3 ACC), who play North Carolina State at noon on Saturday.
Florida State will have to contain Wolfpack (3-4, 0-3) quarterback Russell Wilson and limit mistakes, an issue that's caused them to miss closing out games in crunch time.
Wilson is averaging 237 yards and 7.37 yards per attempt.
"We're going to have to contain him because one of the things he does real well is scramble," said linebacker Dekoda Watson. "The main thing he's going to try and do is throw it and he's got an arm to do it. He's very elusive, we have to respect him."
The Seminoles will have to focus on finishing.
FSU lost to Miami, 38-34, after dropping a pass in the final seconds, had four turnovers in a sloppy loss to South Florida, had a slew of incomplete passes on their final drive in a 28-21 loss to Boston College, and couldn't contain Georgia Tech's triple option in a 49-44 loss on October 10th.
"We've been a mistake prone football team and we've been making just enough errors to get ourselves beat," Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden said.
"We play close, and we either win it or lose it in the last three minutes."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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