Mike Norvell previews the championship type feel for Week 1 between Florida State, LSU
Florida State and LSU are set to play in Orlando as the marquee game of Week 1 in college football. For Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell, this is a game that has a championship type of feeling between two teams that want to make a push for the College Football Playoff.
That’s a uniquely different feeling for this game than it had last season when these two name-brand programs met with plenty of questions to answer about themselves.
“They’re really good,” Mike Norvell said. “It was a good team we played in our Week 2 and they ended up growing and gelling together, and obviously you see the evidence in winning the SEC West last year.”
Norvell pointed out that it’s no surprise that LSU won the SEC West, given the Tigers’ talent. Now, with a year under their belt, the Tigers’ have better experience and talent.
“This is a team that, you know, they are very talented. Offensively, they return a lot of production, guys that were young that got thrown out there early. You saw them develop. [Jayden] Daniels the quarterback is a very talented young man, not only with his arm but what he can do with his legs. You’ve got to account for him in every way. You saw their running game continue to take form as the season went on. Probably gonna be one of the best receiving corps that we play all year here kicking off the season. I mean, it’s a very talented and deep group. They’ve got quality tight ends,” Norvell said.
“Defensively, the defensive front, the linebackers. Harold Perkins, he didn’t play much against us last year and [he’s] one of the more dynamic players in college football.”
In many ways, Mike Norvell sees his Florida State team and LSU as being very similar. That’s a big part of why he thinks there will be a championship atmosphere.
“So, you see the elements of all things offensively and defensively, and I believe they did much the same of what we did. They got better throughout the course of the year. They won some close games. Obviously, they built their confidence in what they were being asked to do and how they were being asked to do it,” Norvell said.
“So, it’s gonna be a heck of a matchup and it’s going to have a championship type feel to it, just because you have two teams that have experience and I think are really talented.”
Mike Norvell on how playing Sunday has impacted the team’s preparation
There are often scheduling quirks in Week 1. This year, Florida State will be playing on a Sunday night, rather than Saturday. As Mike Norvell explained, this does have an impact on the team’s preparation for the game.
“For us, everybody gets 25 practices, so it’s not like we’re gaining any advantage. We’ve structured it a little bit different, to take this game we can extend it a day from what normally would have been the case in a normal week. That allows tomorrow to be a little bit more of a mental day for us. We’ll have our Wednesday and then be able to roll through the end of the week of how we normally get to game prep,” Norvell said.
“I like how it kind of unfolds. It’s ironic that it’s the same structure as last year because we played the game and then the game being on a Sunday we had that same structure going into the LSU game.”