Q & A: Bobby Bowden- Weekly ACC Media Teleconfernce

What has been your experience with the new time rule changes?

Bowden: It is making us realize how important timeouts are, and you better be careful with them. Although I don't know if they affect you any more than a review of a play. Anyway they seem more precious than they were. ... I doubt if they'll ever change back. Usually on a rule like that everybody has a difficult time working it and then they finally get used to it and they forget all about it. I imagine that will happen again with this rule. However, I can see where all of us are having problems with it until we get it solved.

Do you feel like over the last five years that Florida State has lost some of that swagger?

Bowden: The way the scores are coming out and losing as we have, I think you naturally lose some swagger. In fact when I'm losing I don't want any dadgum swagger. I like to have it when I win. I really don't care much about it. I'm one of those guys that don't especially like that word. I like playing with confidence and courage a little bit more. Anyway we don't swagger like we used to - no doubt about it. I wish we were able to but we haven't been able to do.

What would allow to get that something like that confidence you had in the day?

Bowden: You got to start winning. We win some but we lose too many. I think you got to win consistently before you do that. And be honest with you, again that swagger isn't that big of deal to me. ... Nobody dominates anymore, it doesn't seem like. Last week you had Notre Dame to go down, you had Oklahoma go down, you had LSU go down.

After a couple of things happened last week we're starting to take a second look at the instant reply system. Are you satisfied with it. Is there any particular change you would like to see made?

Bowden: I can't stand it. I don't think we've had a single instant where replay has helped us. Last week we probably would have won the ball game without the replay when we thought we had recovered a fumble around the eight-yard line with about four or five minutes to go. I haven't learned to like it yet.

Anything you can do to change it or would you just get rid of it?

Bowden: I won't make a big pitch to get rid of it just because it hasn't worked out for me like I'd like it to. If everybody says they don't like it I hope we do get rid of it.

What's your assessment of your offensive line play?

Bowden: As we go back and look at the film and really dissect it, I ask myself do I like what we're doing. And I go back and study (the Clemson game) film and yes, I like what we're doing.

But what's the problem? We're not executing. ... I'm going to tell you. One of these days we're going to gel and we're going to be a pretty darn good football team.

A couple of weeks ago before Troy you said you didn't know what kind of team you had. Do you feel you will get a better sense of it or will it take the N.C. State game to figure out what you definitely have?

Bowden: When you are playing a game like this where you are supposed to win it, you just want to do the best you can do and feel like it's a good sign. But to say you'll know everything about your ball team when you play somebody you're favored by 25 points, I don't know if you learn much about it.

It could be five games before we get a feeling. If we don't start to gel pretty soon, I'll really have to do some research. I meant to say soul-searching.