FSU Wednesday Practice Report

* Florida State practiced for 20 periods in shells in preparation for its game at Duke on Saturday in Durham.
* The Seminoles practiced the final two periods on their one minute drills (11 on 11).
* Quarterback Drew Weatherford completed two long passes of 40 and 50 yards to wide receiver Greg Carr.
* Florida State is 14-0 all-time against Duke. The Seminoles average 52.6 points scored and surrender only 16.1 points in those 14 games.
* In the last five years, FSU is 11-4 following a loss in the regular season.

QUOTES

Head Coach Bobby Bowden:

(On if he feels they need to stop going full pads so that they don't risk injury)

"We are not dealing with it. There is a time where you have to do it. We are not dealing with that right now. We will go ahead and do everything we ought to do. So, I think that if we don't get anybody else hurt, I think we can continue on the same the same schedule and same intensity we are doing right now. I hope that we don't have to cut back. We are playing so many young people, if there is anything they need, it's the fastball, the fastball, the fastball, because they haven't seen it. Some of them are going to have to be ready to play this week."

(on how he feels about the team responding to NC State with a good week of practice)

"Well that's good, it's encouraging because a lot of times you come off a loss and if you're not careful you will lose the next game, thinking about the last one. I think that just the way they have acted, the way they have practiced; it looks like they have done everything you could want them to do. Attitude has been good."

(on how the team threw and caught well today)

"Lee threw better than I have seen him throw in a while. I watch those quarterbacks all the time. He threw the ball better today than I have seen him throw in quite a while I hope that is a good sign."

(on sustaining a hold on a team such as Duke for as long as they have and what they need to do to stay on top)

"Well, it's like anything else, the law of averages catches up. You hope it don't catch up, but, it's like Clemson finally beat us, NC State finally beat us, North Carolina finally beat us, Virginia finally beat us, Maryland finally beat us, Duke hasn't yet, it can always happen, but we can do all that we can to keep it from happening."

Freshman Tight End Caz Piurowski

(on the mood of the team)

"I haven't talked to a lot of the freshman (about being 3-2). Of course we are disappointed. We came in expecting to be undefeated and came here (to Florida State) so we wouldn't have to lose that many games. I think we'll be able to rebound and my freshman year here can still be good. Losing two games isn't the worst thing ever. If we end up with only two losses we've had a couple of tough games. Beating a couple of tough teams I think will revitalize our season.

(on how are the upperclassmen helping the younger players)

"One of the biggest things they talk about is last year we lost to the two teams we have lost to this year and we came back and won the ACC championship and went to the Orange Bowl. There is still a chance that can happen. The coaches are talking to us about working a lot harder and coming out and not giving up."