Seminoles Post 24-16 Victory Over Terrapins

Florida State (7-4, 4-4 ACC) clinched a 31st consecutive winning season.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Bobby Bowden won his 300th game at Florida State, getting 133 yards rushing and a touchdown from Preston Parker in a 24-16 victory against Maryland on Saturday.

Bowden, who has 373 career coaching wins, is assured of keeping his lead over Penn State's Joe Paterno for at least one more week in their long-running competition for the most wins in major college history.

Florida State (7-4, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) clinched a 31st consecutive winning season, while Maryland (5-6, 2-5 ACC) needs a win at North Carolina State next week just to become bowl eligible.

Parker, who had been the Seminoles' leading receiver, made his first start at tailback and ran for 51 yards on his first four carries, including an 18-yard TD that gave the Seminoles a 14-3 lead late in the first quarter. He was moved to running back this week after Antone Smith was lost to a shoulder injury in last week's loss at Virginia Tech.

Drew Weatherford bounced back from a concussion that knocked him out of last week's game to throw for 204 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for another.

Florida State took a 21-3 lead 44 seconds into the second quarter when Weatherford and De'Cody Fagg hooked up on a 10-yard touchdown pass.

The Seminoles led 21-6 at the half with Maryland's points coming on a pair of field goals by Obi Egekeze, who added a third in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.

Maryland made it interesting in the second half, pulling to within 21-13 midway through the third quarter when Darrius Heyward-Bey scored on a 14-yard pass from Chris Turner.

Turner completed 16 of 32 passes for 242 yards, but threw a costly interception and was sacked four times.

Patrick Robinson's sixth interception of the season set up the game's initial score, a 1-yard run on fourth down by Weatherford.

Parker, a 6-foot, 190-pound sophomore from Delray Beach, carried the ball 20 times, caught a pass for 21 yards and returned four punts for 40 more yards.