Colorado-Florida State Quotes
September 28, 2008 | Football
“That little exchange there at the end of the first half caused some problems. I thought early on we missed some throws and missed some opportunities to get some stuff going. Any time you kind of hang around, hang around, hang around you leave yourself vulnerable to some of those explosion plays. Clearly, you've got the long run, you've got a little cycle there where you drop the ball, a blocked punt, a field goal ? that whole exchange right in there. That being said I don't think I guys were that daunted by it; it obviously knocks you back a bit. But it was close to halftime and I thought our guys put it behind them but that was definitely a spurt right there, a lot of points and a lot of momentum.”
How did Cody Hawkins play today?
“He had a tough day, a tough day. Missed a lot of throws in the first half. Had some wide open guys and he didn't hit them. He had a tough day no question about it.”
How did your special teams play?
“They struggled.”
Can you compare this year's
“I have always said and I know people have kind of gotten on them a little bit ? they still are very well coached, they've got great players and they've got great speed and they've got great athletes. You can make very few mistakes and survive them. That was evident in the long run today where he pretty much went to every gap on the field and found the one that was open and took it to the house. I still think they are a great football team with a lot of great players and are very well coached.”
Florida State Head Coach Bobby Bowden
On Antone Smith
“Antone Smith! Very good! He's a senior and you know we've trying to count on him ever since he's been here. But really we hadn't put the emphasis on him until we needed him to put on it. So today our coaches obviously wanted to go out and try to run that doggone ball and to set up the passing. And when you're successful at running the ball you usually get a high percentage of conversion.”
On why the running game went well today
“It got a lot better today because of the output of the offensive line. That's something you don't see in Bobby Bowden football. I got to hand all that credit to Trickett, our offensive line coach, James Coley who coaches our tight ends and Dexter Carter coaches fullbacks. No doubt they did the blocking.”
On when they will prepare about
“All about as soon as we get home, our coaches, what they'll do, they'll come in early in the morning probably and look at that film of this game and then they'll go to church and come back and show that film to the players and then they'll get rid of that thing and get immediately on the University of Miami. By tomorrow night we'll be working on
On how the team reacts to a bad loss
“You know one thing happens when you get beat like we did last week, you don't have any trouble getting their attention the next week cause you're mad, you're mad, they know you're mad.”
Colorado Players
ON FLORIDA STATE--“It was not much of a difference from last year. They have a lot of speed. I think that they just made more plays than we did today.”
ON OFFENSIVE PLAY--“I think we were frustrated with not being able to capitalize off turnovers. We did not score in the red zone a couple of times, and missed a field goal, and those are times when we have to capitalize and score some points.”
ON FLORIDA STATE'S KICK OFF RETURN FOR TD--“That definitely knocked the wind out of us. Our coaches always emphasize making big plays on special teams, and that's what they did. We just have to buckle down and work on some things.”
OT Ryan Miller
ON INJURY--“We just have to push through. Matt (Bahr) stepped in and did an excellent job tonight. It is great having people step in. It is unfortunate that Mike (Iltis), myself, and Max (Tuioti-Mariner) went down, but we have kids that are ready to step up and play.”
“This is the most severe injury I have ever had. I don't know how it happened, it just went snap, crackle, pop”
ON FLORIDA STATE--“I think they are similar to what they were last year. We obviously didn't play as well as we wanted to today.”
ON RUSH DEFENSE--“A couple of times we were just not in the right gap, and that led to them getting more yards than they should have. We just need to stay in our gaps and be a stronger defense as a whole.”
ON LOSS--“This is worst than last year. We did not play good football today. I feel like we are a lot better team than we were last year. It sits with a little more, and we just did not play well enough in all three phases of the game.”
OT Matt Bahr
ON PREPARATION--“I prepared to play and this week I practiced at every position except center, so I was preparing to go in. Before the game, coach came up to me and said not to be surprised if you go in, even without an injury. I was looking to get in a little bit, and when Ryan went down they put me. Preparing for the next couple weeks is going to involve a lot of film and getting the practice reps in, and being a student of the game.”
“Its part of the game. When I was in high school we had a lot of guys go down, and you just have to be ready every week. I have been preparing every week the same way, and if one guy goes down then I am in. Coach always says we are a play away, and today I was. I just went in there and did my best. We just go out there and the guys we have are the guys we are going to roll with.”
QB Cody Hawkins
ON HIS PERFORMANCE--“I am not saying anything new, but that I played poorly today, and that loss is 110% my fault. Regardless of how many points they scored in the second half, we had a lot of opportunities in the first half, and that's my fault. It all comes back to me. I have to take care of the football, and I have to communicate and make plays when they are there to be made. I apologize to my teammates, the coaches and the fans because I did not play the way that I can. That was not me today; I can play a lot better than that. We have to rebound this week and get better.”
ON MISCOMMUNICATIONS--“I think that on the one to Pat Devenny, they jumped Josh (Smith) and started throwing it, and if I knew they were going to jump the route then I would have put a little more air under it. It was a little bit of a miscommunication, but I have to make plays when they are there to be made.”
ON FLORIDA STATE'S DEFENSE--“I think they did an awesome job. They have great chemistry on their defense. They talk a lot. They are also very fast and very physical. They do an awesome job of rallying to the ball, and you have to hit your chances against a team like this because you're not going to have a lot of them. We have a lot things that we need to do better next week.”
ON FINDING A RHYTHM--“I don't think it was the hits. I just could not get into a rhythm. I missed some open guys. I have a short memory, and when we get back out there I am not too worried. In the second half, I got hit a lot, but we were moving the ball, so I think it's more about getting into a rhythm, and we did a better job of that in the second half.
Florida State Players
DB Patrick Robinson
On playing well after all of the negativity last week--“I think that it gives us a boost as far as confidence and as far as making plays. I think that we have to move on and take this win and try to get another one next week.”
On how it felt to get out there and play--“It felt really good until I got hurt. Until then I was playing hard and doing what I was supposed to do except I got beat on that touchdown, but other than that I was doing everything that I was supposed to do.”
On the returning players impact--“Before we came back our defense was pretty emotional and with the couple of players that came back it was even more so.”
DE Neefy Moffett
On getting back on the field--“It felt good just to be out here with my teammates, out here playing hard and finally my hard work is paying off.”
On the first play of the game--“We've got the best end in the country in Everette Brown and he told me what the take-off was and I just listened to him and I got a sack.”
On the impact of the returning players--“We just took less off of the guy's legs so they can stay fresh. We were all heavily recruited and are pretty good athletes but if you have to play 50 snaps that takes a little bit from you. With everybody coming in and everybody fresh that means everyone gets less snaps.”
Safety Jamie Robinson
On getting FSU's first interception on the season--“It felt pretty good. I just thank the Lord for blessing me with the opportunity to get the pick. That's something Mickey [Andrews] has been talking about a lot especially since we didn't have any. There was a little bit of pressure on us, but the opportunity presented itself.”
On getting the suspended players back--“It was huge because the guys that were gone were are playmakers, so having our playmakers back out there on the field was positive for everybody.”
On what Mickey Andrews will say to the defense--“He's probably going to say that we gave up too many touchdowns. He's not always too positive, he'll touch on the positives, but he always wants more which is a good thing because it makes us better as individuals and as a unit.”
