Noles Start Looking Toward Matchup With Gators

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

This was one of the better Monday’s of the year for Florida State football. The Seminoles returned to the practice fields for 12 periods sporting a new top 25 ranking and a new Rhodes Scholar as well. On top of that, kicker Graham Gano was named one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award and Everette Brown was named a Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week. Not a bad start to a very important week that will culminate Saturday at 3:30 p.m. versus No. 2 Florida.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden

On tonight’s practice:

“Well just about everyone was out there. [Darius] McClure was out there even, that surprised me. When he got hurt everybody thought [he’d be out for the year] and he was out there working out a little bit. I just saw him working there at the end. I’m not sure how much he was getting. He didn’t look real bad.”

On what a win against Florida could do for the team:

“It would be a step-up, no doubt about it. We’ll have to play our absolute best and don’t turn the ball over. Hold those penalties down in a game like this. We’ve just got to play our best, that’s all there is to it.”

On what they learned from last season’s game against Florida:

“The things you’ve got to do that you didn’t do, you didn’t tackle well in the open field. Like that Maryland game the other night, the first two times they had the ball we didn’t tackle worth a darn. Then all of a sudden we started tackling. They were catching a four-yard pass and running for 25 yards with it with about three guys missing them.”