TALLAHASSEE — Ruppert Holloman stood outside the Louisiana State locker room wearing a Florida State hat that had LSU stickers on it. The native of Peekskill, N.Y., was cheering for both teams.

It’s hard to blame him. He has a stepson on each team, Errol McCorvey for FSU and Derriel McCorvey for the Tigers. He was there to offer Derriel encouragement after his team lost 42-3. He said his wife was at the FSU lockeroom.

“To us, these schools are like a family,” Holloman said. “When Errol’s playing, we cheer for FSU. When Derriel’s playing, we cheer for LSU. It’s just like both sides are family.”

It’s doubtful the teams feel the same way about each other.

The game was marred early on by some light fighting, and after a questionable late hit on LSU freshman quarterback Chad Loup, an all-out, bench-clearing brawl broke out and lasted about three minutes.

That’s when Errol McCorvey, a cornerback, knew it was time to cut his losses.

“I didn’t go up to my brother then,” he said. “We beat them so bad that I didn’t want to give him a chance to beat me. I just stayed back.”

Derriel McCorvey, a strong safety, had a similar philosophy.

“I didn’t even think about going out there, I had been hit enough during the game,” he said. “I knew that would be a mistake.”

Afterall, LSU had made plenty of mistakes during the game.

The Tigers punted the ball six times, fumbled five times, threw two interceptions and committed dozens of mental errors that coach Mike Archer feels cost his team the game.

“We didn’t play well in any phase of the game,” he said. “We couldn’t throw, we couldn’t catch, we got behind and turned the ball over. You can’t do that against a team like Florida State.”

Well, you can’t do that and win. That’s the lesson the Tigers learned Saturday.

“We knew we had to get ahead early to win, and we definitely didn’t do that,” Derriel McCorvey said. “We thought that if we could do that, it would be a war. I guess it was, but not the kind of war we wanted.”

His brother saw it the same way.

“Before the game and after the game, we’re brothers,” Errol McCorvey said. “But during the game, he’s not even my friend. I’ve got one thing on my mind and that’s winning the battle and the war.”

Holloman said he understood his stepsons’ attitudes.

“They’re athletes, trained to win a football game,” he said. “But I’m just a fan, and to me, both sides are still family.”