Florida State head coach Mike Norvell met with reporters after the Seminoles 38-7 win over Virginia on Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Norvell opened proud of the week and of the stretch that followed a start he did not like.
“To start off, we’re really proud of our team. The team, coaches, everybody on the ground involved within the program. The work that went into this week, just to continue working. It wasn’t just one week. It’s been our process.”
“We’ll take care of us. I believe this can be a really
good and dominant football team. It didn’t start the way we wanted to start. We still haven’t played a 60-minute game yet. But those last 45 minutes were really impressive.”
Virginia led 7-0 after one quarter. Florida State had 38 yards. The Cavaliers had 101. From there the Seminoles outscored Virginia 38-0 and finished with 464 yards to Virginia’s 205. Florida State rushed for 281. Virginia, which came in averaging 192.8 on the ground, finished with 37 on 40 carries. FSU is 3-2, 1-1 in the ACC. Louisville is next, on the road, Friday night.
He said the defense came out with an attitude. Tony White and his staff put guys in position. The week’s message was simple: 11 guys, offense, defense, special teams, do your job.
“You felt the edge that they played with. There was some incredible effort, incredible application of technique. You looked out there and you saw a forcing unit, because it’s not just the D-line. Linebackers, safety. You felt the way that they attacked and how they played off of each other.”
“I thought Tony did a really nice job of adapting the plan. And I thought some guys definitely grew up. That was an experienced and good offensive line that they went against.”
Florida State had seven sacks in the first four games and 10 against Virginia. Nine players had at least half a sack. Rylan Kennedy had two. Chris Jones had 1.5. Beau Pribula was 14 of 32 for 168 yards. Virginia went 0 for 4 on fourth down.
Norvell said Virginia tried to take away the vertical passing game, which he called a compliment to the receivers. That kept the roof high, opened run lanes, and left Daniels as the next factor. He said the staff had three plans ready depending on how Virginia defended the run and the quarterback.
“I thought the O-line battled in the run game. 281. You felt their physicality. Tight ends battled.”
The kickstart was the 98-yard touchdown drive to open the second quarter, including a screen. Daniels ran 17 times for 136 yards and five touchdowns, a Florida State quarterback record. He was 12 of 19 for 183 yards with an interception. He scored every Seminole touchdown. Ousmane Kromah added 80 yards on 17 carries.
“I thought Ashton played at a high level. He’s a great playmaker. You see the respect that the defense tonight had for our backs, for our receivers, in the way they were trying to defend us, and he asked for some respect tonight on the performance he had.”
“Our football team, he deserved that tonight. He deserved that tonight.”
He also pointed to a punt return from Jasen Lopez as a spark, and to the sacks, and said the players fed off each other in all three phases once they settled in after the first quarter. His favorite stretch was the start of the third: a stop, then a touchdown, then the game staying rolled. He contrasted that with the last road game, when a delay was followed by a bad stretch.
Asked what a dominant win can do for a team that had been 2-2, he pushed it forward.
“I believe that this team can play at a very high level. I believe it’s going to play at a much higher level than what we did today. That’s where confidence can show up. Everybody can talk about wanting it and desiring it, but if you’re not willing to prepare, if you’re not willing to sacrifice, if you’re not willing to stay the course for improvement, then it just works.”
“You can play great today and play like crap tomorrow. You still have to go and be in control of you.”
On the outside noise, he said he has watched them come together since January. If the challenges had broken them apart, “it wouldn’t be much of a team, and it wouldn’t be real.” He said they have not faltered, and that what they do with the win this week sits on them.
“As you see in this conference, a lot of great teams, a lot of teams that any week you go out there and win by a lot, or you can get your butt kicked. I’m excited about where this team is trending, and we have a lot of work to continue.”
They will meet Sunday night to correct the issues. No practice Sunday. Louisville prep starts on the field Monday morning. He said he still wants 60 minutes of them dominating, and that they have not played that game yet.
Mike Norvell: To start off, really proud, very proud of our team. The team, coaches, everyone involved within the program, the work they put into this week, just the continued work. It wasn’t just one week, it’s been our process, just working to get better. We’ve experienced some real challenges in the early part of this season, but we’ve also seen some incredible work from players, working to stay focused on the job, on the task, on the responsibility to get better. This week we continued to challenge them to give everything they have and to go out there and strain for a little bit more. From how you sit in the meetings, to what you do in a walkthrough to preparation and taking care of your body. We knew this was going to be a physical game against an experienced team, and that is a good football team we played. But, as I told the guys, we’ll take care of us. I believe this can be a really good and dominant football team. We didn’t start the way we wanted to start, we still haven’t played a 60-minute game yet, but those last 45 minutes were really impressive. I thought our defense came out today with an attitude and a mentality. Tony (White) and his staff did a great job putting guys in position. The message of the week was go do your job. We went into today, 11 guys out there, offense, defense, special teams, every one of us will do our job, our staff, everybody focused on their responsibility, we thought some great things could occur, and they did that. We got rolling there in the second quarter. Offense got into a rhythm, we wanted to have balance. I thought Virginia did a good job of working to try and take away the vertical passing game. It is a great compliment to the receivers. I thought Michai (Danzy) got out and got some good plays out there with Duce (Robinson) and Boggs (Jayvan). You saw them really push you for a lot of depth to keep everything underneath which opened up some run lanes, opened up some opportunities for us. I thought our guys played with great balance throughout the course of the game. Yes, plenty of things we can continue to improve upon. We got a short week, we got to go on the road. I’m proud of our team, they’ve been battling and they’re going to continue to battle and keep working to get better.
Question 1: What do you attribute the havoc that the defensive line was able to create that they missed before?
Mike Norvell: They continued to work and you felt the edge that they played with. There was an incredible effort and incredible application of technique and fundamentals. Guys being where they needed to be, that was something I was proud of. You looked out there and saw a four-seam unit. Its not just a d-line, its linebackers and safeties that joined into tonight. You felt the way that they attacked and played off of each other. There’s been issues in the early part of the season. Guys are doing the work, I thought Tony did a really nice job of adapting the plan as he’s continuing to be around this team and this defensive front. I thought some guys definitely grew up, that was an experienced and good offensive line that they went against and definitely preformed at an elite level.
Question 2: Ashton taking advantage of what Virginia was doing schematically, is that something you guys expected? Did you come in thinking he’d be a big part of the running game, or did it just evolve during the course of the game?
Mike Norvell: Yeah, we wanted to put pressure on those guys in all ways, and you never know exactly what somebody’s gonna do, but you’ve got to be able to adapt throughout the course of a contest. We missed our three different plans, if they were gonna sit there and try to stop the run, stop the quarterback, but as an option in the threat we had some great shots ready to go over the top.Then, if they’re gonna keep the roof high and you obviously still account for Ashton (Daniels) and that should open up some great run lanes for the backs and then obviously just as it showed tonight there were some opportunities that were created where Ashton was able to be the X-factor, and I thought the O-line, they battled in the run game. I think we ran, however many yards we ran for. What was it? 281, that’s pretty good. You felt their physicality, tight ends battled. It was an impressive showing for the work that those guys did. The touchdown drive, I think it was a 97 or 98-yard touchdown drive where we were able to have some big plays, we hit them on the screen play, and it was a really impressive start to that second quarter. I thought that was a great kickstart for us, and it didn’t start in the best of positions, but you guys made it happen and being able to utilize all the skills of what our guys are able to do.
Question 3: You alluded to it earlier, but throughout the first month of the season, complimentary football, then you talked about wanting to get the guys, the defense, to step up, and have the offense. You had that in bunches today. What do you attribute that to and just how good is it to see it finally show up?
Mike Norvell: Yeah, it’s contributed to work. I like to always try to figure every issue and always point to all things, sometimes it’s just continued work, focus, discipline and doing a job. We’ve got some, a lot of new players and I felt throughout these last few weeks that they were so close, it’s just wanting to see that continued progress. That’s where, for players, there can be some, and that’s it. They’re in a great spotlight. They have a great responsibility. There can be a lot of challenges that can work to distract you from the process of just getting better. Everybody wants everything as fast as we come as players, coaches, but making sure, if there’s issues that have showed up, stay focused on the issues, stay focused on the little things that can help you be the best of you. Even when there might be some chaos that’s going around. That’s what I was most pleased with tonight. As we got through the first quarter where it wasn’t as clean as what we wanted, and seeing guys take the ownership, settle in, and go play ball. It was in all three phases. I thought guys fed off of each other. You saw big plays, Jroc (Jason Lopez) had a big punt return. That was a great spark. I’ve seen some of the big plays, the sacks; it was just a fun game. To see the players go play. We told them in the locker room that they deserve it. They’ve worked hard for it. The great thing as a coach, you sit there and you can still see a lot of areas where we have the opportunities to grow and get better because I do believe in the capability of what these guys can accomplish. It was a dominant win tonight.
Question 4: How much can a win like this, if a program feels like a team’s not playing well for a month, although 2-2, to not just win but to win in that dominant a fashion, what can that do for the confidence of the guys in the locker room to see it all like, “oh, we play well, this is what it could look like.”?
Mike Norvell: Yeah it’s what you pursue best. That’s what, when you come out and there’s times that your best might not always mean exactly what you want in a result, but you still are in control of you. For these guys, for the things that we’ve challenged them with, for the things that you try to speak into them just through experience, I believe that this team could play at a very high level. I believe this team can play at a much higher level than what we did today. And it’s a belief in the work, and that’s where confidence can show up. Because everybody can talk about wanting it and desiring it, but if you’re not willing to prepare, if you’re not willing to sacrifice, if you’re not willing to stay the course for improvement, then it’s just words. But I’ve really watched these guys challenge themselves, and to see a positive result with that work I think it’s something that can really thrust us forward if we take advantage of it. Because ultimately you can play great today, you can play like crap tomorrow. You still have to go and be in control of you and the continued process of getting better and so that’ll be the focus, the journey, you get to go on the road, a short week, all the things. This team, I believe they’re built for it, and they’ll come to work tomorrow night, we won’t practice tomorrow night, but we will meet, we’ll correct the issues that we need to correct for tonight and we’ll have our focus on Louisville and back on the practice field come Monday morning in preparation for a huge road contest.
Question 5: Ashton Daniels, the running attack, his imprint on the game, talk a little bit about that, the offensive side of it and winning at home before you go on the road.
Mike Norvell: Yeah, I thought Ashton played at a high level really did some good things and took advantage of opportunities that presented themselves. He was a great play maker. You see the respect that the defense tonight had for our backs, our receivers and the way they were trying to defend us. I think Ash earned some respect tonight on the performance he had. So we got to continue to grow from it but I love the young man, he shows up every day to try to push to be better. He shows up every day trying to encourage his teammates and the willingness to be an example. Our football team deserved that tonight. He deserved that tonight. I was proud of him for the way that he was able to go play and excited for our team and where we can build and grow from here.
Question 6: You mentioned the team’s ability to respond to the first quarter, specifically the first touchdown drive that they had, you guys outscored them 38-0 the rest of the way, and especially that second quarter where it’s 200 yards for you guys and negatives for them. How much did that flip the game and their ability to respond to that adversity?
Mike Norvell: Obviously any time you statistically dominate a quarter like that it’s a great push for momentum. I was really pleased just to see the way we started the third quarter, that was something that was big. You get our momentum run, obviously a break, come out, able to get a stop, able to go down and score a touchdown. That was big. Like I said, our guys, they’ve battled and we’ve been through a good amount here in a short season with some tough losses, some close losses, but tonight was a dominant win and we’re going to take the lessons from tonight and we’ve got to apply them and go push to be better come next Friday. If we do that, as I’ve said, we got a lot of confidence in what this team could do and we just gotta keep working to get better.
Question 7: Why is consistency so difficult to find, in the sense of you have good stretches, three quarters today, and at other points, why is it harder?
Mike Norvell: You play good people, you’re obviously growing as an individual, as a team. Consistency is hard to find in life. Turn on college football and look at the results across college football. Look at all the things you go through in your own lives, it’s hard to be consistent. And especially when you have that competitive nature and what it is. Nobody wants to be up and down in stretches of consistency, but we have to stay that focused on the details, stay focused on the things that you can control. Yeah, I mean it’s a heck of a journey. I’ve been a part of some very consistent teams, with some inconsistent moments. And that’s part of this game. I remember 2023, being down to North Alabama, with everybody available, and it was really inconsistent in how we played early. And then we had a tragedy with the quarterback going down and then you saw a team that was continuing to respond. Those things are going to be the flows of life that you have to make control of. Do I want to see a perfect game that’s 60 minutes of us just dominating? Absolutely. We’re going to push to be better in cleaning up the issues that didn’t allow the fastest start. But, I thank god for these players and the mindset and the coaches. That’s the thing that makes me proud of them is just to watch them and when you don’t start the right way but to be able to go and in the second quarter which was a dominant quarter, and like I said, my favorite thing was the third quarter start of being able to get the stop, being able to get down and score, being able to continue to roll through that. We played really good. The last time we were on the road, we had a delay and then we didn’t play very well after that, so those things are all areas where you can learn from the experience. But we’re growing as individuals, we’re growing as a team, looking forward to the week of preparation for next Friday.
Question 8: You have mentioned the way that the guys have navigated some of the outside noise and things like that. Did you ever get the sense the last week or two that maybe it was bringing the guys together not just not breaking them apart but have you seen anything from these guys that they have chosen to rally around each other?
Mike Norvell: I have watched them come together since January, and if it was a team that broke apart through challenges, then it wouldn’t be much of a team, and it wouldn’t be real. These guys have faced challenges, they’ve faced outside noise. Everybody wants to win, we are fighting to put our best foot forward in every situation but these guys, even through the adversity, throughout the process of building this team, I think that’s one of the things that’s allowed them to want to grow and get better. To have a night like tonight, because they watch each other work, that was a great game. We talked about that strain, we talked about doing everything that you have and just a little bit more, not just for yourself but for who you represent. Its the guys to the left and the guy to the right of you and maybe the guy on the other side of the ball, family members. You get a choice of what you want to do and what you want to be, and that work of relationship that we have done for the last nine months of being together, I’m grateful for this team because they have not faltered, they have not pulled back, they are just continuing to push in with each other, and I think its a great opportunity. What we do with that this week, it’s on us. As you see in this conference, a lot of great teams, a lot of teams that can any week you can go out there and win by a lot or get your butt kicked. I’m excited about where this team is trending, we’ve got a lot of work to continue to do.
Video courtesy Noles247
