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No, Geritol-breath, not Bobby Bowden.

Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke -- the other old man in this bitter series -- had been living for Saturday all his life. All those fall days when minor league baseball was over and he nothing else better to do but to flip on the television and watch the school he committed to in 1991. All those games he had missed last season with a debilitating neck injury.

Somewhere in the back of this 27-year-old's mind, he quietly stored up the frustration of never having faced Gator hate in person. He'd never had the pleasure of feeling the air go out of The Swamp after a long completion. To dream of an actual Florida State victory here was folly. It happened once in the 1990s -- in 1993, when Weinke was lost somewhere in the Toronto Blue Jays' bushes.

Still, he dreamed. And on Saturday he won, convincingly. The score, 30-23, was deceptively close because Florida was throwing a Hail Mary pass from Florida State's 35 as the game ended. Jubilant Seminoles jumped and danced at midfield. Someone dug up a piece of the field for their sod cemetery. Then they spent the postgame bowing in respect to their elder.

"This is what he came here for," guard Jason Whitaker said. "This is why he came back. He got cheated out by that injury last year. This is his first big game."

That's how they view the football season in Florida. It starts in November when Florida and Florida State meet. For the seventh consecutive year the game has influenced the national championship. Weinke has started 21 career games, but this was easily the biggest.

"If you can win down here that's how you're judged," Weinke said in a sweat-soaked Florida State locker room. "If I win the first 10 games and I don't win down here you're sometimes looked on as a failure."

Weinke stored up that frustration and then spat it back in the faces of the Gators Saturday, who chased and sacked and cursed him all night. It was not actual expectoration, it was the figurative relief when you've played the game of your life and won.

Weinke the one-time prep football All-American and failed baseball prospect became Weinke the winner Saturday. No. 1 Florida State booked passage for the Sugar Bowl largely because of the other old man.

He calmly completed 24 of 36 passes for 263 yards. His only touchdown pass was the eventual game-winner with six minutes left. His only interception was run back by Bennie Alexander for a touchdown in the third quarter, putting Florida ahead for the first time, 16-13.

Weinke then quietly directed the Seminoles to 17 consecutive points over the next 16 minutes and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.

Thirteen times this season opponents have tied or taken the lead on the Seminoles. Eight times Weinke has driven Florida State back and answered with a touchdown or field goal on the ensuing possession. On those 13 drives, Weinke is a combined 36-for-47 for 403 yards and four touchdowns.

Florida State's Reggie Durden (1) leaps into quarterback Chris Weinke's arms to celebrate the victory.(AP)

"It made me more focused after I threw the interception," Weinke said. "I was going to lead this offense to victory. At no point in time was I worried about this football game the whole week. Put the pressure on my shoulders and I'm going to respond."

Those kinds of statements don't usually come from teenagers and young adults, even those loaded with football machismo. They come from a man who owns his own car and can afford -- with his leftover baseball money -- to take the entire offensive line out for steaks.

Weinke is the mature exception to pressure because he's been through so much.

"He believes in himself," Florida State offensive coordinator Mark Richt said. "He's a mature man. He goes and plays baseball and he doesn't get to the bigs. I guarantee you there's a bunch of disappointment. He had to learn how to deal with it. Some kids come into major college football and they're stars in high school. They come in here and become the starter. Something bad happens to them and they don't know how to react."

Not Weinke. Richt all but begged Weinke not to come to Florida State after he gave up baseball in 1997. Dan Kendra was going to be the starting quarterback. Florida State was heavily recruiting Drew Henson out of Brighton, Mich., the nation's No. 1 prep quarterback.

"I sat him down and told him, 'Weink, the chances of you beating out Kendra aren't that great,' Richt said. "He said, 'I understand competition. I want to play in one of these big games.

"Weinke committed to us, I was kind of wanting to get Drew. I didn't want Weinke to come and say after a few months, 'This isn't for me.'"

Henson then committed to Michigan. A year later Kendra blew out his knee in spring practice and eventually moved to fullback.

Enter Weinke, who has lost one game in two years as the starter. There were story lines aplenty at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Saturday. Steve Spurrier's alternating quarterbacks bombed. Triple threat Peter Warrick not only caught (nine catches, 90 yards) but passed and ran like he'd never been shopping.

Bowden stayed undefeated and cruising toward his second national championship using four quarterbacks. He tried to screw up the Gators by also dropping Warrick, Kendra and backup quarterback Marcus Outzen into the mix.

But Weinke's story held up like his 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame. With the No. 3 Gators (9-2) breathing down his neck, Weinke and the Seminoles clung to a 23-16 lead with eight minutes left. In five plays Florida State was in the end zone with the clinching touchdown, Weinke's 27-yard pass to Marvin Minnis.

At this time last year, football was furthest thing from his mind. A ruptured disc and ligament damage in his neck suffered during a hit against Virginia made dizziness and vomiting unwanted pastimes.

Outzen beat the Gators in 1998 to get the Seminoles to the Fiesta Bowl but melted in the face of Tennessee's defense. Florida State fans left Sun Devil Stadium that night knowing Weinke would have been the difference.

"I went through hell last year not playing in this football game and I don't want to talk about it," Weinke said. "We came down to The Swamp and we're leaving with a victory. We are the best team in the country, and until somebody beats us we're the No. 1 team in the country.

"Coming out of here with a victory I think people will regard me a little different now."