Bobby Bowden shakes hands with Steve Spurrier after the Seminoles defeated the Gators in Gainesville.

A) The home team normally wins.
B) The winner will have a shot at the national championship.
C) The excitement level is off the charts as the outcome often decided in the final minutes.

The 1999 match lived up to its billing as one of the best games of the season. But you can scratch A, but keep B and C after Saturday's 44th meeting between the Seminoles and Gators.

This time it was No. 1 FSU, favored by a field goal over No. 3 Florida, batting down a last-gasp Hail Mary pass to preserve a 30-23 victory.

For just the fourth time in 10 seasons, Spurrier's team lost in The Swamp. Earlier this year, Florida was beaten by Alabama here in overtime, 40-39. For the first time since Steve Spurrier took over as coach, his team lost a second game at home in a single season.

This could bode well for Seminole fans, because the only other season their team beat Spurrier on his home field, 1993, they went on to win a national championship.

Once again this came down to the final seconds. Florida's Brian Haugbrook had a possible shot at a miracle catch, but couldn't get to it among FSU defenders in the end zone.

You'll have to excuse Bobby Bowden for his flashbacks. He still remembers 1997 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and the Doug Johnson pass to Jacquez Green, then Fred Taylor's subsequent two runs for a touchdown as Florida came back to win, 32-29.

It was a bitter defeat for Bowden that year because he stewed about it all offseason and, some say, he even pondered retirement.

That's why winning Saturday meant so much to him.

"It's pretty darn special," the grandfatherly Bowden said of his team's 11th victory without a defeat. "I've come out of here too many times with a loss. Last time we played here I was so disappointed. All losses hurt. The one last time here was awful, because I thought we had it won."

Bowden graciously conceded that it was a "one play" game.

"Our games always seem to come down to the end," he said. "One play one way or another. If we play them tomorrow, they might make that play and beat us."

There were a number of those moment-swinging plays Saturday, including the interception return for a touchdown by Florida cornerback Benny Alexander, the blocked kick by FSU's Tommy Polley, the booming 54-yard field goal by Seminole Sebastian Janikowski, the four-yard TD scoot of Peter Warrick and the batting down of the last-second pass.

As is often the case in this cross-state rivalry, it was game that reverberated with pressure. Mistakes played a big part in the outcome. FSU has to be disappointed with only a 13-6 halftime lead, because clearly the Seminoles outplayed their arch rivals.

The roars of the partisan crowd were deafening. Gator fans taunted FSU superstar Warrick by waving thousands of Dillard's shopping bags, making sport of his brush with the law when he was charged with a misdemeanor for paying just over $21 for clothes that actually cost over 10 times that.

Warrick, however, didn't take the bait.

"I don't think it affected him one way or another," Bowden said of the taunting. "I think he has put that behind him already."

Once the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy, Warrick has seen his stock slip in recent weeks and stands little chance of winning college football's most coveted individual award.

He had an average day for him, with nine catches for 90 yards, one run for a touchdown and no yards on one punt return.

Little known was the fact that quarterback Chris Weinke was playing with a badly injured shoulder. Following the game, offensive coordinator Mark Richt told ESPN.com that Weinke's injury was so painful that he had to remove his quarterback from practice on Tuesday.

"He could hardly raise his arm above his shoulder," said Richt. "But I'll tell you what, he's a full grown man. He loves the game so much. And he gives it all he's got."

Weinke, except for giving up the interception for a touchdown, played well in connecting for his 19th win as a starter.

"If I don't throw a pick, we dominate in The Swamp," said Weinke.

Conversely, Florida's quarterback rotation didn't work all that well. Running in either Jesse Player or Doug Johnson on each play, Spurrier felt he could coach them better. It may have been partially responsible, however, for so many penalties, bad alignments, bad snaps, bad passes and generally disarray.

Although the Palmer-Johnson duo did roll up 380 yards, Johnson threw two killer interceptions and a misalignment on the FSU one-yard line probably cost the Gators a touchdown, settling instead for a field goal. The penalty was called on Darrell Jackson because he was on the wrong side.

Spurrier was furious at both his team for so many mistakes and for what he perceived as mistakes for the officials. He was especially not pleased with the officials for not putting 19 seconds back on the clock when there was a delay late in the game after somebody threw a lemon on the field.

"We played giveaway ball," Spurrier said. "It was embarrassing."

He wasn't so gracious to the Seminoles, either.

"FSU is not as good as they used to be," said Spurrier. "The '97 team was a lot better than the team they have now, in my opinion. But they still may win them all and they still may be No. 1. They are pretty good, but they are not the teams they had in the past. That's just an opinion."

And then Spurrier added: "We are not quite the team we have been in the past, either."

Florida goes on to play Alabama in the SEC title game for possibly its first conference title since 1996, when it also won the national championship.

Florida State goes on to play in the Nokia Sugar Bowl to play possibly Virginia Tech or Nebraska for the national title.

Bowden was asked, in jest, if his team would accept the Sugar Bowl bid.

"Yes, I'd say so," Bowden responded. "And we're not even going to vote on it."