Seminoles needing win to become bowl eligible

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Posted 4:58PM on Friday, November 17, 2006

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida State, the preseason favorite to win its Atlantic Coast Conference division and now just hoping to avoid the cellar, heads into Saturday's homecoming game against Western Michigan needing a win to be bowl eligible. ``The positive lays ahead,'' coach Bobby Bowden said. ``Let's win the next game. Let's get bowl eligible.'' But Western Michigan (7-3) isn't likely to be a pushover for the Seminoles (5-5), who have proven they can struggle against anyone this season. ``They beat Virginia at Virginia, so they're capable,'' said Bowden, who is anxious to extend the school's string of consecutive bowl appearances to 25. ``You hate ... to have it stop,'' said the 77-year-old Florida State coach. ``It could happen.'' It does, however, appear the experiment with Xavier Lee as the starting quarterback is over. Bowden is returning to Drew Weatherford against the Broncos. ``The big thing I see is steadying our quarterbacks down,'' Bowden said. ``Shore up our pass protection.'' Lee was yanked in last week's loss after throwing successive interceptions in the second quarter. ``For some reason the quarterback threw right down the gut which he wasn't supposed to do,' Bowden said. Weatherford, who is not as elusive as Lee, will have to avoid WMU's Ameer Ismail, a 230-pound linebacker who leads the national with 15 sacks and is second with 23.5 tackles for loss. Western Michigan is quarterbacked by Ryan Cubit, son of Broncos coach Bill Cubit. Florida State is 3-0 against schools from the Mid-American Conference (MAC), including a 58-0 win over Western Michigan in 1991. It'll also be the penultimate game for Bowden's young son offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden who was persuaded to step down earlier this week with a $537,500 payoff from the school's boosters. While the ``Fire Jeff Bowden'' signs may be gone from the stands, the beleaguered Seminoles hope to salvage what has already been a painful week and season following last Saturday's 30-0 loss to Wake Forest. The two schools appear to line up fairly evenly. WMU's Ryan Cubit has completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 1,508 yards and a dozen touchdowns with eight interceptions. Weatherford, meanwhile, has completed 59.2 percent of his passes for 1,614 yards, 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Florida State ranks 10th nationally in total defense while the Broncos are eighth against the rush and Florida State ranks 98th in rushing. Western Michigan has 13 players on its roster from Florida.