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00:00 For Kalen and Jordan, what does it mean to win three in a row?
00:02 And for Keon, what was your first experience
00:04 like in this rivalry game?
00:06 I'm going to say for me it was just --
00:08 it's going to mean a lot to me, you know,
00:10 go out in my last year with three and 0,
00:12 and, you know, just go against these guys,
00:13 with the guys I got on the field,
00:15 definitely going to mean a lot to me,
00:16 because, you know, these guys I work with every day,
00:18 ride or die, I'm with these guys every day.
00:20 So it's definitely going to mean a lot to me.
00:23 Yeah, I love winning football games at the end of the day.
00:27 That's the goal is every single week,
00:28 obviously going against Miami, it's a little bit different.
00:31 The feeling's a little bit different.
00:32 The emotions are a little bit different.
00:34 But, yeah, like Kalen said, it's my last year, too,
00:37 so, I mean, I would love to go out --
00:40 I'm so happy I'm going out with a win against them boys,
00:42 because I'm not a fan of them at all.
00:45 But, yeah, I'm very thankful.
00:47 I'm happy for them.
00:49 I kind of, you know, coming in here,
00:50 I didn't really know much about the rivalry.
00:52 I just knew they was, you know,
00:53 two predominant programs in the country.
00:55 So just coming out there, being able to get a win
00:57 and go 1-0 -- well, 2-0.
00:58 We played them when I was at State.
01:00 I didn't lose either.
01:01 But, you know, getting a win with those guys,
01:03 you know, sending them out in their last year
01:04 was a special moment for them.
01:06 So when it's special for them, it's special for me.
01:08 Jordan, did one of their players rip your chain?
01:15 Yes, ma'am.
01:17 We saw that a little on TV.
01:19 Can you take us through what happened there?
01:21 Um, I don't know.
01:23 He was talking a lot the whole game.
01:24 But, yeah, he snatched my chain,
01:27 and I had a couple words for him.
01:28 But that's it.
01:30 I got it back, though. It's broke, though.
01:32 Did he say any crappy words?
01:33 Huh? No.
01:35 No, not at all.
01:36 Kalen, the defense gave up 96 rush yards in the first half.
01:47 Second half, only 35.
01:49 What went behind the adjustments the defense made
01:52 in the second half to step up and prevent that?
01:55 You know, at halftime, you got to make adjustments
01:58 to what they do.
01:59 Just going in at halftime, knowing what they were giving us
02:01 in the run game, we had to adjust certain fits
02:04 and just change things.
02:06 And then you go out there, at the end of the day,
02:08 go out there and play football.
02:10 At the end of the day, our job is to stop the run.
02:12 Let the defense stop the pass.
02:13 And I feel like once we made those adjustments,
02:16 like you say, it's hard to get them yards.
02:21 So, Dan, right here.
02:26 Jordan, we've seen games this season
02:28 where the team has been piling on the points,
02:29 the offense clicking from the jump.
02:31 And then we've seen games like tonight
02:33 where a little bit of a slower start
02:34 and you're able to battle for the win in the end.
02:36 I guess, ultimately, the experience in playing
02:39 in these different type of games
02:40 and able to win different styles of games,
02:43 how valuable will that be for what this group
02:45 wants to accomplish down the line?
02:47 Yeah, I feel like every game -- I was thinking about it.
02:49 I think it was yesterday.
02:50 Every game, you learn a new life experience,
02:54 something that's going to help you later on in life.
02:57 But things are always not going to go your way.
02:58 At the end of the day, I mean, especially in a game like that,
03:00 it's two teams that dislike each other a lot.
03:04 There's always going to be a lot of emotion.
03:06 And we just have to learn how to handle that type of stuff.
03:09 But I just feel like it just shows the maturity of this team
03:11 on how we grow every single week.
03:14 Obviously, being down and coming back again,
03:17 felt kind of like an LSU game.
03:19 But we just got to keep our foot on the gas.
03:21 There were so many mistakes today
03:22 that we need to correct, as offense especially.
03:26 But once we get that right,
03:27 this team will be rolling for sure.
03:30 Questions for both Jordan and Kian.
03:33 On the touchdown pass, I know it's just like a fade pattern
03:35 into the end zone, but what goes into that play,
03:38 the precision -- excuse me -- easy for me to say,
03:42 and then the energy afterwards, momentum of that play?
03:45 Yeah, well, when you have a guy like this,
03:47 it makes your job easy playing quarterback.
03:50 I mean, you put the ball up anywhere,
03:51 he's going to make a play.
03:52 You just got to give him a chance.
03:54 But, yeah, I mean, offensive line gave me time.
03:58 Yeah, when you have a guy like this, it makes your job easy.
04:00 So I'm thankful for him for sure.
04:02 Jordan, was there any trash talk when you're taking a knee?
04:09 Yeah, there was.
04:11 I just wanted to take a knee and get it over with.
04:12 I didn't know if like --
04:13 Yeah, there was a lot.
04:15 And then, Kalen, I had a question for you.
04:17 I don't know how steep you are in this rivalry's history,
04:20 but there have been a lot of very good Florida State teams
04:22 that have lost heartbreaking games to that program.
04:25 Why did you guys -- how did you guys avoid that heartbreak
04:28 when they got the ball back with a minute and a half left,
04:31 and they were driving on you?
04:32 How did you guys finish off the game?
04:34 I'll just say the defense, we was on the sideline.
04:36 We knew that we were going to have to go out there
04:37 and finish the game.
04:38 We were going to need a stop.
04:40 You know, just thankful that our defense
04:42 got the opportunity to go out there,
04:43 you know, showcase what we're capable of.
04:46 You know, we built for those moments,
04:47 and, you know, we enjoyed those moments.
04:48 So I feel like we made the most of those moments.
04:50 And like you say, we're going to continue to grow,
04:53 continue to learn, and, you know, take advantage of it.
04:58 Keon, can you talk about the punt returns?
05:00 It looked like you muffed one earlier in the second half,
05:02 and then the massive punt return to set up
05:03 the touchdown later in the game.
05:06 Really just, you know, my team needed me to make a play.
05:09 And, you know, I feel like I can do that
05:11 once the ball get in my hands.
05:12 I made a clean catch on it.
05:14 And, you know, just did what I do best.
05:16 My blockers, you know, they were blocking.
05:18 I ain't lying to you. They were blocking.
05:19 And I just, you know, found the crease and kept running.
05:21 I probably should have scored, but I didn't see the punt.
05:24 So, you know, it is what it is.
05:26 And then the muff one, just being more disciplined.
05:28 You know, I thought I seen one of our guys close enough,
05:31 so I tried to back away from it.
05:32 But, you know, just that was a stupid decision.
05:34 Got to be more disciplined in that and avoid that,
05:36 you know, avoid that heartache right there.
05:38 That could have been devastating.
05:40 Go on over here to Jack.
05:41 For Jordan, you've mentioned throughout the week
05:43 how much you don't like Miami.
05:45 You know, you're growing up in South Florida as well.
05:47 You know, you mentioned winning, too, but at the same time,
05:50 how deep does this, you know, rivalry go for you?
05:53 You know, someone who's played for the Florida State
05:54 has been a fan of it against a team that,
05:56 you know, you grew up in the area, you know, South Florida.
05:58 You know, I guess how deep does this go for you?
06:01 Yeah. I mean, it's really big for me.
06:05 It's big for my family.
06:07 I'm going to my brother's baseball games
06:08 when I was 10 years old, Florida State versus Miami.
06:11 And just hearing the fans and what they said to my brother,
06:13 I mean, it always stuck with me.
06:15 Fans, I don't know.
06:17 The fans are not too kind.
06:19 But, man, at the end of the day,
06:22 I'm thankful to be a Florida State Seminole,
06:25 to go out and represent this university,
06:27 go out with my teammates and compete week in and week out
06:30 and just get better, opportunity to get better.
06:32 Miami came out to play today, 100%.
06:35 This team is finding ways to win.
06:37 The fans came out and supported us today,
06:38 and that helped a lot, too, so, yeah.
06:42 Once I said, "I'm ready,"
06:43 but I'm not a fan of Miami at all,
06:45 and I'll say that for the rest of my life.
06:47 Yes, sir.
06:49 Can I go to Matt Adams?
06:51 You know, Keon, when we first spoke to you,
06:53 you were so confident about coming to Florida State
06:54 and everything was going to work out,
06:56 despite the fact that there's so many playmakers already here.
06:58 How much of that was the confidence
07:00 you had in Mike Norvell,
07:01 the confidence you have in yourself,
07:03 maybe the confidence that you had in the quarterback
07:04 that's sitting next to you?
07:06 I mean, as simple as that.
07:07 There's so many playmakers, you don't have to overdo your job.
07:10 You just go out there and be disciplined,
07:12 be a disciplined route runner,
07:13 you know, block where you're supposed to block
07:14 and chase the ball, and, you know,
07:16 sometimes you get caught,
07:17 because we have some good running backs.
07:18 I get caught a lot watching, you know what I'm saying?
07:20 So, you know, that just was the biggest adjustment,
07:22 continue to play, because at any moment, it can break,
07:24 but I wasn't worried about anything.
07:26 I knew coming here, putting my trust in Coach Norvell,
07:28 we was going to all do what we were supposed to do
07:30 and, you know, continue to win the game
07:31 and get to that next level where we all,
07:33 you know, jump the bin,
07:34 so I just wanted to be around a lot of guys
07:36 that was in that same position as me
07:38 and, you know, go out there with a lot to lose,
07:40 you know, a lot of people are going to say each week,
07:42 you know, they got a lot of players,
07:43 how they going to do this, how they going to do that,
07:44 so just going out there every week
07:45 and answering that question was,
07:47 you know, that's a challenge, and I love a challenge.
07:49 Want to go a couple more, starting with Kurt?
07:52 For any of y'all, I know being the top five team,
07:55 I know you're probably going to get teams' best shots
07:57 just about every week.
07:58 I feel like a lot of the last few weeks,
07:59 there have been moments that could have gone south,
08:01 that the other team kind of had a chance
08:02 or took advantage or took a lead or whatever
08:04 and was in position to maybe take control.
08:07 What do you think it is about this team
08:08 that seems like kind of you're at your best
08:10 in the toughest, most adverse moments?
08:13 I'm going to go first. Like he said,
08:14 we got a lot of playmakers,
08:16 and we put a lot of trust in our coaches,
08:17 and our coaches trust what we do
08:18 and our ability and what we see,
08:20 so, you know, like he said, the key word was had.
08:22 They had it, and you ain't going to keep it for long.
08:24 We coming back for that.
08:25 Going to go to Ira?
08:29 I got two questions real quick.
08:31 Jordan, did they explain to you how that wasn't targeting?
08:35 No, they did not.
08:37 Okay.
08:38 And then for you two guys, Kaelin and Keon,
08:41 if you could talk about Jordan.
08:42 He's the first -- you guys probably don't realize this.
08:44 He's the first FSU starting quarterback
08:46 to go 3-0 against Miami in the history of the school.
08:49 Can you guys talk about him and just what he gives you guys?
08:52 The greatest. Simple.
08:53 I see he a dog. You see what he go through
08:55 and the things that he do throughout the week.
08:58 Just to come out there and play on Saturdays,
09:00 it means a lot to him and a lot to me
09:01 because, you know, quarterback, like you say, 3-0.
09:04 You know, just to stick with this guy
09:05 through my whole process.
09:07 Say he won, I'm going to go battle with him any day.
09:10 Any day.
09:12 Yeah, again, the numbers don't lie.
09:13 I mean, this dude has a lot of heart.
09:15 You think some quarterbacks are soft.
09:17 That's not him.
09:18 He's going to go out there every day and compete.
09:19 He ain't going to miss a practice.
09:21 He's going to go out there and show that he's resilient
09:22 and he's going to bounce back from whatever loss he took.
09:25 And, you know, for him, it's not a loss.
09:26 It's a lesson, and he learns those lessons pretty quick.
09:29 So.
09:31 Thank you, guys.
09:32 For Kalen, you know, one of the guys
09:34 that's seen kind of the rebuild of this program,
09:36 you know, from where it was to where it is now,
09:38 what have these past two weeks, you know, been like
09:39 and just seeing, you know, qualifying for ACC,
09:42 the ACC championship game,
09:43 and now getting a third straight win over Miami.
09:45 From where this program started out when you came here to now,
09:48 I guess, what has all this been like
09:50 taking in these past two weeks?
09:51 I'm just taking it in year by year.
09:53 You know, just learning lessons each year
09:54 and just trying to apply it the next year.
09:57 Like I say, going through my five years,
10:00 it's been a struggle, but, you know,
10:02 we got to a standpoint to where we got to turn this thing around.
10:04 I feel like we got a good group of guys.
10:05 We brought in a good group of guys.
10:07 They come with, you know, great mindset,
10:09 you know, and they're just willing to work.
10:11 You know, they bought into the program,
10:12 and, you know, they just continue to work.
10:14 And, you know, at some point, things are going to go our way,
10:18 and I'm grateful for what happened now.
10:21 All right. Thanks, guys.
10:23 Thank you, guys. Have a good night.
10:24 Thank you, all.
10:26 [Indistinct talking]
10:31 I ain't lying, though.
10:32 They got to change them ten targets.
10:33 That is not right.
10:35 I ain't letting that slide.
10:37 [Silence]
10:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]