Willie Taggart and Florida State head into a pivotal rivalry weekend fresh off a 35-17 win over Syracuse. On Monday, Taggart discusses the opportunity and ramifications of the Miami game, takeaways from the win over Syracuse and his reaction to a viral incident where a fan shouted him down following the victory.

FSU hosts Miami at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2 Saturday.

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WILLIE TAGGART: Well, great to be back with you all after the win, in Doak. Like I told you all Saturday, proud of our football team, our coaches and players. Just how they were able to focus, have great focus last week and prepare for that game to go out and play the way that we played and I think a lot of it had to do with their focus and with each other and what we had to get done and we're going to need that same amount of focus probably even more this week with it being rival week against Miami. We all know with this game, it's just a little different when Miami and Florida State play, and we've got to have, again, the focus that we need to go out there and execute and play at the level that it's going to require for us to win the ball game.

Q. Willie, what went into the decision to start Alex [Hornibrook]? And did he give you what you guys were hoping to get out of him?

WILLIE TAGGART: We just did what we felt was best, would give us the best chance to win the ball game. We felt like Alex was going to give us the best chance to win the ball game.

Q. So are the decisions usually based on the match-up in that particular week, or is it who is ahead in the grand scheme of things?

WILLIE TAGGART: I think it's evaluating the guys throughout the week and in practice and operate the game plan and execute it in practice and then you decide what's best for the team for that week, get together staff, decide what you want to do and you go with it.

Q. Do you have an update on Dontae Lucas, and will he be available this week?

WILLIE TAGGART: Dontae is day-to-day.

Q. In the lineup things have been clicking. What has been clicking with the front recently?

WILLIE TAGGART: Guys just playing well together, playing hard, competing, they're fighting. It's a different lineup. They're playing hard, and Cam [Akers] is running hard, and receivers are blocking, so I think guys are just getting better.

Q. Coach, with the Wildcat formation and the success that you had, how big is it whether you decide to use it prominently moving forward, the fact that Miami has to spend a lot of time and film in practice preparing for it?

WILLIE TAGGART: I mean, it was good for us on Saturday. I think you will see more of it. You will see us doing more of it, obviously, it worked. Cam [Akers] did a great job of executing it while he was back there. So it's on film, everybody gets to see it and practice against it, and we've got to self-scout ourselves and do some things to help prepare us for these upcoming games.

Q. Coach, as someone who grew up watching FSU, you know the stakes that the rivalry had back in the 80s and 90s. In more recent years, obviously it would be your second game playing, how have you seen that rivalry change recently?

WILLIE TAGGART: Miami won the last two, I think that's how it's changed. We need to stop that. So the rivalry is the rivalry. It's going to be a big game. You can throw the records out, each year you can do that. You gotta come ready to play that game and be focused that entire game, be focused on executing the game plan and not necessarily the opponent and the trash talk and all that stuff that goes with it. You've got to stay locked in to get it done, that's what it's going to require to win a game like this.

The rivalry is the rivalry; it's always going to be big-time. We don't like each other, and that's just the way it is.

Q. With the rivalry, obviously Coach [Manny] Diaz has Florida State ties. What kind of relationship or interactions have you had with him?

WILLIE TAGGART: I've talked to Coach Diaz a couple times, talked to him in ACC meetings and whenever I see him on the road recruiting.

Q. And the offensive line, how impressed were you with two guys (Andrew Boselli & Darius Washington) making their first-ever starts, and another guy (Cole Minshew) in making his first start in a while?

WILLIE TAGGART: It's good to go out and see those guys go out and play and help our football team win. Seeing the young guys go out and compete and fight and doing the things we need them to do against some experienced guys, it was really good to see those guys go in and competing against those guys. Lets us know we have a bright future ahead of us, but I thought those guys played well together and helped our football team.

Q. Willie, Miami brings one of the better defenses you guys are going to play against all season. What do they do really well and the fact that you played another elite defense in Clemson, will that help you?

WILLIE TAGGART: I would say schematically they're different than Clemson and what they are doing. They have some talented players on that side of the ball, skilled in the secondary, veteran linebackers who played a lot of football together and the athletic defensive line. They have athletes on that side of the ball and they're aggressive, play man coverage, and they have a defensive end that's pretty active in rushing the passer. They play well. They play well together, they run through the ball, and they create takeaways.

Q. Willie, we call it the "WildCam", what do you call it?

WILLIE TAGGART: QB3.

Q. That works. How much does it help in that formation that he can throw the ball? He's proven he can throw the ball, and he was a quarterback in high school.

WILLIE TAGGART: I think it helps tremendously because now you're not just going to put him back there to run, you can see that he can throw the ball, too, and it helped that he played quarterback in high school. We see Cam [Akers] throw every day in practice, like, wow! So it wasn't anything new to us, but it was good to see that he can throw the football accurately and we're going to need him to.

Q. I know Syracuse’s offense has not had a great season but how impressed were you guys with the way you played defensively for the first two and a half, three quarters, and did you see that coming?

WILLIE TAGGART: I think our defense played well when we were aggressive, and Coach [Harlon] Barnett did a good job of being aggressive in his play calling throughout the game, putting our players in position to make plays that they're capable of making. So when we are doing that, our defense plays really well, and we need to continue to put our guys into position to make plays, and that's one thing that I was impressed with both Kendal [Briles] and Coach Barnett, is, again, not necessarily thinking plays, they were thinking players and putting our players in position to make plays on Saturday, and that was good to see.

Q. Willie, there was a moment, I think they had cut it 35-10, and you had ten guys out on kickoff and you got really angry?

WILLIE TAGGART: Emotionally high-jacked, right?

Q. So I guess that's the small details when you're trying to build a program, right? Even though you're playing well and you have a 25-point lead?

WILLIE TAGGART: Absolutely. That's something we discussed and we went over quite a bit in practice throughout the week as coaches and players, something we said we didn't want to happen anymore, and it happened coming off the sideline after the touchdown. Yeah, I was frustrated, got a little emotionally high-jacked, and going to continue to get emotionally high- jacked if it happens again. Gotta make sure we're very detailed in everything we're doing, coaches and players. That just can't happen.

Q. Coach, you've obviously seen growing up throughout your life all the great Florida State/Miami games, actually coaching it last year for the first time down there. What was that like, being in that environment?

WILLIE TAGGART: I guess I had a lot of different emotions in that game, coming in, exciting, you don't know what you're going to get out of it, but from the game standpoint we were up and next thing you know we were down so I had a lot of different emotions. It was fun. You knew what to expect. To me it was no different than I was as a fan not being here, I wanted to beat 'em, I wanted to beat 'em bad. Still the same, I want to beat 'em, hate to lose to Miami, hate it. It sucks.

Q. In terms of Hamsah [Nasirildeen]'s 17 tackles, that doesn't happen very often. When you go back and watch it, was it just the way things were coming to him, or did he take things to a different level?

WILLIE TAGGART: I think it was a little bit of both. It was play calling and him just being in the right position and going to make some plays that he's capable of making.

I thought, like I said earlier, Coach [Harlon] Barnett did a great job of play calling and getting him around the ball a little more. He's talented. He can cover the entire football field. But I thought he had a great week of practice and understood the game plan and what we wanted to

get accomplished and that's why it paid off for him. He was sharp all week, doing a great job of communicating with his teammates on what they should be doing and what he was getting ready to do and it paid off for him in the game.

Q. You touched on this Saturday night, but how much is being tough to play at home and making sure you win at home kind of a check mark on the way to being a great program or elite program?

WILLIE TAGGART: I mean, that's something we've always done around here is won at Doak. And I think a lot of young men that decide to come here, a big reason is being at Doak, being around our fan base and the environment, what it's like. It's a big reason for why they come here. They all understand and know we gotta take care of our home. It's so important we do that. Proud of our guys here lately. We've done that. But a big part of that is our fans. I think they give our guys a little extra strength to go out and compete the way we do. We're going to need it on Saturday.

Q. What does it allow your guys to do when [Robert] Cooper is creating so much disruption in the middle of the line?

WILLIE TAGGART: I think whenever you can create penetration you’re always affecting the offense, whether it's running or pass blocking, whenever you can take guys to the second level it's different when you got a guy like Coop in the middle that's hard to move and when he gets ticked off he knocks people back and that's tough. That's what we need to see out of Coop all the time. That's what he can be, that's what we need for him to be.

As long as he's playing at a level like this, you see our linebackers making plays like he was making, doing those things when the guys up front can do their job. It's really important, especially running a 3-4 defense that our nose guard is physical and aggressive and gets after the center.

Q. Jordan Young had his first career catch, how big was that for his confidence and how nice it was to see him get involved?

WILLIE TAGGART: It was great, that young man works his tail off. He doesn't say anything, just come to work every single day. I told him before the game, his time is coming, his time is coming. His work is not going unnoticed. We've all seen it as coaches, and it's great for me to see a young man prepare himself and take advantage of an opportunity when it came to him and that catch was huge. That ball was in the air, you could tell who wanted the ball and who didn't. He wanted the ball, and that's what we want out of all of our receivers.

Q. We didn't observed Warren Thompson on the sideline. What's the status now? Is he expected to be coming back up soon?

WILLIE TAGGART: Warren is handling some personal issues right now, so that's it.

Q. After the game there was a clip circulating on Twitter of a fan shouting you down after a win on your home field. You didn't seem to react at all. What is it about your comportment that allows you not to get upset? You talked about being emotionally high-jacked during the game but something like that you turned the other cheek?

WILLIE TAGGART: Control what I can control, my attitude and my work ethic, that's what I do. I can't control what anybody else says or whatever. I appreciate all our fans and we're working hard to make them all proud. It is what it is.

Q. Miami has used a few different quarterbacks this year. I'm sure your preparation is the same, but do you have to account for the fact that you might see some different guys?

WILLIE TAGGART: I think I've been asked that three weeks in a row now. I don't think they get too far away from their offense with either guy that's in there at quarterback. I think they're going to run their offense and whichever quarterback is in there we've got to be ready for them, and the beauty is we've got film on both of them so you know how they operate under center. We'll be ready for whatever they bring at us on Saturday.

Q. Coach, 12 tackles for loss this last weekend, Syracuse, I think you had two the weekend before. Does that go back to the aggression thing on defense you were talking about, getting after it more? Is there something you guys have learned defensively over the last couple of weeks about that?

WILLIE TAGGART: No. I heard you all talk about it last week, we didn't get to the quarterback against Wake. The game plan wasn't necessarily to go in there and be aggressive, Wake Forest has a unique style of offense, and you run, you go in the wrong gap, they gash you because of the style of play they play.

So the game plan wasn't necessarily to be aggressive on that, and I thought the game plan worked well for us and keeping them from scoring so many touchdowns like they had been before. We didn't get to the quarterback, but we kept them out of the end zone. That was different from a game plan standpoint and Syracuse, the game plan was different.

They didn't run that unique style of offense that Wake Forest did and we were able to do those things and I think each week is different and when you're going up against and try to have a good game plan so our guys can execute.

If it means getting aggressive getting after the quarterback, then we’ve got to do that, if it means sitting back and filling the gaps and keeping them from explosive plays, we gotta do that as well.

Q. How is Ricky [Aguayo] doing healthwise? And how did you think Parker [Grothaus] did?

WILLIE TAGGART: We've got to be better up front, up in the frontline, especially in our guard position, on field goal. We didn't do a good job there, and the one time they called them for jumping, probably could have had another one. I thought Parker did a good job for us, and Ricky, again, is day-to-day, dealing with some health issues, and he's day-to-day and hopefully we get him back soon.

Q. How did Cam [Akers] come out, I know the game was in hand, but he did leave the game. How is he healthwise?

WILLIE TAGGART: He's good. Typical game like that, bumps and bruises but Cam is good, ready to roll.

Q. With rivalry games is there anything different about success in rivalry games? Is there anything different approach wise with rivalry games versus regular games?

WILLIE TAGGART: Different because it's the rival, and a lot of guys know each other on those teams and a lot of them played high school ball together, grew up with them, so that makes it different. It's a game.

It's a different game. Fan base, everybody is crazy about these games. So, yeah, I think it is different and in certain ways -- I don't necessarily think you go about it different from a game plan standpoint but I think with our team and our approach we gotta understand where our focus needs to be. It's on the details of the game plan and what it's going to take to win a rivalry game. Talk is not going to do it. We gotta go out and do it on the football field so we gotta make sure we are prepared and ready to go for Saturday.

Q. Ready to name a quarterback?

WILLIE TAGGART: Yeah, Cam Akers.

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