A tough decision awaits Florida State officials. Do they push Bobby Bowden, 80, out the door at the end of the season, or do they welcome the legendary coach back for the 2010 season?
Corey Clark of the Tallahassee Democrat details two exchanges Bowden had with reporters Saturday night after the Seminoles were outscored, 19-0, in the fourth quarter of a 40-21 loss to Clemson.
Bowden: "Both of us made errors. We probably scored on some of their errors — I didn't keep up with it. But we'd turn the ball over and they’d go down and score. Then we'd turn it over and they didn't score. They'd turn it over back. And the game kind of went that way. We felt very comfortable. We knew it was a battle.
"How late was it 24-21 in our favor? How late did it get? Did that get into the fourth quarter?"
Reporter: "Nine and a half minutes left."
Bowden: "Left in the game?"
Reporter: "Yes."
Bowden: "So you're feeling comfortable, but you know that it ain't won yet. Then of course the dam broke."
A few minutes later, there was another even more embarrassing exchange with a reporter.
Reporter: "In the second half, when it seemed like momentum started to switch, how hard was it to try to reverse that?"
Bowden: "You mean when they got it [momentum]? Well, actually ... you know, they had to kick off to us. We had a what? A three-point ...? Did we have the lead at the half?"
(Reporter nods).
Bowden: "We had a three-point lead at the half, I think. Then they had to kick off to us. We needed to take it down and win the darn game right there. We didn't do it. They stopped us. Then we kicked it to them and then they probably scored."
Reporter: "They went ahead and then you guys came back."
Bowden: "Huh?"
Reporter: "They went ahead and then you guys came back again."
Bowden: "Did we get ahead of them again after that?"
Reporter: "Yeah."
Bowden: "Then we got back ahead, huh? Umm, it was going that way, you know it? I felt very comfortable that if they could score, we could score. That's the way I felt, you know it? We've done it all year. But then we started turning the ball over."
Thanks to John Radcliff.
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