FSU offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and defensive coordinator Tony White met with the media on Sunday evening to review the loss at Virginia. Below are a few quotes from the coordinators:
Gus Malzahn
Opening statement: “Offensively, we faced really adversity for the first time. Getting off to a tough start. We had two penalties, we had a fumble. A lot of uncharacteristic things. I was proud the way our guys fought back at the end. A play or two one way or another.“
FSU is learning, growing: “We’re still growing as an offense. I’ve said that. I think we’ll continue to get better. We’ve got to correct the self-inflicted things. But our guys, I thought they responded, for the most part, like champs. We’re growing as an offense. That was an experience that we need to learn from and be better moving forward.”
On Tommy Castellanos: “He’s playing his guts out. I think everybody can see that. He’s still learning his teammates, too. He’s really fighting hard and playing hard. I was proud of his effort.”
Castellanos saying team was likely overconfident: “It’s been happiness camp for three weeks. We play really good. We didn’t face any adversity. And you go on the road, you’re going to face adversity. You got to keep in mind, we got 11 new starters. We got new coaches. We’re growing. The biggest thing, the positive that I took from the deal is the way we responded. We kept fighting. We kept playing. There was some execution things late obviously. But we’re still growing. That’s just the way it is. We got to eliminate the mistakes. I do feel good about this group, the way they responded after the game, the way they responded today in the practice. We got to be that offense that learns from it and is better moving forward. And I expect us to do that.”
Tony White
Lack of pressure: “The biggest thing going back and looking at the film, they’re in rhythm getting the ball out. … You just got to continue to try to mix it up and figure out a mismatch in there. We started bringing the DBs off the edge and it hit home a couple times. A couple other times we just missed them. That was a good group. They were very coordinated in what they did. They hadn’t given up a sack all year. We got a couple. Should have had a couple more. Need to put the guys in a better position to get back there.”
Missed tackles, not wrapping up well: “That’s the thing I’m most disappointed about is not finishing those plays. There’s a ton of times where we’re hitting the ball at three or four times and it’s falling forward for four, five and six. Which again adds on to the downs. That part I think is probably the most disappointing part. And that goes back to maybe didn’t emphasize it enough in the week. There are so many plays where you talk about finish, right? There’s I don’t know how many tackles that turn what could be a third-and-7 or 8 into a third-and-3 or 4. That’s a big difference right there.”
Miami on offense: “Their offensive line is massive. Their backs are really powerful. They’re confident, downhill football. The quarterback, they protect him at all costs. He doesn’t get hit very much. He doesn’t make bad reads. And then their receiving corps, I think they’re starting to settle in with what they do, and they’re gaining confidence. One-handed catches. They’re just a confident football team that is big, physical, downhill at you. It will be a great challenge in one of football’s best rivalries.”
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