FEDEX ORANGE BOWL: OKLAHOMA v FLORIDA STATE

January 1, 2001

Brian Allen

Mickey Andrews

Tay Cody

Derrick Gibson

Chris Hope

Tommy Polley

Jamal Reynolds

David Warren

COACH ANDREWS: Well, first of all, we're glad to be back and have an opportunity to play in this ballgame. I guess probably -- we've had as good a preparation defensively as we've had for any of our Bowl games. Been a little chilly. The weather has been a little bit cooler than what we anticipated, both in Tallahassee and down here. But overall, we've had excellent practices. I think our guys know what we're trying to do, and it is just a matter now of getting -- you know, getting ready -- we do a lot of film study the last two days before we play. So we'll zero in on that and hopefully get back to where we want to be and can go out there and play well enough, you know, fundamentally that we can be successful.

DERRICK GIBSON: We're just happy to be back here playing for the Championship. I feel like we practice hard in Tallahassee and down here, and we're just ready to play football.

JAMAL REYNOLDS: We're happy to be in the Championship for the third time in a row, and hopefully, we can cap off this back-to-back championship sequence that we're in. We're just grateful to be down here in the Orange Bowl and get another shot at the national title.

CHRIS HOPE: We've had a great preparation this week. Like Coach said, the weather has been a little unusual for us, and we've been getting back in the mode of playing football since we've been off so long. And we just had great preparation and hopefully we can turn it over to have a great ballgame.

BRIAN ALLEN: Just extend thanks to be back here again. Thanks first and foremost. We're going to take Oklahoma as serious as anything. I think the critics have extended us as a 12-point favorite or something like that. I mean, we're not looking at that at all. We've seen from Oklahoma. We know what they did with a Nebraska team; destroyed a Northwestern team. So we're taking this game as serious as any game we've played all season. So just extending thanks again.

DAVID WARREN: Yes, I think everyone has been enthused. You give credit to the many seniors that we have. Like I say, we had an opportunity to win last year and we know how the group of seniors felt going out last year, and I'm sure all 25 of us wants to go out the same way as last year.

TAY CODY: Thanks again for us coming to the Orange Bowl. I think we have great preparation. The most important part we are done with, the physical part of that preparation. I think the next two day s is going to be more mental, more time in the film room and just getting your mental assignments down. I think we are going to be really well prepared and just looking forward to the game on Wednesday.

TOMMY POLLEY: Just happy to be here. But I'm looking forward to the challenge and this is going to be a great ballgame.

BRIAN ALLEN: Oh, probably just to start out, that question came up I think the last time we had a press conference, and I said it was sort of like they had a pacifier in their mouth up until the Miami game. We took a loss, and I know it seemed like -- after that game, they have stepped up their play. That's a credit to the success that we have had as a defense, the way everybody has performed has been the way our front has played. Jamal, David, the two interior guys, they have been performing exceptionally well after the loss to Miami. And like I said, it is a credit to the way we have been playing as a defensive unit.

TOMMY POLLEY: I think you can probably blame Jamal Reynolds. He started out like gang busters, and I think the young guys seen how he started and I think David Warren, he probably seen all the press and things that Jamal was doing. And when he got over his injury, he moved in there and started doing the same things. So I think mainly, just got contagious with those four guys down there, and right now they are playing the best ball of the season.

TAY CODY: I don't think we are game plan is to isolate on any particular receiver. I think as a unit it is probably going to be the best unit that we're going to play against. They don't have a Sam Moggins (ph) or a Reggie Wayne (ph) in there, but as a group, they are very consistent and they are big receivers. Josh Heupel, he does an outstanding job of placing the ball up letting his receivers go up and make plays, same as what Chris does at Florida State. It's going to be a challenge to us. The type of offense they have, very confusing, good challenge for the secondary, and we've been up for the task all season.

JAMAL REYNOLDS: When the quarterback is trying to get the all ball away, quick one of the main things the coaches try to get us do is get our hands up and try to deflect passes and just do the best we can to get back in his face. But the main thing is just trying to get your hands up on the quick passes and make get a few deflections.

JAMAL REYNOLDS: The main thing for a defensive end is getting back to the quarterback, and that's what we're going to try to do, and hopefully we can get him in a long situation; so maybe get him to hold the ball a little bit. I think defensive backs help us out a lot, covering receivers and stuff, and the better job they do, the better chance we do of getting back to the quarterback.

COACH ANDREWS: Well, you know a couple of years ago, we go at Arizona and play Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl, and we were in a similar situation that we had like five, six weeks since we last played a ballgame. Tennessee played two games after we finished our season. We felt like that was really a distinct advantage for them because they were a little sharper with their tackling. Their fundamentals had not eroded as much as we felt like ours had, and we kind of felt like that we needed to do a little more hitting. You get to the end of the year like that, and you're kind of afraid to scrimmage an awful lot, because you don't want to get people hurt. But we had to do this last year, and we did it again this year. The thing that we tried to do was make sure that we had our guys sharp defensively and fundamentals, and that's basically what we tried to do. We got a couple kids banged up in the process, but we didn't lose any, thank goodness.

COACH ANDREWS: Well, they are different from any team scheme-wise that we have played. I guess if you took an offense, you would look back at Kentucky; that's where Mike Leach came from. He put the offense in Oklahoma before going to Texas Tech. And of course, Mark and the guys have just added things and have done an unbelievable job of coaching their skill people, especially quarterback and receivers, reading different coverages, adjusting routes, the quarterback, you know, getting the ball to the right people. What they will normally have is three receivers out on one side and two on the other side. And then they look at numbers from there and decide where they are going to build the football. And then it gets down to execution, getting the ball in, whether it be zone or man, and you're getting it to the right people. And, of course, Josh is like, you know -- I know he's not the age that Weinke is, but he plays like Weinke. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes.

COACH ANDREWS: It's a different offense. We've defended the same formations all year that we get from Oklahoma. But it's a little different type of scheme. Different route, different types of the ways they are trying to attack, zone or man. They are not maybe quite as vertical-oriented team as a Miami or Florida State, University of Florida, you know, that are going to put the ball down the field. They do a great job of getting the ball to the open receiver at the right time, and then letting him run with the football. They are probably about as good as anybody we've seen in a long time at doing that.

COACH ANDREWS: Well, we looked at the video. We studied it quite a bit. In fact, we exchanged all game films for the entire year. We looked at all of them. I think the biggest thing was Oklahoma State going in was a team very much like us that played mostly bump-and-run, played a lot of man coverage, very little zone. And then when they lined up and played, that's all they played, zone; it was just completely different. They had two weeks to get ready for the game, and I think it probably caught Oklahoma a little bit unprepared for that type of defense. But they have done just like they have done all year long. They find a way to win a football game, and that's what it is all about, and that's why they are undefeated. That's why they are a great. That's why they are a great football team.

COACH ANDREWS: Yeah, if he threw right-handed you would think it was Danny Kanell (ph). Very much the same type passer. Not a cannon. We've seen quarterbacks with a lot stronger arms. I don't know that we've seen one more accurate, nor have we seen one that -- he looks a little bit like a Charlie Ward at times where he scrambles. You know, can run the football, not afraid to run the ball, and yet when he starts movement, whether it be laterally or up in an open area on a rush lane that's vacated, the receivers do a great job of scrambling, altering their routes. That's usually when he break down defensively. You'll find out so many times -- you get beat on a scramble route more times than you do with just a normal route progression, because you have a tendency to want to look for the quarterback, look for the ball. Not many people can do both and find out where a receiver is on them, you know. So it requires a great deal of discipline, if you're in man coverage, to locate yourself and stay with him, rather than try to find out what the quarterback is doing. And in man coverage, it is imperative that you do that. So I think -- I don't know if we've seen a better quarterback all year long. It there may not be a better quarterback against we practice against him every day. He seems to be a pretty good one.

COACH ANDREWS: Well, I guess it just bares out the fact that you can win a lot of different ways. They had all that success with the wishbone, and now you go out there, most of the time, they have only got one back in the backfield, and the quarterback is not even under the center. I guess that would make some of those old-timers -- those old-time Sooners out there roll over in their grave. But it's all about taking your personnel, getting them in a position that they can be successful, and then getting great execution. You can coach your head off, and the guy can know exactly what to do, but he's still got to do it. That's something that, you know, that makes it a little easier for a coach. And I know when we were recruiting, one of the things that we always talk about -- beyond the tangibles, the size, the speed, the strength is always: Is the guy a football player. If you've got to spend all of your time coaching him how to play football, you're not teaching him fundamentals. You are not teaching him the things that are most important. Josh Heupel is a football player. He knows how to play the game. And that's where you start it from. And their offense, he's a guy that makes it go. There's been a lot of negative plays that just were just about ready to take place, and all of the sudden, the guy has not only moved the change -- he's got the scoreboard to change. Great competitor. I talk to Coach Stoops about him -- we had dinner, our staff and their staff had dinner the other night. You know, you just can't say enough great things about him. And when you look at video, when you watch him play, you say the same thing. And we're certainly going to have our hands full trying to defend their offense. There's no doubt about it.

COACH ANDREWS: Well, all you've got to do is look at the record. I think in the five years these guys have been there, they won an incredible 56 games, with five loses, and probably would have had more wins than that if they had had a little more help. It would have helped those guys a little bit more. It not only speaks of the talent and the ability that they have, but the determination, the courage to go out there and try to get better every day. One thing that I think that they learned early when they come to Florida State is that you've got to learn how to finish a football game, and for the most part, we've done that. The one game that we lost this year, we were not able to finish. We got down, had a lead in the fourth quarter, and we didn't finish it. And you go back and look through the years where we've lost the National Championship, either to Miami or Florida, it's been the fact that we didn't finish the football game. This group has learned that and they have learned it well. You know, I don't know that we'll ever have a group that will ever do better than that. Certainly, they have left their mark. I hope, I hope that this group coming up can do the same thing that -- as our seniors this year, pass the baton on to the next group of seniors that they will take it and go with it. Because certainly, we've had that take place and I think the biggest part -- one of the biggest things for our success has been the fact that we've had seniors that are juniors that would grow up and be seniors and play their best football while they were seniors.

COACH ANDREWS: You know, in years -- and I think this kind of reflects back on what the gentleman asked a minute ago. We have been a great punt-blocking team through the years, and we were not good this year; we blocked one. And actually, the block came about when we had a return call. We have not been a great blitz team this year. The times that we have blitzed, we've got burned. When that happens, you're a little bit more reluctant to call blitzes. You know, if you're guys -- and it all boils down to this, and our philosophy and our scheme: We blitz with four people. We tell our two interior linemen and our two defensive ends, we're in a four-man blitz every time the ball is snapped. The other seven guys, you play the run and you play the coverage behind them. The years that we've had our best defenses has been years that we didn't have to blitz a lot. Certainly, you've got to go get a guy every once in awhile. You know, you've got to try to hit the quarterback some. But the whole thing is in defending or whatever, can you keep them out of the end zone. You know we get bottled down sometimes with the fact that we don't give up passing yards. It doesn't matter how many yards you give; you don't let them in the end zone. Same way with rushing the football. You can play all day or all night between the goal lines, if you are don't get across the goal line. You don't win. So we'll mix it up. We'll mix it up. We'll have to pressure a little bit. I don't think we'll sit back and just let Josh have all day to throw the football.

COACH ANDREWS: You know, I don't really have any control over what other people are looking for in a football coach. I didn't meet the criteria for Alabama; I wasn't a head coach. But, you know, the thing is, you always want to be a head coach. I've been a head coach. Been a successful head coach and would love to do that again. But the main thing that I want to do right now is try to help this group of seniors and this Florida State football team win another National Championship.

COACH ANDREWS: Yeah, and it scared us to death. We felt like we had to have some contact after we got out to Tempe. Normally, we take -- when we practice in Tallahassee, it is an opportunity for us to get better as a football team. We don't spend a lot of time getting ready for our opponent. We try to help each other get better during that time. We're going Florida State against Florida State, trying to get back fundamentals, technique, doing the little things that sometimes get eroded when you're trying to win a football game, trying to establish a game plan or whatever during the season. The first day that we practice in pads out there, our best defensive lineman tore his knee up and didn't play. Larry Smith got hurt on the very first play of an inside drill where we were tackling. Coach Bowden is not superstitious, but he doesn't like to take chances. He doesn't like to do things different from what we've done in the past if it has worked. And yet, we were ready to scrimmage last year -- we were going to have a game-type scrimmage and he didn't want to do it, but Mark and I told him we needed it. And he agreed to let us do it, and it wrung us out. He said, "That's an omen, we were not supposed to scrimmage." This year, we are set, we had another scrimmage and I tell you, he was just worried to death with it. And, of course, we were, too. But, I mean, how could you get back sharp blocking and tackling if you don't block and tackle? You can't simulate it. We can go out there and run against each other and tackle all day, but the guys with the football don't run the same as the guys in a ballgame or receivers. And that's the thing that you try to do . You know, you try to regain that edge, and we've done a lot of open field. We've done a lot of work. We probably tackled more individually than any time we ever have. But the injury thing just scares you to death, and yet you know -- you get one shot at it. You better make it count. So you try to get -- Mark and I tried to get it going and he had to fight us off a little bit and he said, "If we're going to scrimmage, don't put the good backs in there, you know, or don't put it lineman in or whatever. Don't put that receiver in there." But you just try something where when you get through you feel like, "Well, we've prepared ourselves properly."

COACH ANDREWS: Chris Weinke wasn't there. Do you think we wouldn't have beat them if Chris Weinke was there? I don't think there's any doubt about it. I'd play them with a third-team quarterback any time. That's what we had. And he was trying like -- you know, any time you have injuries, you ask a guy to play like he's a starter, sometimes he can, and he did against Florida. He was unbelievable. But, you know, defensively, we put too much on him. We made it too hard for him, for Marcus. And our kicking game, we made it too hard for him. We didn't help him enough. We didn't do our part.

COACH ANDREWS: David came in, he was a high school Defensive Player Of the Year coming out of high school. We did not even know we were going to get him until right at the last minute. He would never have been at Florida State had Peter Bower (ph) decided to come out as a junior. The day that Peter declared that he was putting himself eligible for the draft, we get a call from David, all of the sudden he wants to visit; he wants to come to Florida State. That's a recruiting coup there. But a lot of times, you have things like that happen. You lose a great player; we were in misery over losing Peter and we ended up getting Defensive Player Of the Year in America. David has kind of had an up-and-down career. He's had a lot of things he's had to overcome. You know, the little bout he had with passing out; that was a concern for all of us for a while. Once he got on his medication, that straightened out and he's had no problems with it, as long as he stays on his medication. David missed -- I think it was the first three games this year, didn't get to play because he had a back injury. We already didn't have Roland Seymour, and now we don't have David Warren. So we just asked some other guy, a third-teamer to come in and play like a starter until we could get him back. David came back and David had has had an outstanding year. David has had a career of close calls. He might have set a sack record, and literally, I mean this, tackles for sacks -- he might have an all-time record if he had made half of what he's missed. He gives great effort to get back to the football. And I think sometimes he just relaxes a little bit, thinking the guy is just going to stand there and let him hit him. You know, most of those guys are earning degrees. I guess all of them are. None of them are just going to stand there and be a tackling dummy. And I think sometimes he fails to get down in a football position and react to the stimulus that he's created for the quarterback. It's like our guys, we tell them, quarterback, you're in coverage, if you tell the guy to throw the basketball -- if you run out and cover the guy in the back, he's going to throw it behind you. You tell the quarterback where to throw it. If you're a tackler, and you're attacking inside-out and you don't eliminate the cut-back, he's going to take it. He's going to do exactly what you tell him. But David has got better at that. He really has. He's an outstanding young man, and he and Jamal have been two terrific defensive ends for us this year.

COACH ANDREWS: They do a great job of mixing their plays. Josh reads the defense, and is such a smart guy that he can get them in the right play. He's very well coached, an outstanding football mind. Whether it is the shovel pass, whether it is the draw, crossing route, whatever it may be. He just has a way of getting guys in the right offensive play to be successful, and then, you know he completes, what, 65 percent of his passes, something like that. And then those guys do a great job running with the football. I think probably the running back is very highly underrated. He is an excellent football player. Receiver, blocker, not a real big guy, but he plays big. Very quick. We've had a little kid, a little walk-on running back trying to be -- you know, be him during practice, and we had a hard time tackling him or getting to him. But he is a really quick guy, so maybe that will help us in that regard.

COACH ANDREWS: I think the biggest thing that we'll miss from Mark is a guy that is very strong morally, very strong spiritual guy, not as loud-mouthed, hollering, as I am at practice, but a great teacher, a great motivator, very smart football mind, very strong football mind. But a guy that builds relationships and knows how to develop chemistry with a group of young men, and ultimately, that's what football coaching is all about. He has done a great job of recruiting. I'm better because I've coached with Mark Richt and I can call him a friend.