Greg Robinson Transcript
Head Coach Greg Robinson on the benefits of the first three games at home:
“How beneficial? Well, we won one and lost two. It’s been good. It’s been good for our team. We got into a rhythm. I like to believe that we are ready to venture out – to be ‘Road warriors’.”
Robinson on how tough the first road game will be:
“Well, (laughing) I was informed today that we were underdogs. I was informed of the amount. I will tell you, in my coaching career, this is the most I’ve ever heard that I was an underdog in a game other than a basketball game that I did win. Obviously, we have quite a test.”
Robinson on what he’s heard about playing in Tallahassee:
“I think it’s obvious. I’ve watched many games on television. It’s obviously a great venue. It has a lot of tradition. To me, it’s one of those places that it’s why you go on the road to play. To go into someone’s backyard like that, it has an environment that has so much tradition and style to it. I think it’s great.”
Robinson on the amount of defensive players he will play at Florida State:
“We will play a number of guys on defense. That’s what we do. So, we’ll continue.”
Robinson on Joe Kowalewski:
“He’s still sore. He worked out yesterday and caught some balls on his own going out there with buddies. I don’t know. I put him in a questionable to doubtful mode right now. It’s iffy. He’s not going to practice today.”
Robinson on going up against Bobby Bowden and his win total (354):
“Give me those numbers again (laughing). I have a long way to go. I really don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that. I have great respect for Bobby Bowden and what he’s done for college football. He’s from a football family and all that. I look more at the film than I do at him.”
Robinson on what Bowden’s signature is on his football teams:
“His teams play with enthusiasm. They play hard. I’ve coached Florida State kids (in the NFL) and they believe in their program. They compete. It’s a very competitive program.”
Robinson on if Florida State is worthy of their No. 6 ranking:
“I don’t do the voting. I couldn’t tell you who No. 1-5 is right now. I really don’t know. I was at Texas when we were ranked fifth for a long time, and I thought we were a pretty good football team. They are ranked sixth, so there are a lot of people who think they are pretty good. I trust what the voters think, but I know this too – it’s what you do on the field that counts. They’re a good football team. Are they talented? Absolutely.”
Robinson on watching film of last year’s SU-Florida State game:
“We watched the film. But, we don’t watch it to watch the game. It’s in our cutups. I see it. I can’t tell you how that plays into this year’s game. I don’t know that.”
Robinson on being an underdog:
“Let me say this. The thing about underdogs – I really don’t care about all that. I don’t think about that. It was brought up to me. It made me laugh. It made me think back about if I’ve ever been a 21 point underdog. I don’t think so. But you know what? That isn’t all of it.”
Robinson on team’s condition after the bye week:
“I think our football team is in pretty good shape. I think we’re doing alright.”
Robinson on handling Florida State’s speed:
“They are a quick team, offensively and defensively. Is that an issue? Yes. But, how well we handle that? I really don’t know right now. I don’t know how we compare. When I see them on film, I’m impressed.”
Robinson on Florida State’s pass rush:
“They got after them pretty good. I start off with their interior linemen. Their two tackles are for real. They have one kid who is gifted and plays hard. Then, you take that linebacking corps and add them into the equation, the rest of them feed off of that. So, they can create some heat.”
Robinson on the issue of pass protection:
“It’s an issue. There’s no question. We have to minimize what they do well.”
Robinson on playing to win:
“I think Tim Cross made a great statement. It isn’t about if we can play with them, but we need to win. We’re not going down there just to play with them. We’re going down there to win a football game. We’ll see how that goes.”
Robinson on coming off of a bye week:
“I think it gave us an opportunity to grow and to get better. We got to have four more practices without having to play a game.”
Robinson on winning in Tallahassee to attract recruits:
“The reason for us to win is for our football team. That’s the beauty of us winning. Our players could savor a moment like beating a team like Florida State, which is highly ranked. There can be a lot of things that come from that. That’s how you look at it. I firmly believe this and I think I say this to you every week. It’s all about us. It’s about us going out there and being better this Saturday than we were against Virginia. That’s what I’m looking for. I’m looking for us to be a better football team. Eventually, this is all going to equate into wins and losses. That’s what’s the most important thing on our minds – to come out and to improve as a football team. How we gauge that I don’t know. You evaluate it. It takes a long time to evaluate all of that stuff. That’s the thrust of what our focus is right now.”
Robinson on preparing players to play in Tallahassee:
“First of all, it’s our intent to get to stadiums early enough so that players can wander around. They can get a feel and a way of the land a little bit. It’s one thing to go the day before the game when it’s empty. It’s another thing to go early enough on the day of the game where you can feel the atmosphere already a little bit. You can be within it before the game is in full fold. We’re going to do things in practice. We try to create as much of a game-like situation as we possibly can. That means a lot of different things that we’ll do, be it crowd noise, no-huddle situations. We noticed that they went to no-huddle last week against Boston College. We have to try and create all of those different things on the practice field.”
Robinson on SU’s wide receivers against Florida State’s secondary:
“Again, we have to match up against everyone we go against. How successful we’re going to be; I don’t know that. Time will tell. We’re going to work really hard to be successful. They’re gifted. This is a gifted group. I like our receivers. We’re making progress. We’re getting a little of our bounce back. Tim Lane and Rice Moss are feeling better than they’ve felt in quite a while. The younger players have had a chance to work in a bye week so I like to think that they are going to be felt a little more in the offense. Where we match up and how we match up, I don’t know all of those things. I do credit them (FSU) with a good group.”
Robinson on the Kansas City vs. Denver NFL game on Monday night. Do you follow your former teams:
“I got home for the fourth quarter. I was a little surprised that Denver was out on them like that. The one thing I do know is that 11 penalties for 110 yards is not a Dick Vermeil football team. At the same time, you could tell Mike Shanahan looked comfortable. He looked like he knew he was in control of things pretty good. Obviously, they did a nice job.”
Robinson on keeping in touch with the coaches with whom he has coached in the past:
“Funny, neither one of them wanted to call me this week (laughing). They have on other weeks, but I guess it was because they were playing this week. I talk to the guys periodically. It’s not that easy to talk throughout the week to the coaches. I periodically talk to different people and get some thoughts.”
Robinson on (FSU quarterback) Drew Weatherford:
“I think he’s gifted. He can zip it. I like the way he reads zone coverages. For a young kid, I give him credit.”
Robinson on SU’s left tackle situation:
“We played with Carroll Madison last week and right now that is our intent again this week. Kurt Falke is making a lot of progress. He is not ready to go right now.”
Robinson on the no-huddle offense of Florida State:
“They went to four wide receivers and spread it out. They had success doing it. They didn’t give their tailbacks the ball, really, other than a couple of check downs. They were productive doing that. It was more of just getting something going. They went into a stall for a period of time in that game. All of a sudden, they got into a rhythm with the no-huddle. For that moment, it was the right thing to do. I think it minimized the effectiveness of Boston College’s defense.”
Robinson on if he is surprised Florida State is last in the ACC in rushing:
“They are capable. I think it’s more about if they want to do it or not, how much they want to run it. They can run the football. I like both backs. I think they’re both very good and quick. (Leon Washington) is very explosive. (Lorenzo Booker) has speed.”
