Noles Start Preparations For Western Carolina

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

The first Saturday of the college football season seemed just like any other day of the week for the Seminole football team. With an open date today, FSU was out on the practice field shifting its focus towards its September 6th opener versus Western Carolina (1-0). The squad practiced for 15 periods in shells. The first six periods were spent working on special teams and the second half of practice saw both units working versus scout teams. Following conditioning, the team ate lunch and was finished for the day.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden:
“We had our last controlled scrimmage before the ballgame like we’ve always done on Friday night. Of course the thing we’re trying to do is see are we ready to play a game. Are the substitutions coming in right, does the kicking team know when to go on the field, are they sitting in the right place where we can find them and things like that. We did a pretty good job on that. We had two times where we would have had a penalty on, I think one was a field goal and another was a punt, where a guy didn’t go out there. We’re sitting out there with ten men and that’s going to be a penalty or you’re going to have to waste one of your time outs. So those are the type of things we’re trying to get because usually the first game, the first game can become a comedy of errors if you’re not careful. It’s the first time they’ve been out there, they jump offside, they hold, they do this and that. It went pretty smoothly. This morning we tried to come out and correct our mistakes and began to do some things that we would be doing against the first opponent.”

On Western Carolina:
“They’ve got a new coaching staff. I’m sure they look a lot different. The way they play and some of the things they’re doing...you can’t take anybody lightly as we know. It will just give us a chance to get going and you hope it’s smooth and hope you see who ought to be here and who ought to be here. There are so many questions like that that will get answered but the final answers will not come until later.”