ORLANDO — Mike Norvell discusses Florida State's bowl practices, the decisions by veterans to play in the Cheez-It Bowl and the opportunity ahead for a 10th win against Oklahoma on Thursday.
MIKE NORVELL: I want to say thank you to the Cheez-It Bowl, our rival yesterday coming in, incredible hospitality from the entire group. Great group of people. The efficiency and organization of what we are able to do today, I thought our guys came to work and had a really good practice. I liked the mindset.
This team, they have really had a good Bowl prep. We have a lot of work that we still have to do as we lead up to Thursday night, but I like their mentality and the way they have pushed themselves, the way they have been preparing. We are going to enjoy this Bowl experience.
But today was an important practice for us. I thought the energy level and the speed that showed up was impressive. And still some things we are going to clean up just when it comes to our execution and efficiency, but I think the guys have the right mindset. And just grateful to be here, and just all the people associated with the Bowl have just been remarkable.
With that, I'll take some questions.
Q. You guys have been practicing back in Tallahassee, but this is the first time a lot of players have ever been in a Bowl, a few years since any of them have been in a Bowl. Did you sense excitement when you got here, when you got to the location and practice here?
MIKE NORVELL: Absolutely. They showed me their excitement with how they prepared back at home. There's plenty of distractions that can be in place. Anytime you have an extended downtime, you know, maintaining that edge -- finish the season, playing as good as anybody in the country, I believe, and the objective for this game is to go be better.
I think our guys have embraced it throughout the season. They have really worked hard, and I've liked the edge that they have brought.
But we got here last night. This is a reward. It's a reward for the team. It's a reward for the work they have done. We talk a lot about the relationships that have been established throughout this football team, and that's what I enjoy. I'll enjoy watching them hanging out together, to get away and just enjoy that fellowship.
This morning to get up, everything is different when you get to a Bowl. Sometimes guys want to hold back because they don't know exactly where to go or exactly what to do. But once we got to the practice field, I thought they had a great edge about them, and I thought they were able to have a really good practice.
You can feel that expectation and excitement.
Q. Obviously not your first Bowl game, but for this team and program to go through, it's been a while. You talked before about having several plans, what to go through. How much do you have to maybe kind of educate some of these guys who have never been through a Bowl experience what to expect?
MIKE NORVELL: We had a lot of different plans because of the different Bowl options. Obviously Plan A ended up being the result of it. So we went through and really from everything, with our strength and conditioning, sports science, all the things that we knew would be necessary for us to build our guys so that Thursday night we have the opportunity to go play our best, I think that was the plan that we laid out just from the days we were practicing.
Some of the things that we were going to have, mental days rather than as much of the physical push, and I really liked the results that I've seen. It's been really good up until this point. These guys, it's about building trust. Since the very first day I got here at Florida State, it's being able to earn that trust throughout the experiences.
And these guys know we put a lot of time and thought into how we are going to do things, and we try to explain the why. When it's time to show up and go to work, there's one standard for how we are going to do that.
And that's what I think this team has really bought into and it's not -- we got some really talented people and professionals that are helping lay out those plans and being able to create the expectation for what we need to do; and the players, it's their job to give everything they have when we have the opportunity.
I think that trust has been established throughout the year and throughout the last couple years. And so we know what it takes, and now we just have to go be the best we can and executing that plan.
Q. Mycah got the Cheez-It room. Have you had a chance to see it yet, and what's been the reaction?
MIKE NORVELL: I have not yet to see it other than the video, and I know my daughter got to go, she wanted to see it. So Mycah was kind enough to let her see that. She said it's plenty of orange. It's pretty remarkable. I guess dark is still dark at night, but it's a pretty bright room (laughter).
Q. How important is it to finish strong for this season, in addition to what you're building heading into next season with so many players coming back?
MIKE NORVELL: Everything builds off itself. For us, our focus is this game. It's to go be our best. And one of the things that's a little bit of a challenge and almost a little bit of a distraction with so many players making that decision to come back and really announcing it early and something I'm proud of, but you know, this is not -- it's not about next year. It's about right now. It's about this team. It's about this game. It's about this opportunity.
And, you know, sometimes the excitement for what's to come, you cannot allow that to distract you for what we have here in this moment and this practice. It's this day. Lord willing, we wake up tomorrow, we have to go be better.
Our expectation is to go play our best game this year. That's been the expectation with each week that we've had throughout the course of the season: continue to improve, continue to get better, focusing on those little things that separate us.
You know, what's ahead? Well, there's an exciting time for Florida State football. There's an exciting time for the young men we are building and the young men I get to coach and the work they have put in.
The future is bright, but we have to take care of the moment and ultimately the things that we can control, and that's this week. You know, it's an absolute treat to be able to be here and to get a chance to play in this game, and you know, we just want to go show and be better than what we've been.
Q. Just wondering, now that you've had time to reflect on the end of the regular season, what do you think were the one or two things that were the biggest causes for the turning point for this team to play so well? And do you feel like there has been a feeling in the program that things are really cooking right now and things are going well?
MIKE NORVELL: They never stopped. There was no direct just turning point. Even through some disappointing games there in the middle of the season, they continued to work. They continued to believe. You lay out an expectation, you have a plan. Sometimes things don't always go exactly the way that you anticipate or expect them to go, but you still are in control of your response.
And this team responded by continuing to draw close together, to push the standard, to push the expectation to go get better throughout the course of the season. You know, it's their decision. It's their choice.
You know, as a coaching staff, we push hard, and even though some games didn't go the way we wanted, that didn't change the approach of what we brought. Our guys in this team, they responded the way that I expected them to, and you've seen them grow.
We have got a great group of young men. I am so blessed to be able to coach them because they care about each other. They care about this program. They care about who they represent and who they get to do it with and for, and so that's the joy of watching a team grow. You know, as we have gone through, it's what makes this week special because you get one more opportunity for this group to go play the game together, and as you watch them kind of rise up through the opportunities that they have had, it's a remarkable group. I'm excited to see them play Thursday night.
Q. Now that the game is this week, just what do you think it says about the team that none of your top players have opted out for the game, and how hard was it in this day and age to convince and talk and just kind of go through that for however many days and figure that out?
MIKE NORVELL: You know, the great thing, there was no convincing that needed to be made. I mean, I remember the first Bowl practice, we had a couple of our top players that were going to meet with the media afterwards. I didn't even talk to them about anything when it comes to opt-out or decisions or any of that. But we had a practice scheduled and it was an opportunity to go get better. There was nobody that was missing out on that.
And so I talked to the players right after I got done with the meeting and said, Hey, just so you know, you don't have to go and make any decision. You don't have to go -- they are probably going to get asked about it. 20 minutes later, I'm looking at my phone, and we have a couple players that are already, "I'm playing in this game. This is it."
That's what it should be. These guys, they love playing the game. They love playing and getting a chance to represent each other. Each situation is unique to itself. I mean, the fact that I don't have to try to convince anybody to play, I mean, ultimately, you always look at each decision, whether guys would like to go pro, would like to come back. It's about each individual, and we try to help them along through the process by providing information, by helping to guide. And if there are any opinions, I want them to be educated opinions of how we guide them through their careers.
But it's always about them. And that's what's been so nice because this team, they are excited to play. They are excited. I've talked about it. When you get a chance to do something that's going to change a wall at Florida State, you've done something. That's where we talk about the opportunity to go try to win your tenth game is big. It would be the 25th time in our program's history.
That's a great challenge but also a great opportunity for these guys to go finish the season; the way that they have worked and continuing to push to our expectation and standard of what we want -- how we want to operate.
Q. You have Randy on the staff, and you have Tatum on the team, guys who have played with Dillon when he was at UCF. Do you plan on using those guys to get an idea or scouting report of what to expect, even though Dillon played this year with Oklahoma?
MIKE NORVELL: I mean, you know, you always try to gather information of just whether it's from years past, just any little things that you can gain. We watch film. We have a pretty good sense. There's been a couple years since that was -- teammates and everybody going through it. But we had a chance to see this year and what that looks like. But, yeah, you always try to take whatever information is out there that might be able to help or benefit.
Q. In the same vein, facing Venables who coached at Clemson. Have you seen anything that he's brought to Oklahoma that you can attack?
MIKE NORVELL: His defense is going to attack, and they are going to bring pressure all over the field. They lead the Big 12 in tackles for loss. They are going to try to create havoc in what they do. There are some similarities.
But similar to the last question we just talked about, this team is unique to itself. And as guys fit into it, they try to play to the skills and talents of the players that they have. So that's been our focus. We know they are going to attack, we know they are going to bring pressure. They do a good job schematically in their plans of attack. So we have to be ready to adapt and adjust throughout the course of the game.
Q. There's a lot of discussion nationally about Bowl games that are not in the Playoff. Did you envision a scenario where you went into a Bowl game and didn't feel like it was of huge importance?
MIKE NORVELL: I can't. It's a special experience. Been fortunate to be in quite a few Bowl games in my coaching year, and when you -- when you see this week and just all that goes into it -- and that's not even -- yes, the game is one thing but also the impact. The impact within the community. The impact that when you have two teams coming from different places to be celebrated for what they have done throughout the course of the season, they get to go compete for one more.
Just what that means to the different communities, obviously it's great being here in Orlando and being able to represent in our home state. But I think they are special. You know, I know that with the Playoff and all the things that are also out there, this is still a great reward. It's a great reward for the teams. It's a great reward for the staffs, the families, all that get to be a part of this week.
It is special. Even within the preparation of what it takes, we had a lot of young players that those extra practices were big for. You've seen guys that are growing up and trying to take advantage of all those, it's really important.
So I'm grateful for them. And, you know, it's a special venue that we get to be a part of here this week with the Cheez-It Bowl.
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