The last three times Virginia played Florida State, Chris Rix started at quarterback for the Seminoles. The first four-year starter at the position in the Bobby Bowden era, Rix sprained his right ankle three weeks ago in a game against Clemson and has yet to return to the lineup. When Virginia (5-0, 2-0 ACC) and Florida State (4-1, 2-1) butt heads on national television Saturday night, the Seminoles will have a new man under center.
After three years of keying in on defending Rix, Virginia's defense now turns its attention to sophomore Wyatt Sexton, who has thrown for 571 yards and four touchdowns in two and a half games as the primary signal caller for the Seminoles. Questions were raised about Sexton's effectiveness after he directed the FSU offense to just 17 points against Syracuse, while throwing for 169 yards, an interception and no touchdowns.
"I don't feel that we have had a game where I went out there and really struggled," Sexton said. "In the last game, I wasn't as successful as I would have liked to have been, but I wouldn't say that I was struggling."
Though Rix did not perform well in his first three starts this year -- throwing for only 321 yards and three interceptions -- he has been the school's starting quarterback since he stepped foot on the Tallahassee campus. Florida State is not a school that historically has had to worry about quarterback controversies, having recently produced such collegiate standouts as Chris Weinke, Danny Kanell and Charlie Ward. Fueling speculation that a controversy might be brewing are reports that Rix has been able to practice, but Bowden was quick to squash any doubts of who Saturday's starter will be.
"We are going to go with Wyatt and just hope the other guy [Rix] can get well," Bowden said. "I don't think Chris is ready right now, and we are just hoping that he is getting better. We really won't know until we put him in the game."
The focus of the Florida State offense the last few weeks has been the running game, as Leon Washington ran for more than 150 yards against the Orange and is averaging 7.8 yards per carry on his 69 rushes this season. Lorenzo Booker has added 371 yards to the Seminoles' ACC third-best ground attack.
The focus of the FSU offense has usually been the passing game, though Florida State has rushed for more yards than they've passed in each of its last three meetings with Virginia. Still, the Cavaliers are rightfully concerned with the Seminole aerial attack and the speed FSU has at wide receiver.
Virginia coach Al Groh has also said that he has not seen any marked difference in the Florida State offense since Rix suffered his injury.
"That hasn't been the case so far," Groh said. "The first game that Sexton started the next week against North Carolina, the first eight plays were passes. So from that you would deduce that they felt pretty comfortable in really throwing him out there and letting him go right away."
Florida State has thus chosen not to coddle the development of Sexton, who is the son of FSU assistant head coach Billy Sexton and was rated the number-one quarterback in Florida as a high school senior. Groh said he believes that Sexton fits right in with their offensive system.
"I'd say their mentality, which it has been over the years, is there's a way that we play and whoever is our quarterback has been picked to be able to do that and has been groomed to do that," Groh said.
It may be a new face and a new number on the Florida State quarterback, but it's the same game plan that has beaten Virginia 11 times in 12 tries. The Cavaliers have the conference's third-best defense, and they will need it to slow down an FSU offense that has scored 34 points or more in three of its last four games.
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