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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 8, 2010

Jimbo Fisher

THE MODERATOR: We welcome now Florida State head football coach Jimbo Fisher. We'll bring on Coach Fisher, ask for a brief opening statement, then go to questions.
Coach.
COACH FISHER: Hello, how we doing? We're excited. We're up for the challenge this week. We're looking forward to it. We definitely have your work cut out. We're fixing to play a great Oklahoma team.
We're anxious to see where we stand right now with our program, where our young guys are.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Fisher.

Q. Coach, lot of conversation this morning about scheduling, the philosophy that goes into your schedule this year. Three of your four games are pretty tough opponents. What is the upside or downside playing Virginia Tech? Talk to me a little bit about your thoughts going forward. The next two or three years you do have a pretty difficult non-conference schedule.
COACH FISHER: Yeah, we do. We have a big non-conference schedule. What that allows you to do, that gives you a lot of national notoriety. If you win those games or are successful, it gives you a lot of instant credibility, you mainly get into the national title hunt.
The downside of it is, it's a lot of emotional games that you have to get up for every year when you're in a great conference like we are. I know it makes injuries and things like that, sometimes when you're doing that. Sometimes when you are going that, you can have those really physical, tough games. Sometimes it can have an effect on your team. That goes year by year. That can happen at any time also. It's not always when you're playing great games like that. It does add some fun and excitement to the season but also adds some extra work and extra drama.
There's just a philosophy there that some like to do it, some don't like to do it, some like to get in the middle somewhere and do a little bit of both.

Q. In a perfect world, how would you do your four games?
COACH FISHER: We have a great non-conference opponent in Florida every year, which is a major opponent. I'd like to have one other significant opponent, and then two opponents, maybe an FCS-type school, then one other significant team to do it.

Q. Coach, can you give us a sense on how Jenije is making a pretty tough transition from corner to safety.
COACH FISHER: I mean, it is. But when you have knowledge of the game, the ability to think and do the things he does, I mean, in one way it's a transition as far as the mental capacity. Sometimes it can be different. It can be more physical in tackling, but you're not out there on an island as much in space in what you're doing.
I think he's a very good football player. He understands football. I think he's making a very good transition in the mix inside. It gives you an extra cover guy when you're inside against those three- and four-wide out teams. He's doing well with it and I think he'll continue to do well with it.

Q. Oklahoma didn't seem all that impressive in their opening game. Anything in there that you think if Utah State did this, we should be able to do this, too?
COACH FISHER: No. I'm sure Oklahoma, all they did was going to get Oklahoma coach's attention. They are going to get on them and coach the heck out of them this week. Those guys know it was a tough game. They'll be on an emotional high. The fans will be on an emotional high. They'll be well prepared and ready to play this week.
Schematically you'll look at things and go. We're much different schematically from Utah State. I don't know how much from that game we can really take.

Q. What is the biggest concern you have facing the Sooners?
COACH FISHER: Going on the road, your first road game of the year. How you adapt to each other. There's so many young players on our team. How we deal with the hostile environment and deal with the adversity.
You know Oklahoma is going to make plays. They're a sound team all the way across, from offense, defense to special teams. They're going to present a great problem. They usually play well at home.
There's a list of them we could probably have this whole 20-minute conversation about. I think they have a bunch of them.

Q. Jimbo, wanted to know how Christian Jones played in his first game and your thoughts on his progress.
COACH FISHER: He's been progressing unbelievably. I mean, playing with great instinct outside. I believe he had a sack in the game, a bunch of tackles. Played about 30 plays in the game. Really picking things up. Really quiet. Doesn't say a lot. Just goes out there, does his job. Plays extremely hard.
Has a future that I think can be one of the great ones in Florida State history if he can stay healthy and continue to grow and mold himself after some of the greats that have played here.
We're just tickled to death with him. He's playing a lot. He's a backup right right now on a lot of special teams. Will get a lot of significant snaps during the game. Couldn't be happier. I thought he had a great debut.

Q. Do you think one of the keys this week will be Murray of Oklahoma trying to stop him?
COACH FISHER: Oh, there is no doubt. He's a first-round back. He has size, speed, athleticism, makes you miss, can run over you, do all those things. 218 yards in the game last week. You know in football, being able to run the football and being able to stop the run are the keys to any offense or defense.
They give it to him, they want to give it to him. They make no bones about it. That's the first thing we're going to have to be able to do is stop the run and try to hold him down as much as you can. I don't know if you ever stop him, but hopefully we can just keep him contained a little bit.

Q. Coach, what would you describe as the most pleasant surprise, if any, out of the opener?
COACH FISHER: You know, I don't know if it was any pleasant surprise, but I was excited to see the way our kids competed in the game. I know you're ahead and you can do that. Even when we got way ahead, we didn't let up as far as our effort, our focus, our concentration, our discipline, the way you play the game. Not worrying about the scoreboard, the score of the game, but the way you played the game. We had a goal line stand with six, seven, eight freshmen in the game at the end. We had a goal line stand. I felt very good about that because that said something personally about them, the pride, not letting up, wanting to do well.
The other thing is our communication with our staff, having a new staff on the field for the first time with the defensive unit, us as a whole unit, as a coaching staff together, I thought we communicated well, got most of our game operation issues down very well and had very few mistakes in that regard.

Q. Along those lines, early in the season, which unit has an advantage, the punt/block team or the team punting, kick coverage in September versus November, is it any more difficult?
COACH FISHER: Well, I mean, I think that goes back to experience with who you have on each side of the ball. If you have experienced returners or do you have experienced guys on that team that have blocked returns, and your long snapper and kicker. Is it a first-time snapper, a guy that has never done it? Those situations. Your punter, as far as that goes, is he an experienced guy, a guy that has been there and done it for a year or two?
I think it goes both ways. But generally speaking, I think the biggest worries you always have as a coach is getting the punt blocked, those things. I think those are the things you work on the hardest. You have to make sure you don't give up those things in the kicking game, that you don't give up the return or the block. I think that's the thing you emphasize the most as a coach anyway.

Q. How do you emphasize those things in August when you really can't go at the same speed you would go in a real game because of the threat of injury?
COACH FISHER: Well, I think you create drills and you create situations, you create half-line drills, you create schemes inside the block, the way people block you, all those things. I think the way you create your practice, I think you can do that.
Sometimes you go out there and you go full speed. You may not get a complete tackle on the return guy, but you block him, you do it, you go full speed, which we did in the fall camp.

Q. To follow-up on Oklahoma. They're breaking in a new quarterback. Much has been made about that. When you looked at the Oklahoma film from last week, what did you think of him?
COACH FISHER: I thought he was a very good player. Here is the thing. He played all last year. They lost their quarterback, Sam Bradford, in the opener in the first quarter. He's really a second-year starter. He started every game last year, threw for over three thousand yards, I think 26, 28 touchdowns.
He's a second-year starter. He came out and played very well in the first game. Great arm. Gets the ball down the field. Extremely accurate. They have the guys that can go get it. Very impressed with him.
He is not really a new starter. This is his second year to start, so he has a lot of experience.
THE MODERATOR: Jimbo, thanks for being with us. We look forward to having you next week. Good luck this weekend.
COACH FISHER: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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