Noles Begin Practicing For Eagles

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

The Seminole football players had the day off from school due to Veteran’s Day but that mini-vacation did not extend to the practice fields. The 19th-ranked Seminoles worked out for 22 periods in shorts and shoulder pads as the work week got underway for the Boston College game. Saturday’s game will be a split national telecast as part of ABC’s Saturday Night Football.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden:

“I think everybody practiced today. I was concerned about (Jermaine) Thomas but he practiced. So that was a good sign. You’re lucky sometimes and sometimes you’re not lucky. There are teams right now probably beat up badly and we’ve had those days too but so far we’ve been fortunate, very fortunate.”

On BC picking off passes:

“Well, they’ve got a good front four, no doubt about it. Their two tackles, probably the best two tackles we’ll play to date. They put a lot of pressure coming up inside. Their big, big defensive ends, they put a pretty nice squeeze on you. You’ve got to mix the running game in there, you can’t turn those guys loose all of the time. And then they play a defense which is susceptive to interceptions. In other words, more zone and if they blitz, it’s usually a zone blitz where they’re still playing a zone behind it. And so, they’re all facing the ball so you get an errant pass, they’re right on it. I can see why they intercept it a lot.”

RB Antone Smith:

On the running game for Florida State and where it starts:

“Basically the offensive line, the offensive line has been giving us those great breaks we need. They have been making those little small creases. Me, Jermaine (Thomas) and Ty (Jones) been taking advantages of those, even the quarterback has been taking advantage of some of the holes they have been given. You got a great running attack and you’re hoping to get some of those holes on the outside eight to ten yards, those open up a lot more for the running. We’ve been doing a great job with just throwing and passing, but for the most part probably been doing more running then anything else. We’ve just got to keep moving the ball. The offensive line has been doing a great job.”