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KONICA MINOLTA GATOR BOWL: FLORIDA STATE v WEST VIRGINIA

January 1, 2010

Bill Stewart

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

Florida State 33
West Virginia 21

COACH STEWART: I would like to say thank you very much to Rick and to your Gator Bowl committee, City of Jacksonville. It is awesome to be here. Appreciate everything you've done. The hospitality has been tremendous. Murph, you guys are great. Sure appreciate all of you in the press for the nice things you've been saying about our football team and, heck, the way things are supposed to be.
Tough loss for the Mountaineers. We have won some tough ones like that, and we certainly lost a tough one today. I would like to look at the stats. The tell-tale sign is simple. I told the football team how proud I am of the seniors. We won 44 football games, that senior class. I'm real proud of that.
There are a lot of heavy hearts, you know, as it should be when you care about your team and your school and your state. That's tough for young men. But that's a lesson in life.
You know, they've got their bearings in the right direction.
I thought the turning point of the game was 14-3, one of the early turning points. I told the football team this. When you are up 14-3 and we are driving the ball and have an interception, what happens on the interception? It didn't stay on a high angle, snapped it off, Jarrett threw the ball late, interception, pick. It was a big, big play at that time. That certainly didn't lose a game, but that interception was big. It hurt.
We tried to sprint out a couple times, and they came underneath us with athleticism and that hurt. The speed of the defense that Mickey Andrews brought at us, that hurt. Just the pass there at the end when it got a little rough, I wasn't pleased with that.
When it is 14-3, you have to make hay, so to speak, and we did it. We hung in there and felt good at the half and then we lost a quarterback. That's okay. We have scholarships like everyone else. Florida State lost their quarterback, so you put the next one in.
He is a freshman. I told the third one, You get ready because we are going to keep running. We are not going to change. Of course, Patrick White's little brother, Coley, said, "I'm ready." We were thinking of running the option with him.
That was just a compliment that Geno did as well as he did. There was an exchange problem one time. You saw that down there where we didn't score. And then there was a ball dropped here or there. He missed a read, but the kid played pretty well.
Defensively, when we kicked the ball down, get a 23-21, kicked the ball to the 14-yard line, they can't drive it 86 yards. They did. Compliment Florida State. Kudos to them, not good for West Virginia.
Lost contain on the third down. That's where I wanted to see this stuff. I didn't mean to be so belligerent in being late. I wasn't raised that way but I had to get my facts straight. This is like a court. If I stand, I feel a lot better.
But that third down E.J. Manuel made when he broke contain, that was big, 23-21, had them backed up, had all the momentum. I looked right here, it was first and 10. Really, I compliment the Florida State offense because as good as they were on defense, they worked the flats. They came out and got a nice play, but then it was incomplete, incomplete. Third and 9, we lost contain. You cannot lose contain. One of our best football players just didn't get around. Broke containment, nice throw, tight end caught it and runs for 18 yards. That broke it right there. I knew it right then. I said we lost momentum.
Great play for them. Not so good by us. The third thing, what happened, you describe the ball down the middle of the field, everything was going good, the kicker kicks the ball down the middle of the field. You can't do that in the sand lot. I learned that at G&G Plumbing back home, little sand lot field. Good one over there, you kick there. Good one over there, you kick there. Good one in the middle, call time-out and say "Coach, I don't know what to do" but you can't do that. We kicked the dad-gum thing right down the middle and off he runs. Best return I have seen since a young man who quit Colorado, of course, and our Mardy with a D, over at Cincinnati and E.J.
We faced some good ones. Those are the three phases. Again offensively, I thought right at that point, the defense, and then the kicking game. Wasn't pleased at all with our -- we were 4 of 11, third down. They are 7 of 14. Time possession is usually in our favor.
That really frustrates me. Not a good job of Bill Stewart. Heck of a job for Bobby Bowden.
Any questions?

Q. In the second half when Geno came in, how come you didn't use Divine more? He only ran five times in the second half.
COACH STEWART: We couldn't get in rhythm, number one. We were trying to get the ball out in the flats and put the ball in No. 9's hands. We didn't think Jock had it enough, to be honest.
We have some skill. We had some guys drop balls today. The Big East folks, they will tell you they don't drop balls. I was glad to see a couple youngsters catch some balls at the end.
We tried to spread our wealth. We want to spread the wealth, try to keep Mickey off balance by making him defend the whole field. It is not just horizontal, but north and south, vertically, and that's what we try to do.

Q. What happened to Jarrett Brown?
COACH STEWART: Ankle got rolled up on a sack.

Q. Does it make it any easier that you did lose to Bobby Bowden?
COACH STEWART: No, no. Easier? You want me to be honest, I don't like to lose. He taught me that.

Q. What do you think college football will miss about him?
COACH STEWART: How long you got? They told me to be brief. They are trying to train me in 20-second spot shots. I couldn't tell you in 20 minutes. Probably couldn't tell you in 20 hours.
Miss one of the classiest guys ever, one of the greatest gentlemen in the game, a guy that I try to emulate, a guy that coached me as a skinny son along with his own son. He was tougher on Steve than he was me. We were freshmen together.
I just love him. I admire him. Let me tell you what, I wanted to whoop him bad today. He was classy after the game. He told me, Bill, tell your boys how hard they played and how proud I am. That's very nice. That's typical Coach Bowden.
The game will miss a giant, and I compliment my dear friend Rick Catlett and his committee because you sent him out in style and that was nice. That was really, really nice. To have him here -- it was a tough call, but these gentlemen -- it was a tough call for these gentlemen, but it worked out.

Q. Was it hard for your kids not to get caught up in all of the emotion of the day considering everything that was going on?
COACH STEWART: I thought it was pretty good. It was said best the other day: There is two teams here. When I came down for the pre-Gator Bowl, the press conference here, I just said, There's going to be another team. You should not overlook us.
Like I said, we had chances. I'm not an excuse guy, we have five seniors starting today and maybe the next time we are in the same situation we will learn how to close the deal. That's what you have to do, close the deal and get it done on the field, in the arena.

Q. Could you talk about the play of Smith.
COACH STEWART: Geno? I thought he did a nice job. It wasn't anything, you know, that was outstanding, but I thought the young man did a really good job and he handled it very, very well.
I don't know what happened on the exchange between he and Noel. One is a little wide, one is a little this, whatever. That's his stuff.
We practiced and Bill Stewart needs to do a better job with that. But Geno did fine for a young man.

Q. After the game started, 14-3, did you think you had the game?
COACH STEWART: No, no, no. 60-minute game. I knew it would be a 60-minute battle. When we missed that opportunity down, had that interception, that was big. You can't have that happen.

Q. Were you ready to fight?
COACH STEWART: Our guys? Oh, yeah. This is week 13. Jarrett was 11-3. He played well. He is now 11-4 as a starter. Won two games when Patrick White was hurt and ended up 9-4 this year. He is a good lad, he has had a heck of a career.
The close corner, the seven-cut, you cannot throw the ball. You just can't. The guy broke the route off at Auburn. A senior broke it off -- as a freshman, you come out, you stick it on a 45, you either throw it in the hole -- we catch it or nobody catches it.
Bad coaching by me. I got to get that across.

Q. What do you take out of this for next year?
COACH STEWART: Well, I told the seniors how much we love them, the staff and I did.
I thought it was great and I said, You have so many things to be proud of. They are on their way of being better husbands and better daddys. They are going to be good men of faith. I don't care what their faith is. That's the most important thing. We won 40 ball games. I will crawl over any mountain to help them. They are good guys. They bought into the play. They have been a pleasure to coach. We have to learn how to close deals, as I said.
I showed them that -- I'm going to keep this hat forever if Rick Catlett will let me. I have that Gator Bowl logo and old slim. That CH starts for Chris Henry, our No. 5 and the Bengals' No. 15. The players wore it on their helmet.
So life is not as bad as you think. We lost a football game, and I guess those who will say he was too nice to Bobby. I thought it was just right. I thought we will have a donnybrook out there and maybe have a schoolyard bully once he is challenged. We took it right on and thought this was going to be just right.
I thought this was the day the Mountaineers would shine. We fell short. I compliment our opponent. It has been a joy to be with your fine people here.
Let me tell you about the creed of the mountains. Remember this: Faith, hope, and love. Faith in our plan. Hope we will always play with passion. I know those boys wearing the old gold and blue, they will love the old gold and blue until the day they expire.
Thank you and God bless.

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