MIAMI (AP) — Kevin Kelly left as a hero to the Penn State faithful.

Gary Cismesia? He just left as the latest Florida State kicker to not get it done.

It was an epic Orange Bowl, a triple-overtime classic between the two winningest coaches in major college football history, a battle between the champions of the Big 10 and Atlantic Coast conferences.

But it came down to a couple of kickers who struggled mightily as a long night turned into early morning.

Kelly missed two potential winning field-goal chances, the first a 29-yarder with 35 seconds left in regulation, then a 38-yard try to end the first overtime. But the freshman ended it in the third overtime, coming through from 29 yards out to give Penn State a 26-23 win over Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

“Everybody just telling me to relax and stay focused. ‘Don’t worry about the first one, don’t worry about the second one. You’ll get the third one, eventually,”‘ Kelly said. “It’s something most people can only dream about. It was a great experience, just going through the ups-and-downs with the team.”

When Kelly got to Penn State coach Joe Paterno after the second miss, the veteran coach patted his back and tried to comfort him, as if to say that everything would turn out fine.

JoePa knew best.

“One play here, one play there and it could have gone the other way,” Paterno said. “But we got it, and I’ll take it.”

Kelly’s misses probably will soon be forgotten.

Cismesia, a sophomore, almost certainly won’t be as lucky.

It’s an exclusive club, one no Florida State kicker wants to be part of. The group’s defining trait is missing big kicks in the Seminoles’ biggest games, particularly ones either against or in Miami.

And Cismesia became a charter member Tuesday night, when he missed a critical extra point, plus two field goals — including one off the right upright in the third overtime, helping seal Florida State’s fate.

“When they pick the all-time missed field goal coach, I’ll probably get the award,” Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. “We’re masters at that.”

Nearly every Florida State kicker in recent memory, from Gerry Thomas to Dan Mowrey to Matt Munyon to Xavier Beitia — and now Cismesia — has been in this position.

Beitia missed a 43-yarder wide left against Miami as time expired in 2002, allowing Miami to escape with a 28-27 win. He missed again in the 2004 Orange Bowl, when the Hurricanes won 16-14, then had a field goal blocked when Miami beat Florida State in overtime to open the 2004 regular season.

Thomas missed a 34-yarder wide right in 1991 that gave Miami a 17-16 win over Florida State. Mowrey missed a 39-yarder wide right the following year that gave the Hurricanes a 19-16 win. And in 2000, Munyon missed a 49-yarder as time expired and Miami won 27-24 in Wide Right III.

And Cismesia’s last kick? Maybe it’ll be known as Right Goalpost I.

He walked slowly off the field after his last miss, then slammed his helmet twice into the turf. Teammates surrounded him, shielding him from television cameras. And he didn’t come into a postgame media session.

But nothing will be able to shield him from becoming the star of the Seminoles’ latest kicking nightmare.

“It’s a tough situation, no matter how you want to look at it,” said Kelly, who added that he felt bad for Cismesia. “It came down to the wire and we pulled it off. It could have gone either way.”