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After a costly loss last week, Florida State no longer controls its own destiny in reaching the ACC title game and no one may feel worse than quarterback Christian Ponder, who lost a critical late fumble.
Ponder will try to make up for it against an opponent he's beaten with one of his best career games when 24th-ranked Florida State hosts North Carolina on Saturday, looking to remain undefeated in Tallahassee against the Tar Heels.
Florida State (6-2, 4-1) hasn't been to the conference title game since 2005, but it will need help if it hopes to win the Atlantic Division after a 28-24 loss at North Carolina State last Thursday left both teams with one ACC loss and the Wolfpack with the tiebreaker. Maryland is also 3-1 and will face both teams later this month.
"We had it in hand," said Ponder, whose team had won five straight and led 21-7 at halftime. "We had been rolling and playing really well, and it was the first time in a while that we had control of our own destiny in the ACC."
Ponder, who ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, drove Florida State to the N.C. State 4-yard line in the final minute, but he fumbled the ball when his tailback bumped into him on a fake handoff and the Wolfpack took possession.
"It got deflected out and that's just what happens," first-year coach Jimbo Fisher said. "It's unfortunate we didn't execute the play."
Despite his part in the fumble, Ponder has been a big reason for the Seminoles' success. He has thrown for 13 touchdowns - one shy of his career high - and he has the third-best completion percentage in the conference.
North Carolina coach Butch Davis knows how dangerous Ponder can be after the quarterback threw for three touchdowns and a career-high 395 yards in a come-from-behind 30-27 road win against the Tar Heels last year.
"The thing that probably makes him the most dangerous ... is his ability to keep plays alive, his ability to move around the pocket and turn what might've potentially been an incompletion or a sack into a 3-, 4-, 5- and sometimes a 10- or 15-yard run," Davis said.
Fisher expects his team to bounce back this weekend as Florida State plays the first two straight conference games at home.
"Hopefully, if they're the competitors I think they are and have the character which I think they do, that we'll refocus and bounce back," Fisher said.
The Seminoles may be wary of overlooking North Carolina (5-3, 2-2) after the Tar Heels barely escaped FCS opponent William & Mary last weekend.
North Carolina beat the Tribe 21-17 with 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, including a 67-yard touchdown run by Johnny White with 5:27 remaining.
White rushed for a career-high 164 yards as North Carolina totaled 421 yards of offense, but T.J. Yates threw an interception in the first half that set up a touchdown and the team was called for eight penalties for 86 yards.
"(This game was) a microcosm of a lot of things that have happened this year," Davis said. "Even though it looked ugly and at times and we didn't play as well as we'd have liked, they kept fighting."
Kendric Burney, who started at cornerback, became the latest player to return after completing a six-game suspension issued by the NCAA for receiving improper benefits. He was held out of the previous game against Miami because of what the school described as an "unresolved issue."
A total of 14 Tar Heels players have missed some or all of the season due to the investigation.
While North Carolina struggled to put William & Mary away, it still has one of the top defenses in the ACC, holding five of its last six opponents to fewer than 20 points.
Florida State, which has won four straight overall against the Tar Heels to improve to 15-1-1 in the series, has never lost at home to North Carolina, recording seven straight wins since a tie in 1986.
