The Scott Stapp Playbook

Excerpted from Sports Illustrated On Campus, September 16 2004

Archivist's Note: The FSU vs. Miami game was played Friday, September 10 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Florida State was leading the entire game. With 30 seconds left Brock Berlin threw a touchdown pass that tied the game (with the extra point kick) and sent it into overtime. Miami won on their first possession after keeping FSU from scoring on theirs. Final: 10-16, Miami.

Since coach Larry Coker took over in 2001, all nonmedia sideline credentials have been handled by his office, and this year's VIP list ran about as deep as Miami's current quarterback stable, which is to say not very deep at all.

Ex-Creed front man Scott Stapp, who briefly was an FSU student, made it. He's best friends forever with Coker's quarterback, Brock Berlin. Stapp's also a Christian rocker whose most recognizable song, the spiritual ditty Higher, is a far cry from Campbell's Me So Horny.

Brock Berlin's mother, Nancy, taught Scott Stapp how to sing; the ex-Creed rocker showed Brock a thing or two about making a football zing. "The first time he threw one my way, I went right up to his dad, Rick, and told him he had to get Brock in a football uniform," recalls Stapp, who is eight years older than Berlin. "He was seven then." Stapp, whose solo album will be released in February, is a regular on the Hurricanes sideline. Here's his account of last week's Florida State-Miami game.

6:45 p.m. "I won't call Brock on a game day, but I'll get together with his dad, whom I also call 'Dad,' and we'll talk everything but football just to keep us from worrying about it. Then we head over to the game in my tour bus."

8:00 p.m. "I've got my son, Jagger [5], with me on the sideline, and I'm getting him ready, telling him, 'Uncle Brock's going to do this, and Uncle Brock's going to do that.'"

11:30 p.m. "Jagger heads back to the tour bus to get some sleep, and I'm up in the booster box because [security was] giving me a hard time on the sideline. Usually I'll see Warren Sapp or Jay Fiedler -- whoever's in town -- but tonight it's me and a bunch of people without much faith in Brock. I'll let 'em talk bad about him for a while, and then when he throws a good pass I'll yell, 'Way to go, brother!' They'll get quiet and avoid eye contact the rest of the way."

11:50 p.m. "I'm in that box till the very end -- Brock's always been the Comeback Kid, and I make sure everyone up there knows that. When I make it back to the bus after the win, Jagger's up playing poker with my mom."

2:20 a.m. "Brock calls, and for about 15 minutes it's: 'We did it.' 'No, you did it.' 'We.' 'No, you too.' Then we both well up, and it gets quiet. We've been sharing the same ups and downs for a while now -- him with Miami and me with my career. This was one of the highs."