For the most part, the crew at ACC Huddle seemed to be in support of Mike Norvell returning to Florida State for another year.
There was also the acknowledgment that things have to get better...a lot better for the Seminoles if Norvell expects to regain the success that he had during the middle years of his six-year tenure. That included the usual things we've heard, like improving high school recruiting, and winning conference games.
But Jimbo Fisher wanted to talk about FSU getting better at situational football and invoked the name of the greatest FSU football coach to make his point.
Fisher: ''Winning is a learned behavior'
The former FSU coach took aim at FSU's struggles in important situations, which have been a big part of the Seminoles' struggles in close games. When we look back on this season, we'll point to the one-score losses to Virginia, Pitt and Stanford or the missed opportunities in losses to Clemson and N.C. State.
"That's why stats and yards don't mean a lot to me. It's when you get those stats, when you get that play," Fisher said. "Coach Bowden would tell us to give me a player's grade after the game, now write me and tell me who he is as a player. Is this guy a winner? Can't you build on him? Can he grow?
Getting to a bowl should help recruiting
With a win today, FSU would finish 6-6 in the regular season and become bowl eligible. If the Seminoles can become bowl eligible, projections have them playing in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, where they could play the UConn Huskies.
It's not exactly where any FSU expects the program to be after six years under Norvell, but Fisher points out that just getting to a bowl helps in a number of ways.
"That's a bunch of extra practices that they can get, it'll be good for the young players. And it's going to be much easier to recruit as a bowl eligible team, than a non-bowl eligible team," Fisher added.
Getting to a bowl would give the Seminoles an opportunity to finish with a winning record and that would be a five-game improvement over last year. Fisher's point is that it gives Norvell some things to build on and convince young prospects that FSU isn't that far away from bigger things.