The FSU Seminoles beat the Central Arkansas Bears 34-7 on Saturday in Doak Campbell Stadium. While the Seminoles were far from perfect and many fans were disappointed with the performance, they did improve to 2-2 with the win, snapping their losing streak.
Wide receiver Jayvan Boggs had the best game of his young career, catching six passes for 122 yards and a touchdown. He was chosen to break the rock after the game, and head coach Mike Norvell believes he gives them another dangerous receiver to pair with Duce Robinson and Micahi Danzy.
"I think we've got a really good room," Norvell explained. "We've dealt with some injuries, but those three guys have really emerged as guys that can be counted on, and when the ball comes their way, they're
ready to make great things happen. So I'm proud of him because he stayed the course and he's capitalizing on the opportunities when the ball's flying."
Norvell also addressed the status of several players who didn't play, not getting the backups more reps, scoring quickly vs. possessing the ball, and more. Here are his comments after FSU beat Central Arkansas.
Opening Statement
All right, I want to start off, first, really appreciate everybody who came out today, family weekend herein Tallahassee, great crowd, great environment. Appreciate the Marching Chiefs and all the work they put in anddefinitely good to be back in Doak Campbell Stadium. Great to get a win, obviously as you go back and you watchthrough the game, different sequences and unique dynamic in today's game. You came out, started fast, we're ableto put points up on the board, some explosive plays that showed up. You look at the final stats, just the time ofpossession was such a unique dynamic. Defensively, we actually allowed, there were seven first downs by penalty.There's some things we got to clean up in our details. They were able to hold the ball for close to 40 minutes of thegame, so it's limited repetition offensively. We held them to only seven points, but still we would like to see moreopportunities throughout the course of the game. Some good things that we're seeing, but obviously a lot of areaswhere we can continue to improve upon as we get back into ACC play here this next week. A variety of differentplayers got a chance to play, some guys playing their first extensive reps throughout the course of the season. Wedid have some guys that were not available for today and were not with us due to various circumstances as wecontinue to uphold an expectation of what we want it to look like throughout the week as well as just the expectationwithin our team. Some guys that, of course, have gone down with injuries and very hopeful to get those guys backquickly as we get into the bulk of conference play here moving forward. Big test ahead, but you're definitely glad tofinish 1-0 today and see guys get out there and compete
On why FSU took the ball to start he game, his disappointment at not getting the backups more reps on offense
Yeah, I wanted to try to maximize first-half possessions and to get off to a fast start offensively, that's ateam that, they've got a running quarterback, guy’s mobile. They do a lot of different personnel packages. Historically, they’ve be able to kind of control some parts of the pace of the game and we knew that’d probably be a part of what they were gonna try to do, but ultimately wanted to get off to a fast start offensively, set the tempo of the game, I thought we were able to do that. In the second half, and even at parts there in the first half where you're in position third down-wise where, solitarily they hit a couple of fourth downs, but some of the penalties that extended drives were unfortunate. We had the roughing the punter when we went after it, which allowed another extending drive and then you’re just reducing the offensive possessions. Yeah, it's disappointing because you want to see more guys get reps, but it's just one of those things that, the way it all played out, we've got to be cleaner, we've got to be better. Any time you have 10 penalties, that pisses me off. It's technique, it’s fundamental. It's things that we've done well and you're continuing to emphasize and harp on. There's some fundamental things that were poor that got called and you extended drives.
On what they wanted to show against an overmatched opponent
Well, you want to execution, and I thought offensively, for how we started, was really good in that regard. There was still some things, you see a variety of different looks, make sure our calls are right, or communication, the overall understanding. You're taking things that you put in throughout the week, game plan or just base rules and how are we applying that throughout the course of the game. I was disappointed with the two-minute, we had an interception there, Ash (Ashton Daniels) expected the back to go in one direction, you rush to throw a little bit. Both guys, just in that world, we both have to be better, and we're able to move the ball down the field and wanted to finish with a touchdown there in that situation. We had a few times in the red zone, we settled for field goals, that's been a major strength for us and to not accomplish that with a couple of opportunities, it was disappointing, Thendefensively, trying to see guys go out there and to be able to have 11 guys execute the call with the right mentality,demeanor, technique, fundamentals, you saw some good flashes of that, but, as some of the drives were extended,giving up seven points. In the grand scheme of the game, some of the drives that were had were areas that we gottabe better, just continuing to work through that. It goes through to all three phases.
On how the defense did with their alignments and assignments
Yeah, we did, in regards to just scaling back here some different formational presentations with the six linemen, the extra, the unbalanced. Some of those things that you have, it takes a little bit of volume, just in what we're doing. But I thought for the most part it was cleaner in regards to the guys' communications. The consistency of the line is, there was a couple of times we gave up leverage, you're just not reacting as fast as what you want to see somebody react, but, for the most part, I felt there was improvement there. Once again, you're looking for it to transition quicker in some of those situations. All in all, it was scaled back and we tried to be able to provide guys with enough to be able to go out there and to be successful. And then I want to see guys be able to take the elements of the plan and just how consistent they could put that into action and you see guys want to go play faster.
On what Jayvan Boggs' emergence means for the offense
Good question. I think Jayvan is a guy that, we've seen his capability, and last year he started as a truefreshman, the Alabama game. Dealing with injury, dealing with some of the things that he had to work through,seeing him get out on the field. And now as you go through, you see Micahi (Danzy) had big plays, you see Duce(Robinson) having big plays, and then teams have to make a choice. And today, Jayvan took advantage of hisopportunities, had some opportunities last week, capitalized on a couple and then even had one that we wanted tohave back, but seeing his response through the week of work, challenging himself to be better in certain areas, but Ithink as I said it last week, we've got three really good receivers and we actually have Jasen Lopez getting in there.Hopefully you'll see we'll get Tae’Shaun (Gelsey) back in action here this next week. But seeing that we've beenreally thin in that regard, Devin Carter is still working through his process of getting back. And so, I think we've got areally good room. We've dealt with some injuries, but those three guys have really emerged as guys that can becounted on, and when the ball comes their way, they're ready to make great things happen. So I'm proud of himbecause he stayed the course and he's capitalizing on the opportunities when the ball's flying.
On the status of Darryll Desir, Caleb LaVallee, and Quindarrius Jones
Yeah, it was each of those guys dealing with different issues. Caleb, unfortunately, went down last week and was unable to make it back. Obviously Darryll's had a couple of missed opportunities. Q’s dealing with a few issues. Situational issues that they're all working through. But all those guys are guys that we count on. Hopefulto get them back as we get into ACC play.
On how to balance scoring quickly vs. helping the defense by possessing the ball
Well, it's a dynamic that over the years I've always kind of worked through it. If there's extended drives at times where you need to allow the defense maybe a little bit of a reset, you get opportunities, there's certain plays. Every play has a capability to be a big play with some of the guys that we have, as well as the challenges, some of the dynamics of putting together a longer extended drive. So, I think our guys have done a good job, been able to do both, but you get opportunities to score points. You put points on the board. When you think about the tempo ofcalling plays, the different ways that you could try to help best position, if a defense has been on the field for anextended period of time, those are all things that you definitely work through, and we do have a plan for. But you also have great players that you get in space and you change the scoreboard, it's something that you definitely want to celebrate.
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This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: What FSU head coach Mike Norvell said after Central Arkansas win
