Florida State jumped out to a 14-0 lead before Louisville outscored the Seminoles 44-6 the rest of the way in a 44-20 win Friday night, handing FSU its 13th straight loss in games away from home.
FSU head coach Mike Norvell spoke to the media after the loss to Louisville. Quarterback Ashton Daniels and edge rusher Rylan Kennedy also spoke.
Norvell on the loss:
“Too many times where we didn’t show the detail, the discipline, the mental toughness that’s necessary on the road. Starts with me … the guys
were not prepared for those moments like they needed to be. We all need to take ownership in it — coaches, players, everybody involved.”
Norvell said the Seminoles failed to capitalize on chances against a team with explosive players.
“You got to do your job … align right … execute with discipline and details,” he said. “If you don’t, explosive plays and missed opportunities are going to show up. That’s what we saw for three quarters.
“Extremely disappointed for this team, the work that I’ve watched, their potential. Tonight for three quarters that was not put on display. It still comes down to work, owning the issues, correcting the issues. We did not do that.”
He credited Louisville and pointed to next week’s rivalry game against Miami.
“They did a good job. Coaching, playing … they got the job done,” Norvell said. “We’ve got to own the result, fix it, and go get better.”
Norvell on the fourth-down decision:
“We felt good about the play, still feel good about the thought process,” Norvell said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t do a good enough job in that moment. They got to go (97) yards, and they did it in one play.”
On the defense and almost 400 rushing yards allowed:
“Bad plays are going to happen, but freaking rise up, do your damn job and go play the next play,” Norvell said. “They had (397) yards rushing tonight. That’s awful.”
“Sometimes we had a player in position and we didn’t execute the way that we needed to. It comes down to all of us. Comes down to me. We’ve got to take a deep breath, respond to the situation … Isaac (Brown) was a great player tonight. He really took over the game with the kickoff return and then big runs. We can’t help great players by not doing and being where we need to be.”
Ashton Daniels on the game:
“We killed ourselves tonight. … Penalties, execution, mental errors,” Daniels said. “That’s what held us off the field. We just didn’t execute.”
On the early lead and failed fourth-down conversion:
“Going up three scores on a good football team, especially on the road, I think we had a lot of momentum probably, but we didn’t, so (it) doesn’t matter. … I wanted to go for it. I think that would have been big if we got that conversion. Man coverage, we ran a screen and we just didn’t execute as an offense.”
Daniels on the response after the 97-yard touchdown:
“We like to say, ‘Don’t let the momentum affect us as a team,’ but we did tonight. We didn’t fight back when we needed to. We didn’t put points up on the board when we needed to. … They’re a good team, but we beat ourselves tonight. We’re going to go home and learn from that, grow from it.”
Kennedy on the 97-yard touchdown run:
“After that long run, we kind of lost control. We wasn’t us,” Kennedy said. “It was just a mental battle. We should have just kept being mentally strong and just next play, next play.”
Kennedy on Isaac Brown: “I respect him, but I feel like it was more on us. Just knowing where to fit in our gaps, knowing how to strain and just doing our job.”
Kennedy on the week: “Practice was good. I feel like we was prepared. We did what we needed to do. When it came to the game time and that situation, we didn’t respond like how we used to.”
Florida State (3-3, 1-2 ACC) travels to No. 4 Miami next Saturday at 7 p.m. for a game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
