Mike Norvell Doesn't Care About Florida State Dropping In AP Top 25 Poll Despite Clemson Win
The No. 5 Florida State Seminoles are in a much-needed bye week after going 4-0 in the first stretch of the season with wins over Clemson and then No. 5 LSU. Despite having a winning record and putting on dominant performances at times, Florida State managed to drop in the AP polls by one spot over each of the last two weeks.
That's not something that head coach Mike Norvell is even thinking about with two-thirds of the regular season remaining.
"I don't care; I really don't. The thing I tell our players is that it is about us. Guys, I'm joyful we won that game. It was big. It was big for our program. We didn't play a complete game for how I believe we can play," head coach Mike Norvell said about the recent rankings. "The outside, how they perceive our team, if we want respect, we'll gain it and just continue to do what we've done."
FSU has gone on the road for three of the last four weeks and has come home undefeated against tough competition. Despite all the outside noise, Norvell seems to have his players on the right track for success.
"When you win one of the arguably more challenging schedules of the early part of the season," Norvell said. "we've played one home game, and we've had to go through it. We've faced adversity and responded to adversity, but we gotta play better. That's what I tell all of our players: if you want respect, then you go earn it, and you will."
The 'Noles are looking to reload after such a challenging start and the staff is taking the time to correct what went wrong and embrace the opportunity to fix their concerns.
"What I'm excited about is that we're 4-0 and we haven't played our best game. We've got an opportunity for growth, an opportunity for improvement as a staff so we spent all day yesterday just going back and reflecting on some things that we've done," Norvell said. "Some things that we've done really well and some things that we need to improve upon and ultimately that's going to be a huge push for us this week. I like where this team is because it is still about the work."
Norvell goes over player performance, Tuesday's practice, and more in his full interview below.
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