MIAMI, Florida (Ticker) -- Sometimes, there can be too much of a good thing.
In a rematch that neither school wanted, eighth-ranked Florida State will face No. 9 Miami in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Night.
The exclusion of top-ranked Southern California from the Sugar Bowl has overshadowed another glitch in the Bowl Championship Series, one that resulted in an encore meeting between the Seminoles and Hurricanes.
The Orange Bowl selected Big East Conference champion Miami (10-2) as its "anchor team" and hoped that the Fiesta Bowl would have selected the Seminoles. But the Fiesta Bowl exercised a provision in the BCS rules that allowed it to take Ohio State, basically leaving Florida State (10-2) with no where to go but the Orange Bowl.
Miami defeated the Seminoles, 22-14, on a rainy day in October and the teams will scheduled to open next season on Labor Day in the Hurricanes' first game as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"I really don't want to play Florida State again as a rematch and then open the season with them," Miami coach Larry Coker admitted. "I don't think that's particularly good for college football. I don't think that's really the way it was designed to happen. But that's what is happening and we've got to move forward."
The Hurricanes moved in the right direction in the October meeting. Jarrett Payton caught a 14-yard touchdown pass and ran for a career-high 97 yards as Miami defeated Florida State for the fourth straight time.
The Hurricanes also won behind an opportunistic defense. Sean Taylor intercepted two passes, returning one 50 yards for a score as Miami built a 22-0 lead. Florida State had a punt blocked, lost an accidental onside kick and turned the ball over five times in a stretch of seven possessions.
The victory was one of the season highlights for Miami, which fell out of the national title chase with back-to-back November losses to Virginia Tech and Tennessee. The Hurricanes, however, showed they still had plenty of power with a 28-14 win over Pittsburgh in late November that clinched the Big East title.
The Hurricanes shut down Pittsburgh star receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who had just three catches for 26 yards.
While Payton was the star of the October win, freshman Tyrone Moss has emerged as a key rusher over the past month and had a pair of rushing touchdowns against Pittsburgh.
The Seminoles will try to keep up the pressure on Miami's Brock Berlin, who threw three interceptions in the first meeting and played poorly enough to lose his starting job at one point this season.
Florida State has scored 35 or more points on eight occasions this season and arrives in Miami after a thrilling 38-34 win over Florida that featured a dazzling 52-yard touchdown pass from Chris Rix to P.K. Sam with 55 seconds left.
Rix has thrown 22 touchdown passes this season to help the Seminoles win 10 games for the first time since 2000. There has been added pressure on Rix this season due to a sluggish rushing game in which Greg Jones leads the team with just 580 yards.
The Seminoles have some history in bowl rematches. The beat Florida, 24-21 in the 1996 regular season finale, but suffered a 52-20 loss a month later in the Sugar Bowl that gave the Gators the national title.
Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden is 8-13 against Miami since 1983. The Hurricanes lead the all-time series, 27-20.
Miami had won five straight bowl games before losing to Ohio State in last season's national title game in the Fiesta Bowl. The Seminoles lost to Georgia, 26-13, last year in the Sugar Bowl.
