Wednesday’s Practice Report: Seminoles Continue Preparations For Home Opener

Sept. 6, 2006

The No. 9 Florida State Seminoles (1-0) continued preparations for Saturday’s 6 p.m. contest vs. Troy (1-0) Wednesday evening. The Troy game will be available on pay per view television only and that is true only throughout the state of Florida.  Fans in Florida must contact either their cable television provider or their satellite system provider to buy the pay per view game.  It is important to note that currently the FSU vs. Troy game will only be available on ESPN GamePlan ON-LINE.  The game will not be available live on television outside of the state of Florida, but it can be ordered for on-line viewing at proxy.espn.go.com/ncf/gameplan/index.

NOTES

·    Due to lightning, Florida State‘s football practice was moved to 7:00 Wednesday evening. The Seminoles practiced 18 periods in shorts on Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium. Rain fell at a steady pace throughout the two-hour workout.

·    Florida State middle linebacker Buster Davis has been named the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week for games the weekend of Aug. 31-Sept. 4. Davis recorded a game-high 12 tackles, including 3.5 tackles for losses, in the Seminoles’ 13-10 victory at Miami, Fla., on Monday night. The 5-10, 246-pound senior had two sacks and was responsible for 36 of the Hurricanes’ 58 yards in losses.

·    The first weekend of college football coverage across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 saw audience increases for all three networks, highlighted by ESPN’s most-viewed college football game ever for Florida State at Miami. ESPN’s primetime telecast of Florida State‘s 13-10 victory over Miami Monday, September 4 averaged 6,330,000 households (a 6.9 rating), making it the network’s most-viewed college football game – regular-season and bowl games – ever.  It is the network’s second highest-rated college football game – regular-season and bowl games – ever (behind a 7.7 rating for Florida State at Miami on ESPN October 8, 1994). 

· The Seminoles will practice Thursday at 4:15 p.m. and are scheduled to go 15 periods.

QUOTES

Head Coach Bobby Bowden

(On Wednesday’s practice)

“We were scheduled to practice at 3:30 and got out onto the field and lightning came so we went inside. Then we were going to try to go at 4:30 and there was still lightning so we came out tonight at 7:00 and worked here in the stadium. We needed to get it in. It would have been awful if we could not have practiced today because we only have today and tomorrow. So anyway, we got it in. We got a lot of rain so that’s probably good in case we have to play in this kind of weather. We got through unscathed thankfully. I think maybe only Marcus Sims was hurt enough and might not be able to play Saturday.”

 (On Troy)

“Troy, well, we got the film on them today and studied it. They won last week against Alabama State and beat them 38-0. So that’s Troy, but I’m a lot more concerned about us and getting done what we need to get done. We need to get better, execute better.”

(On working on the running game)

“I think we’ll try to do what’s the best thing to do to move the ball but we will force ourselves to run the ball. I don’t like to go into a game saying that we’re just going to run the dadgum ball. There’s no doubt where our strength is, it’s throwing and catching.”

Linebacker Geno Hayes

(on having breakout game)

“I prayed to God before the game and asked Him to be able to go out there and do what I do and I went out there and did what I did to help my team win the game. It really doesn’t matter how I feel about my performance. We won the game.”

Linebacker Buster Davis

(on being named National Defensive Player of the Game)

“It’s okay. I appreciate it but if I could, I’d give it to my teammates because it was a team-effort. But thank you.”

Wide Receiver Lorenzo Booker

(on how practice went despite the weather, time change)

“Good work and we needed it because the weather forecast is looking like we may have to play in the rain again. We responded well against Miami so the more work we can get in this kind of stuff, the better.”

“We needed to get a tough day of work out here. We don’t want to go into a game without having no work at all. As much meeting as we do and as much walk-thru, it’s not enough. We’ve got to actually come out and do it at the speed and the tempo of a real game so we can really see what we’re working with.”

(on Troy)

“No matter the opponent, it can’t affect our preparation. Every week, we’ve just got to play ourselves and come out focused and ready to go.”