Florida State offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr. and defensive coordinator Tony White met with local media Wednesday to recap Monday night’s 27-24 loss to No. 19 SMU and discuss the bye week as well as the two-week build-up to their first road game of the season at Alabama.
Florida State finished 2-of-15 on third down on offense. SMU went 8-of-14 and outgained the Seminoles 585-324.
Harris on third down:
“The quarterback knowing where people are gonna be, guys knowing exactly their depth on routes,
we’ve just got to do a better job of that overall,” Harris said. “But you look at our game the other night, the planning and how we gameplan things — things were there, and we just have to execute better.”
“It goes with about everything. It’s an everybody thing,” Harris said. “And we’ll get better. Our guys, they understand that. We understand that as a stat, and that’s our focus.”
On short-yardage runs:
“We need to do a good job of making sure that our players are applying the things that we’re coaching and that we’re preaching every day,” Harris said. “In those situations there, you feel good about the calls that you make, that there are things that we feel the defense presents the best opportunities for us to have success. And you get beat on a twist, you make a bad read on a zone read, that stuff, it happens from time to time. So we’ve got to continue to evaluate what we’re asking our guys to do, and then just be able to do the things that they’re best at.”
On Duce Robinson and the perimeter passing game:
“We have very good players on the wings, and we have to do a good job of moving them and putting them in positions,” Harris said. “We had an opportunity … that we couldn’t seize, but these are the balls that need to be won.”
White on the SMU tape:
“You’re pissed off like hell,” White said. “But when you look at the football, and I think there was 69 plays in there or something, the men went out there and they played their tails off. For about 60 plays in there they balled, and there’s nine plays that you want back.”
On SMU converting over 57% of its third downs:
“Play ball, man. That’s football, right?” White said. “I don’t care about that.”
On the third-and-10 before SMU’s winning kick:
“Mikai (Gbayor) goes through traffic, and he just trips through traffic,” White said. “We flushed the quarterback, we’ve got two guys running to go get him against his throwing arm, and he throws it sideways, jumping like this in the air, and if we don’t trip, we’re gonna be body on body, and then who knows what happens.”
On the third-and-7 run they converted:
“I told the guys, that’s me,” White said. “I was locked into the play, not the situation. Hey, that’s me, guys. We’re all subject to it. But we’ve gotta eliminate those times, both coaches and players, and let them go out there and play.”
On Yannick Smith’s 79-yard touchdown:
“There’s people’s jobs that are supposed to say where the sticks are,” White said. “Where the down and distances are. And we’re a little too deep, and we don’t use our technique, and we don’t get the ball on the ground … We’re not locked into the moment. We’re not locked into the down and distance. We’re not into those assignments, and then good players are gonna beat you.”
“Toes on the sticks,” White said.
Florida State is 1-1 and 0-1 in the ACC. The Seminoles have a bye before their trip to No. 12 Alabama on Sept. 19.
Watch both of the press conferences below (courtesy of Seminoles.com):
