Florida State coordinators Alex Atkins, Adam Fuller and John Papuchis discuss the win over Syracuse.

The first thing I want to do is offer prayers and condolences for what’s going on at the University of Virginia. It’s a sad deal and a reminder for our precious life is. There’s no words that can express any comfort or help. But just acknowledge that we’re praying for those families and everybody involved in the situation.

On the five-game stretch with 200 rushing yards or more, is the offensive line getting better or just being consistent:

You’re starting to see a little bit more consistency show up. There’s still way too many times when we got hit for a negative. But we had big plays, which helps. The consistency has been showing up where we’ve had the consistent guys out there for a while, which helps. There’s an understanding. And also they’ve been in the offense together in the same positions for a while so you’re starting to see that pay off.

Guys are happy for each other, the individual and team success, has that permeated the entire program from coaches to players:

We talked about this in the offensive meeting when we came back with the whole offense and everybody involved. We talked about how when things are starting to go well or they are perceived as going well how there’s always that adversarial, that devil that you hear whispering to you, ‘What about you? The team’s doing well but what about your showcase?’ When you can have guys that genuinely are happy for each other and pushing each other and understanding that the success is coming because of that unselfish mentality, you’ve got a pretty special team. I believe we’ve done a good job of managing that through these good times and even through the bad times. We hit a rough patch there. That same person will come on your shoulder and whisper to you about, to go against the grain. So you have to fight that little person every day to keep your focus and keep the attention on genuine success. And that doesn’t come unless you build the relationships outside of the building. It can’t be just something you say in the meeting. They’ve got to connect in the apartments, they got to connect in the cafeteria. They have to be truly friends to be able to get that kind of camaraderie.

Who got the punisher award and how impressed were you with what the receivers did with the ball in their hands from a physical standpoint?

If you watch the film, Mycah Pittman shows up still. He is a bulldog out there. He loves it and he loves contact, he loves physicality. Pokey Wilson, on the play in the end zone, we ran the zone and he got one. That was good to see him. Maurice Smith has done a fantastic job of, we changed up a lot of things from the looks, they presented a lot of challenges with the twists. We changed the cadence. There was a lot we did that went into it that Mo had to control and I thought he did a really good job of handling the middle and taking care of business in that aspect. I was proud of those guys for showcasing that ability. We talk about Mycah Pittman, we talk about Malik. Malik had a good one. Pokey Wilson and Maurice Smith. I was proud of those guys’ effort and how they came out and how they attacked. It was fun to watch.

FSU used the short passing game to get yards after the catch

What we talk about is whenever you get the opportunity if you want to be that overachiever, if you want to rush for a 1,000, catch for a 1,000, all these things, it doesn’t happen with just the catch ball. You got to be able to create some space and go. They play a little bit of deep coverage. We had to go underneath a little bit. They play deep. We couldn’t get over the top like we wanted to. We had to take those short passes. Also in protection we wanted to get the ball out. They present a three-down scheme, it causes some issues in protections so we wanted to get the ball out. So it’s a combination of all. I thought the receivers did a good job. Jordan was accurate as all get out. We were able to create some good, positive momentum going with those short passes.

Do quarterbacks get tempted to get bored with the easy passes and take chances?

Jordan has done a good job of managing it overall. One thing about him, he doesn’t get tired of taking no check down. That’s what I think makes him special. He’s been able to protect the football and he hasn’t forced a lot of things. There’s not many throws you see where it’s like (cringes) ‘Oh.’ He does a good job of making good, accurate throws and taking what the defense gives him and going through his progression flawlessly. I give him a lot of credit because you got a good quarterback, when he’s not scared to keep taking what they give you. Even in this game plan when it was just taking the spots and the nows and those little small screens that those receivers were able to catch a ball get a miss. And also give him credit because sometimes he gets to that because he sees it. It might not be a part of the play call. He’s doing a good job of taking what they give him.

Three straight games that Tate Rodemaker has been in the game.

We tell those guys when you go in there that the opposing team is still going to have their 1 defense out there. We’re not going out there to just, it’s not Disneyland. We are going out there to go put a drive together and see if you can help this football team if your number is called. Not only just development but the mentality of them going out there, putting the drive together and understanding how to execute. It’s different when you don’t have the pressure of, ‘If you mess up you lose the game.’ So you’re going out there in the best possible situation because you can not mess it up. So you want to still create that feeling of, ‘Alright, this is on you.’ So they learn and develop that feeling as they are going through. So to your question, yes, it helps a lot in development because not only just the physical part of playing it but the mentality of going out there and having to hit somebody else and still taking it real serious.

Malik McClain with the stiff-arm, refusing to be tackled.

Malik is going to be a problem. He’s going to be stronger. If you look at him, just physically, he’s getting thicker. His confidence is rising. And also that room pushes each other. There’s some competition in that room to go get those balls. When you get them and the mentality is, ‘I got to do something with it,’ that creates a little more hunger, a little bit more competitiveness. Malik is going to be a problem for a while, as big as he is, as strong as he is, as smart as he is. And he’s always shown up. When you go through the season, he had to high point a ball, that one he had to go stiff-arm a guy. He’s going to be a problem for a while and I can’t wait to see him keep growing.

Is the offense playing about as well as you can expect? Is FSU playing close to its ceiling?

No, that wouldn’t be this program. Everything is going to the maximum. Whatever that ceiling is it’s always improvement. It can always go higher. If you challenge yourself in unique ways you can always find a way to get better. I remember visiting, going to the NFL practices, they play in the Super Bowl and they say, ‘I didn’t play like I could have played.’ There’s always a unique challenge to challenge yourself. And the way this program is run with coach Norvell, it’s in all aspects of your life. Whether it be academics, nutrition, there’s always something you can say, ‘I can improve in this because it’s about the process and not the result.’ We got quite a bit more strides to take before we can say we’re hitting that ceiling.

Trey Benson is quick to thank and compliment the offensive line and everyone else. How has his mentality meshed with what you guys want to do or did he come that way?

Trey came that way. Trey is a high character, great, selfless, humble football player. He doesn’t say much. He’s behind the scenes, quiet. And he just wants to go out there and do his best and support the teammates out there. He came in like that. Even when we met his mother in recruiting and what he comes from, he is as good as it gets as far as character goes.

When you have three running backs that can do a lot for the team, how do you go about dividing up the reps especially when Trey has done very well recently?

I think in the first half he might have had eight carries. And he’s still doing a good job. There’s a balance of, we don’t game plan it per se if this back is in here, we’re doing this or this. We let them all go. We are all capable of doing everything we ask them to do. Trey was feeling it. Being that productive part in that point, we’re going to get you the ball more. … Trey has just been more consistently. Treshaun was out, so guys had to step up. 9 (Lawrance Toafili) had some big plays in there too. It’s just more whoever that hot hand is or who’s feeling it we’re going to make sure we get the ball to him.

The last touchdown, Wyatt Rector throwing the pass and taking the hit

Wyatt, you watch him on special teams. He’s a tough individual also. Those plays like that you run them all year. We’re been repping multiple plays like that that we got in the stable since the start of camp. You always have those periods that you’re running those plays just in case you need them. You got multiple of them. To the outside it seems like a trick play but you run them so much it’s not really a trick play or designed it’s just like running inside zone to us because you put so many reps into it on those Sunday practices, those Thursday practices. You rep those plays and you always have them when you need them. Especially with the rule changes, with short-yardage and two-point play rules in overtime you better have a stable of good plays that can get you some yardage.

"Just before we get started I wanted to share my thoughts and prayers down with everybody in Virginia with what their program and university are going through. It's super tragic as a parent, as a coach. You never want to hear anything like that. Thoughts are with this as we move into the week.

On Ryan Fitzgerald's kick before half

“Ryan’s confidence has grown as the last few weeks have unfolded. He’s kicked the ball well in practice, he’s kicked the ball well in the game. So you can see him growing in confidence and I think I don't think that fazes him. Actually I kind of think he enjoyed the moment a little bit. I don't know if it's something that was noticed, but even some of our players after he made the kick that where the timeout was called, kind of came out there and they were kind of cheering him on, and defensive players guys who had really nothing going involved in the play. So I think he feels the support of the team and I think that camaraderie, that support, and the confidence that he's gained, that's helped him. And like I said a few weeks back, we believe in him and we think, he has all the talent and ability to be a really good player and I'm just glad that it started to show and reflect for him and he's able to finish this year hopefully, in a way that that is a very solid finish. It’s a good lesson for a lot of people to learn in terms of staying the course and continuing to work and good things will happen.

On AZ Thomas learning from onside kick

“No question. I was happy for AZ and I loved his response just to the experience that he had a couple of weeks ago. The Georgia Tech one he kind of waited in on the ball a little bit. And this one, he went and attacked it. And that was exactly what we had talked about in terms of what the correction needed to be and our guys were really in tune with it and obviously. At halftime and then and then before we took the field, the reminders were going out that this is a potential situation where you can see an onside kick, but in this case, even the players were reminding each other prior to me even having the same thing. So I just think that as the year has gone on the maturity and the understanding and the recognition of the moments that we're in, guys are doing such a good job with that., I was happy to see, that we were able to execute that moment. And then really it was a critical player in the game because it gave him a starting field position. Our offense was able to go right down on score. And then if you're on that other sideline, that must be deflating coming out of the half. So I thought that was a critical sequence in the game. I was happy for AZ that he could go and make that play.

On focus and determination of the team

“Well the thing that you see with this group is a very, I guess the right way to phrase would be in a business-like approach, to everything that they're doing. That and I don't mean that like they're not having fun, and there's no enthusiasm. There's a lot of fun and a lot of enthusiasm with it. But when they show up to work, they're working. And I think I think that shows that guys are learning what it takes to win. And that's one of the hurdles that you have to overcome as you're building a program is learning what is it that does it take to actually have consistent success the approach that we've had in the last several weeks, has been really good, Friday was excellent. And there are all kinds of little things you know, even like a pregame meal, for example. We have a pregame meal set at a certain time and as a position coach, you get all your guys down there. At this point, the guys are sitting in their seats for a meal 15 minutes before the meal even starts, like they're ready to go. There is no chasing guys around and trying to find out where guys are. I mean, it's a locked-in group that is absolutely ready to go and it's fun from a coaching standpoint because you want to have a group that has that maturity about them. We just have to keep building on as we move forward.”

On camaraderie and the togetherness of this team

“Yeah, I mean, this team is an extremely close team. And I think those bonds are forged through the offseason, through the summer, through fall camp, and then into some of the things that happen throughout the course of the season. One of the things that I've always admired about this group is even when we have had our disappointing moments, there's never been the finger-pointing. There's never been a blame game. There's never been any of that. If anything those difficult situation has forged just tighter together. And I do think that's why one of the reasons why you see the response that you've seen the last several weeks coming off the bye is a group of guys that care about each other. They want to see each other succeed. And I think one of the things that I like that I haven't seen that a lot of places is the defense's reaction to the offense, scoring points, or making plays. I mean, you got guys running off the bench to go congratulate offensive players and I hear that the offensive players when the defense is on the field kind of echoing some of the counting out the takeaways are third down stops and then it has it that team mindset has taken over this group. When you have that, it can be very special and very powerful.

On Pat Payton

“Pat's a guy that, he works every day. He's very humble, in terms of his approach. He's very coachable. And for those reasons, he continues to make progress. He knows he's nowhere near a finished product in any way. So, every single day when he shows up to work, he has that mindset that it's to get better. And I think that's why we've seen consistency in his play. When he has the opportunity to make plays he takes advantage of it, (like) when he did it the other night. And over the next couple of weeks continue to see him grow and get better and hopefully, that springboards him going into what will be his redshirt sophomore campaign.”

On Fitzgerald being hit after a kick

“My eyes once the contact with the kick made like to see if he made the kick or not. And then I just see them both on the ground. So my assumption was that they would probably run into pretty hard. Turns out though, that maybe that wasn't necessarily the case. But they did their best to sell it a little bit. It's not really something we practice obviously. It doesn’t look practiced but they did the best they could. Something we need to work on.

On the development of players

“We’ve come a long way in terms of our execution and understanding. I think Derek McLendon is a guide and I'll use him as an example. In our first year there were a lot of things he was learning and then last year he started to grow his big-picture understanding as a player and then this year I think he's as consistent in terms of assignment execution as anybody that we’ve had at that spot in this program. And that's really true across the board. I mean, guys are doing a nice job in terms of execution and assignments, understanding how the protections are working and how we need to attack protections. I think we have a smart defensive line room and the execution up front has been really good, not just physically, but also executing in terms of assignments and the mental part of the game. We put a lot of stress on those guys in terms of how we execute our different lines stunts or a couple of times they're in coverage. And I thought we did a nice job of that the other night and we've done a nice job of that throughout the course of the year.”

On Payton finishing plays

“I think he had a couple of plays that he felt like he missed opportunities on the first several games that he played in and it bugged him a little bit. Those things are going to happen. I mean, that's part of the development and growth process. But I would say in the last couple of weeks specifically, he's done a really nice job of finishing plays. I mean, the other day, being an example, he was unblocked on pressure, but at the end of the day, you still have to finish the play. And he did a nice job with that he did a nice job in the Miami game, reaching out and forcing the strip. So where he was close before, now those plays are turning out to be finished plays. We always say this is a game of inches, and that's a great example of that he was really close to making some impact plays early in the year but he's closing the gap on what was a close by to now finishing those plays, which is, is a big difference for us as a defense.”

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