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the following is a live production of the warchant.com multimedia Network fire up the grills and turn up the volume welcome to workshead game day presented by Zaxby's of Tallahassee he is off one man to beat cuts it back he landed on somebody they're gonna take touchdown warchant.com Chef Cameron and Tom Lang bring you the latest news updates and Analysis around the FSU program ahead of today's kickoff on Bobby Bowden field I know what this game means and if you don't get up for this one then go somewhere else go do something else because it is not for you this is why you play Tallahassee game day is brought to you by Zaxby's the official chicken of sports fans your Tallahassee Zaxby's a proud golden Chief booster for 17 years go Knowles now live and worldwide on workshan TV here is war chant game day welcome in warchant game day good to be with you live at top Hotel Indigo as we get set for Florida State Boston College it's not Boston College at all it's Wake Forest we're off to a great start that's okay pull up last week's notes Tom we're gonna be okay it's Florida State Wake Forest actually a much better game and I'm glad we're here at Hotel Indigo to talk about it because the Knowles have put themselves in a position obviously to make some noise and to get the fan base very excited about what they're seeing undefeated if you win today again you remain ranked you get ready for a couple more showdowns against NC State and Clemson so the momentum continues to build here as we broadcast from Hotel Indigo might mention that our friends at Zaxby's are proud sponsors and we're happy to have them pre-game post game no game at all it doesn't matter anytime is the right time for Zaxby's platters as long as you're hungry feeds your team with your choice of traditional or Buffalo fingers or boneless or traditional wings if you're having trouble deciding get the best of both worlds with a sampler platter and don't forget that world famous sauce Zaxby's platters where it's at your Tallahassee Zaxby's a proud golden Chief booster for 17 years go Knowles all right so we watched the mesh we are we founded by the mesh we wonder how it is that they're able to run that offense but they do it each week and they do it successfully and they do it to the tune of a lot of points last week against Clemson they come up just short now they come to Tallahassee uh it'll be interesting to see the Personnel that Florida state has available to them to help shut this down that's why I wanted to start with the show that way and talk about this offense because I think it's going to be a game of fireworks today yeah I agree um obviously a couple of guys in the defensive line that will be looking at warchance.com will be there in the Press Box with updates you'll find those on warchant.com at the tribal council and make sure you join today can't say it's a buck anymore but we'll see what the new promotions are at any rate uh Jared verse is one of those players we'll be looking for today Fabian Lovett is another just judging by the way that they were walking the sidelines last week I think we know what order they would likely return yeah and that would be five before zero right Jared verse first if you get an opportunity to get Jared verse back here that's a disrupter that's a guy that could help uh penetrate and disrupt the mesh there and and enforce really wait forced to throw the ball out of rhythm and certainly off platform if you will and I think that's a big deal because if you don't get to Hartman he's a very accurate passer from the pocket he's very patient he'll wait for guys to get open this is the first real passing game that you could say Florida State uh has faced in terms of collectively as a unit quarterback on down the line they really throw the ball around the lot quite a bit it is their modus operandi as opposed to say LSU as opposed to say what we saw in Louisville with the mobile quarterbacks right yeah Brian Kelly wants to Chuck it around a lot but that's not what he had this year and that's why you saw you know Jayden Daniels running around an awful lot especially once he came off his first read an elite Scrambler so is Malik Cunningham an elite runner on top of being an elite Scrambler so in a way you're relieved but now you got a gadget offense so it's just if you're Adam Fuller this year there's a lot of non-traditional things that you're having to deal with opponent after opponent and there is logic behind either way of playing Sam Hartman in this offense that's something we'll get into today the numbers back either approach it's just what is what is 2022 telling us instead of last season about Sam Hartman well he also play to your personnel though you know you don't play to them you play to your personnel and I think for Florida State they're better off being aggressive they don't always and I don't when you're aggressive that doesn't necessarily mean that you're blitzing all the time yeah uh so uh that I don't want people to conflate that that I think Florida state has to play uh play fast and I think they have to play downhill and I I think that's much better than sitting back in a soft Zone I know that some people would say statistically Sam Hartman kills the blitz I got you yeah but that's this year and it's a small sample size if you look at last year's numbers for Sam Hartman across the board he's worse against the blitz now I will a side note he's good no matter how you do it no matter how you slice it it's just he was really good last year when you didn't Blitz him and then he was well above average when he did Blitz and this year it's the opposite if you sit back so far he's not as good but then if you Blitz him he's Elite so I think part of it is the sample size includes three teams Vandy Liberty and a beat up secondary for Clemson so is that is that a trend is it real this year or is it because of the small sample size I wouldn't blame Adam Fuller if he starts with pressures and if it doesn't work back off but I'd say make me make him prove it again against our secondary and against our plan I do the same by the way the Knowles dating back uh to the last 12 games or nine and three basically you could say 10-3 since Jordan Travis came back healthy and became the starting quarterback and and that includes a six and two Mark in their last eight ACC contests so to say things are trending in the right direction for Florida State as an understatement uh people were waiting on this moment we wondered at the end of last year the last eight games Florida state was a pretty good football team last seven games uh they won five of them and as we were watching that team we thought hmm all right this is a disappointing season record-wise but might they have finally gelled might they have finally bought in and believed would it carry over well the answer has been a resounding yes and they've passed these early tests you talk about the different types of offenses that's true of college football in general right I think coordinators it's a nightmare having to deal with college offenses because there are so many different types as opposed to the NFL and I think it's interesting Florida state passed a huge test when it comes to scrambling quarterbacks no team in the country is going to play as many of these types of quarterbacks I would doubt and then Florida state has right I mean yeah because because you scheduled the LSU game and you ended up with Jayden Davis right because you had a little on the schedule this year because you're going to play Florida at the end of the year with Anthony Richardson and there's so many veterans on the schedule too they're all 22 and 23 years old yeah and so Florida state passed that test uh by the Skin of Their Teeth in a couple occasions but they did they did pass that test now we get into the test of the throwers and that's why I'm really excited to see how we how we do because for Florida State I mean at this point would you tell this team that they can't win these two of the next three games and be in a position to win the Atlantic I wouldn't they're a team that believes no I'm telling you you're just looking at Florida State's offense and then scouting the opponents because that's what we do at warchand we take a look at the opponents we take a look at Florida State for a second and a third time this offense is fearsome man I mean if you're a defensive coordinator preparing for Jordan Travis in Florida State now you're seeing he can throw throw the ball now you see that there are weapons who can win one-on-ones and they already have the running game as their foundation and you know they'll scheme up at explosive play in the running game even when they don't have an offensive line and they don't have receivers and Jordan Travis isn't a proven passer now all of those things are improved if not fully fixed offensive line and flux a little bit because of injury luck and bad injury luck at that but still I mean if you're a Wake Forest and you're doing a show preparing for Florida State let's just say we're a broadcaster form what do you pick because they're all poisoned which poison do you pick I think I would make Jordan beat me with his legs right now can you believe that can you believe that's a hell of a statement well listen for two reasons I would he's proven now that he can pre-snap with the best of them he's diagnosing before the ball's even snapping away he never did a year ago in addition he's throwing the ball down the scene accurately he's he's using different receivers the tight end's been a big part of the offense this year as well uh credit to cam McDonald they've schemed him open a lot so now you've got four or five six things to worry about in the passing game that you didn't a year ago at least if you Whittle it down to Jordan's legs one thing yeah it's a hard thing to stop it's a hard thing to stop but also you take into account that you can beat him up a little bit too and you know he's a guy coming off of an injury this last game he looked good with the knee brace on I'd still make him prove it I'd still want him to run the ball as opposed to sit back there and throw it he has proven so far this year to help pick people apart no sacks last week for Boston College and one run for Jordan Travis for 16 yards and 51. he looks spry but he also got down without contact so to your point if I'm awake I might say let me hit him five and six times let's see what he does you know I mean look the injury history is real with him so I mean you never intend to hurt anybody but you do intend to hit him and let's see how they respond and so if I'm awake I definitely want to uh I want to cover here and I want to I want to make him run the football and see if they can I by the way it's it's not a good option either way to your point that's why it has been really good that's why the total is in the 60s that's why we're all envisioning it's going to be an offensive shootout because there is no good solution it's just what's the best option of the bad options yeah and and I think that that's where the game lies right because at the end of the day I don't believe now I hope I'm wrong and this defense could absolutely prove me wrong and it would be a great talking point for next week's game but I would tell you I don't believe we're going to get a ton of stops against week for us today I think that we have to win in a shootout and I think Florida State can score with them obviously in a way that you know maybe we couldn't a year well into the fans that are in attendance in addition to the 355 400 people that are looking at us right now watching TV hit the like button and subscribe to the channel when you get a Stop Get Loud Get Loud celebrate that occasion it's not because the defense is bad it's just because that offense is so good and lethal they scored on everybody any time of possession of Wake Forest ends in a kick it's a good thing it's a good thing think about the game you watch I think most Florida State fans last week probably had a chance to at least go back and look at the Wake Forest Clemson game Clemson's front is better and healthier than Florida State's front and they really struggled to get to Hartman so I think it is fair to project that maybe we won't but then again every week is unto itself and wakes a little banged up too also it's how quick can you be in the interior because they they load up the interior of the line he gets so close to it that's the different thing is that you know the mesh is so close to the line of scrimmage so close to the center that sometimes it takes away your advantage if you're out on the edges now you want somebody like a Jared verse there to be able to stop the run I'll be interested to see and if you're in the stands or watching on TV take a look and see if there are some twists from Adam Fuller he's good at that better at dialing those things up than he has blitzes from a linebackers or safeties or Corners see if they try and confuse the blocking assignments for Wake Forest it's a veteran offensive line too you might not fool them but if you do it two or three times in the course of the game it might lead to a turnover it might lead to a throw quicker than Hartman wants to deliver it gets him off schedule and maybe it's a third and sixth that something was wide open but because he gained up front it's incomplete and they're punting you know it's interesting time you bring up that point with Adam Fuller he has done a good job with stunts and twists and those kinds of things it really began out of desperation after the Owen four start if you think back to last year at 0-4 Florida State didn't do anything well there wasn't an aspect of defense that they played well and then we started noticing the crosses and started noticing the twists and the stunts and I said okay well he's desperate we've got to try something new actually that's what you get credit for doing I mean at the end of the day if something is not working you got to try something else he did fell in love with it had Personnel that could execute it and now all of a sudden it's kind of a Mainstay yeah and what he would do is he put two defensive ends together sometimes where he'd see Kim Thomas and Jermaine Johnson next to each other and the offensive line we got those two guys correct but here's what's interesting is maybe that's Dennis Briggs moment you could slide him back to defensive interior for this week right exactly yeah you saw some of it and it was a little bit of a Dennis Briggs coming out party remember that was a bad injury a year ago the cheap shot from Louisville I'm glad we beat them for that reason specific but that said he has hasn't looked like himself until last week I've been waiting for about 15 minutes to share some bad news with everybody on the chat you're going into the stadium so you're fine anybody who's here is going to the game you're fine but I got a text from uh friends of ours at ESPN they're doing Aaron judge at bad break-ins again this week folks so just get your get your patience up they're gonna go split screen to Aaron judge during our game they they're supposed to so if you're watching at home at 1 pm if you're watching on TV at home the game starts at one uh for the Yankees but there might be rain so you might be dealing with this for both halves of the game today so I just wanted you scared me that's a minor inconvenience for people watching you see how small they make the split screen it's ridiculous it's frustrating you're right but I thought you were gonna and that's something tragic like no no but then it's Michael K too so you're hearing Michael K and it's a half screen while you're trying to watch third and seven and you're like yes there are little ants on my screen it's ridiculous it's a relative tragedy yes for the folks watching just work up your your patience you're gonna need it around 3 30 today great job for us here at warchant former Florida State Seminole himself as many of you remember is a guy that has been involved in coaching his whole life either as a player or as a coach and his son is an elite recruit and he watches a lot of college football breaks down a lot of football period and he did some of that for us this week and we're gonna have this video for you here in a moment we're going to play it uh of him talking about the rpos that Wake Forest runs and that's really what it is it's an RPO offense and it's just a different form of RPO then you're accustomed to seeing yeah it's cool he talks about the origins of it and how we got from offenses that looked like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady 15 20 years ago to where we are today it's a good examination so let's do that next uh here on war Channel game day all right I spent this week studying the Wake Forest offense um it's important to note the uh distinction between sort of the college offense and the pro offense or just the evolution of offense in general um going back to um you know let's let's just say back to the early Tom Brady uh Peyton Manning days and what makes made them so special was um at some point we started to identify that the box was not advantageous for us to just call a play line up and run that play and the way that we would manipulate that was pre-snap as the quarterbacks got smarter and smarter and the offensive coordinators got better they would see that I need to identify who is the seventh support player so there's six support players inside the box but we also have six offensive players that can block their six so it's still a decent play but if this guy adds this guy ads or this guy adds to the Run support it's no longer a good play uh you no longer have the advantage that you had uh pre-snap well in this case they're in a condensed formation so uh it's hard to necessarily tell who the the seventh support player is in the NFL what they were doing for years and they still do it a little bit or a good amount they would then kill a run that was going in this direction you'll hear the quarterbacks say kill kill kill and they would maybe move the back to this side and run a running play going in this direction or you would hear the quarterback uh you know which made Peyton Manning famous he would say Omaha Omaha Omaha which means we're going to run the pass version of the play and they would run some downfield routes you know something like this maybe go slant flat back here and uh and they would have run a pass version of the whatever play um they had that they felt was you know a good equation for them what the Wake Forest and really just college offense in general started doing was we're going to change the equation after the snap so all of those adjustments were being made pre-snap and it's still a guess because what the defenses started to do was if I'm the seventh player if you identify me as the seventh player I will then just bail out and play zone coverage and I still have a six-man box but you went to a seven-man box call and I have an extra Defender that's now defending the pass and you weren't prepared for him to be there so the next piece in the chess match was offenses saying okay we're going to add an option to it what makes Wake Forest unique is they have the ability to run a play uh and take advantage of that Defender this Defender and this Defender thus called the triple option uh the triple option was originally a run you know type offense you know back in the the 70s and uh and it's come back now in the form of uh multiple run and pass plays so now we no longer uh the defense no longer has the advantage to show like they're in a run-stopping formation or unstopping defense and then bail out because if you bail out post Snap I haven't made my decision yet whether we're going to run or pass what makes Wake Forest unique is not only have they not made the decision on whether they're going to run or pass they haven't made the decision on which direction they are going to run or pass so right here he's going to snap the ball and he hasn't decided yet um uh actually at this point he probably has decided because this guy has shown his hand he is definitely a run Defender a hard run Defender and uh so this was pretty easy pretty clear here I'm not going to hand the ball off right here the beauty of Wake Forest is offense is this guy could turn into a run blocker and the quarterback can just use him as a seventh blocker now we have seven to block seven the coaches has decided you know pre uh pre-planning that hey we're just going to throw the screen if that guy stays in there then we're going to throw the screen that's what they do here this is the first down call and they end up in a nice easy second and two uh these are the types of things that really win your games so why go to this type of offense um in essentially what really forced a school like Wake Forest into this and really just offense in general um you take it's very quarterback friendly because the quarterback um let's just say outside of Wake Forest is offense most RPO offices you're just finding a Defender and if he is coming towards you you pull the ball and you throw it and if he's going away from you you give the ball to the running back it's that simple now Wake Forest is a little bit more complex than that but that's that's you know you break it down you don't need a Tom Brady who is diagnosing what they're doing and then getting us into an advantageous play the play in it of itself is advantageous because there's three options to it this is original triple option um football but it just has a modern day twist to it that gives you an opportunity to uh to get yourself in a positive call every time so as long as they add an extra Defender to the Run we throw it um you can call runs on every play and that's a big big big issue because as a defense if you don't stop the run then you have nothing and this is what the offense forces you to do is you have to dedicate and uh space and time to stopping the run and when you do that you create gaps or holes in the secondary to throw passes something big something huge is taking over the world of chicken sandwiches Zaxby's new signature sandwich with Zack sauce or new Spicy Zack sauce big chicken sandwich War ate over yet the new signature sandwich it's taking over and it's only at Zaxby's warchant.com has been the definitive home of all things FSU sports for over 20 years and is now part of on three the Next Generation Network warchant.com has the most experienced tenured and largest staff on the Florida state Sports beat and Now features Innovative resources including an nil database that projects player value and a truly aggregated composite recruiting ranking system that will set the bar in the industry there are no words to describe the perfect bearing of Zaxby's hand ready fingers and our 12 delectable sauces but there is a sound and that sound is the Zaxby's chicken finger plate with endless sauce abilities only at Zaxby's welcome back as we are broadcasting live from Atop The Roof here at Hotel Indigo a perfect setting on a perfect day for football it's working at game day appreciate you joining us it was fun listening to Dominic Robinson breakdown uh that offense and and really a lot of offenses are similar these days in the college football world uh they do it a little differently of course but the premise behind it the root of behind that it's interesting to watch the point Counterpoint with offenses and defenses over the years yeah and it shows you the stress that's going to be on the linebackers and the safeties today you know Florida state is more game they've got better players to have that kind of fight than they've had in some time from about game five or game six last year to the end of the season you felt great about the safeties Akeem Dent and the flip he had in terms of what this fan base thought of them and what his grade said about the way he played unbelievable from September to November last year and that is carried on into this season Jamie Robinson led the team in tackles that speaks for itself so you felt good about that group but you were still asking questions questions in the off season about linebacker tayden Bethune has come in he's got an injured Wing he's playing through it playing really well but he is going to be key today and so is kailyn's DeLoach you've got to make those right decisions and you're you know Hartman's gonna be playing chicken with you every play when they run that mesh he's looking at you and what are you gonna do he's forcing you to make the first move and there are times where there's nothing you could do about it if he's gonna throw right behind you because you come fill up against the Run that's gonna happen but when you get a chance to make a play can you do so if the ball is batted in the air can you come down with the interception things like that are going to help you you know get to a point where maybe you could get two scores ahead of Wake Forest and at that point you're setting the pace but all those little things are going to matter greatly in a game that figures to be score for score yeah dictating terms if you get out to a lead but I would also say Tom this is a game a lot of games are Red Zone this is about the red zone to be I don't think between the 20s you're going to make a lot of stops against Wake Forest today may be wrong maybe there's an individual match-up that I'm not seeing that Florida State takes advantage of today along the defensive line that happens it's a game changer let's hope it happens but short of that I think this is a team that's going to move the ball on us between the 20s do you tighten up you get the extra Defender obviously with that back line are you able to make plays in the red zone and get them to have a couple either empty possessions where they decide to go for it on Fourth and short you get a stop or maybe field goals and you go back down and score a touchdown and we'll take that tip for tat all day long yeah I agree it's um you know it's hard to script this about what's going to turn the game what is going to be the turning point because when you consider and I know red zone is a big part of it but when you consider that 20 to 20s you're going to be here in first down a lot sometimes with more Vigor than others such a PA announcer take heart that you'll be seeing a lot of it with your own team as well correct State's going to move the ball on them I believe the one thing I'm interested to see though I understand that our Corner play has not been that good this year but what exactly has Sam Hartman gone up against and we're going to find that out pretty early because he's going to take the shots downfield so it's either going to be oh well that's not going to work or it's going to be a r right look at what we got here this Florida State's defensive back because I understand that Louisville got banged up in the midst of that game but LSU's receivers were quite good Louisville starting group was power five capable two went down that helped two went down that helps a lot Wake Forest is deeper and they're taller than any other group that we've seen in fact of all the six touchdown passes that Hartman threw last week against Clemson the shortest receiver was six foot two yeah and that was yeah yeah it's a really good Court guys that could beat you in one-on-ones but you saw a lot of mistakes basic mistakes made by Clemson's defensive backs last week how many pis were they flagged for like eight nine yeah that's not a ridiculous number it might actually be as many as eight pass interference plays so in phase and your coverage principles do we look better Coach than Clemson because they were banged up last week does our front line guy a group look better than that if they do you might be able to turn around and find yourself an interception in a play or two like that because Hartman likes to intentionally underthrow the ball he throws it really high it's a strange way of diagnosing what a guy does well is for me to sit here and say he throws it really high you'll never hear me say that it sounds like a jimboism yeah just making fun of a guy he does he throws it really high and teams get called for pi all the time because obviously receiver stops to come back to the ball and you're in Phase it's really hard to stop and not run up the back of somebody and so you see it all the time and I think it'll happen again today to some extent obviously you try to work the officials before the game and let them know that you can't throw that on every play he's going to continue don't bail him out for a terrible throw yeah uncatchable passes and those kinds of things but you're right it is an opportunity for Corners who work so hard it's one of the hardest things in football to cover somebody who knows where they're going you know that's that's the hardest part obviously about defending uh you have to have really good hips you got to be able to turn get inside and run and so when you do that your grand reward for being in the right place is to make a play on the ball biggest problem we've had for like Travis J and guys like that is that the athleticism is on display they're in position because they're big and long and run and they can jump and do all those things but they don't make plays on the ball he didn't and a lot of guys don't it's it's the great reward for being in position so the drills that they were running on Tuesday when I was at practice aren't the same as what breaks like all verts right so it's just I mean just down the field shot play after shot play maybe a deep post it's nothing underneath as much but I will say that what I saw the underneath stuff that was being done on Tuesday at fsu's practice the defensive backs were the best group on the field across any segment group yeah that has not been the case very often so that's noteworthy by itself but ahead of this matchup it's extra noteworthy that clearly and I heard that on Wednesday I wasn't there but I heard that it was much the same clearly the defensive backs have been told this is a week to shine because if you don't you're going to be embarrassed routinely yeah they could just roll the tape of the Clemson game last week and show a lot of those throws are perfect but a lot of them you look silly so I think they're they're attuned at least during the week of practice but I mean Saturdays are what actually matter not Tuesday and Wednesday yeah and it also probably has something to do with the fact that perhaps Duke Cooper is getting healthy if if Cooper's getting healthy this changes the game for Florida State because Ronaldo green has played pretty well so now if all of a sudden you have the guy you thought you were going to have coming into the season we thought we had a known commodity in Duke Cooper coming into this year based on the last four games that he played a season ago he had arrived right he was a playmaker he wasn't afraid to make a play on the ball he was confident and aggressive he was in position he tackled well he did everything right and then we saw him in the spring and he looked great and we thought okay this is good then fall Camp happened and he never really looked good then he got kind of banged up and I think that affected him both physically and his confidence and then you watch him in games when he's out there which isn't hasn't been a lot recently and he just hasn't looked like the same player so let's hope we get that guy back into form because that changes Florida State's secondary obviously immensely well if weight goes four wide they don't do it a ton but let's say they do go four wire they split out the tight end I'm telling you it's not I don't know if it's imminent but zarya Thomas his time is near well it's just looking a lot better he had he had a couple good plays last week against an over match Boston College team that's good to see that you can make plays against Bad football teams but there's another step ahead the intensity in practice and the way Mike Norvell answered a question about Azaria on Tuesday told me a lot about what they're seeing and what they're seeing him do that looks like the light bulb is clicking for him because he wanted to see it for a while because for those that don't know that's the Freshman Corner that is different than everybody else on this team he's long he's fluid he looks like an elite athlete he was a big time recruit obviously so this area Thomas can figure it out that's what it is with freshmen right are you going to be where you have to be can I trust you at the end of the day and if the answer is yes with him the physical tools you talk about them for days yeah and we talked to him also one-on-one on Tuesday um well the media with him at least and asked him about the speed of the game and he was talking about how against Duquesne it was it was really fast even Duquesne it's just it was different it's funny with freshman yeah and he said now it doesn't feel as fast and you can see the column in his eyes again proving it on a Saturday against a ranked opponent like this quarterback and a veteran quarterback yeah if you know he will give up some plays even at his best because he's aggressive well that's fine but can he make the plays to go along with it because any turnover today is a huge deal think about your great Corners though I mean yeah you have these supposed lockdown corners but they're always aggressive and they will give up a big play I mean Jalen Ramsey gives up a big play on Sundays it happens but he also is a player wasn't his best no but he's also a playmaker he's a guy that you want you sign that guy to multi-million dollar deals because he's a playmaker because he has more good than bad but he gives up plays aggressive Corners are gonna do do that by the way real quick look around the college top 25 scoreboard and I will note that the we're on the top 25 scoreboard here what a place to be it's nice to reside in that neighborhood right obviously Wake Forest and Florida State later this afternoon at 3 30. I love when you do this because I don't look at scores at all during these broadcasts so it feels like 1995 I'm like tell me don't cheat don't cheat on them right here here we go uh Michigan is on the road at Iowa number four Michigan unranked Iowa it's 10 to nothing Michigan in the second quarter of that football game Kentucky and Ole Miss looked like it might be one of the best games of the day it is 16-6 Ole Miss in the second quarter early in the second quarter there uh number 14 Ole Miss number seven Kentucky number 18 Oklahoma fresh off the loss to Kansas State Trails TCU in a wild going in the first quarter 20 to 10 in the first course TCU leading Oklahoma Purdue is on the road didn't figure to be much of a contest against undefeated Minnesota but it's 10-3 Purdue in the second quarter against Minnesota so some surprises here early go Ibrahim let's go it's Texas Tech on the road fresh off there upset over Texas if you want to call it that Kansas state is ranked at number 25 in the country and they lead 13 to nothing in the second quarter the rest of the top 25 action is all later on this afternoon including your Knolls ranked as they are it's a nice neighborhood as we said number three 23 verse number 22. feels good to be covering a game between two ranked teams in Tallahassee again it's been a minute it's been a long time for granted for a very very long time and just accept that that was always going to be the case or at least one of the teams were ranked it was usually Florida State but you're right it does feel good to get back in that and have to mention it in the top 25 scoreboard so there's your top 25 scoreboard and I'll give you updates as we get to the other side at halftime with a lot of those games I gotta tell you the butterflies haven't hit yet I saw some folks in the chat saying I got my game day butterflies they haven't hit yet I don't know what that is is that a good sign or a bad sign because I've had them before every other game not named Boston College too I mean obviously you're not suiting up today Tom so I'll just ask you where do you get nervous on game days when you think they're going to win yeah or if you think they're going to lose both I think if it's going to be close if it's going to be close I do I mean you know LSU for sure yeah Louisville was a huge moment you want to validate what you've done so I was nervous as heck for that we watched that game together on war change we did that was fun BC last week I was okay you think things were going to be all right it was over before it started yeah but I was even nervous before Duquesne because it was go out and prove it get your you know yeah they had a good case week zero to your advantage and I think it made a big difference actually the next week so I'll just say this I think the reason that uh you would be nervous and I'm surprised you're not yet I have been all week long because I'll be honest with you I think this is a heck of an opportunity you're getting awake at the right time they're a good football team but you're getting them at the right time you're playing with an awful lot of confidence the only downside the position four states in right now hosting a game like this on a perfect day for football is that they are a little beat up along the front and you know at some point you worry those injuries are going to come back to haunt you a little bit uh Fabian Lovett hasn't played since the LSU game and he's your best defender so Florida State's done this without the help of a real disruptive this is a game for him I mean they all are when you're that close to the football but the way that they want to attack you in as close as they are to the interior of the offensive line what he could have done to blow up plays before they even got going no I sit around lamenting not having Fabian Levitt for these this stretch we don't know when he's going to come back but that's where a little extra anger Rises for me because that's why you put a game like LSU away if you do he's never on the field to be in that position but I digress we're still undefeated just be happy about that but it was unfortunate to your point he got hurt on the second to last play of the game I think it was so it's it is frustrating but without him you lose a major piece to your defense and then you don't have Jared verse who is the other uh Dynamic Defender that you have up front a guy that could really disrupt this match today and without him it is awfully frustrating I don't know he may play today that is a game time decision according to game day ESPN's game day it is a game time decision for Jared verse now Jared looked to be moving very well we saw him last week on the sidelines walking around seemed to be all right saw him this week in practice in participating all right I think I could share a little a bit if they're telling the folks of the public that it's a game time decision yeah well we saw him against on the sled we saw him yes the sled okay he was taped on warchant TV during the period of practice that we can report on but he was doing individual work on the sled yeah and full knee bends I mean that to me is that's the huge part of it because that's the area of the injury if you're allowing full flexing of the knee and explosive movement to the sled that tells me the return is imminent and now that they say it's a game time decision I feel like it's okay to share that yeah let's hope he can go I mean it is very different going up against a sled uh as opposed to of course 320 pounds I'm not saying it's a done deal yeah yeah so it is a little bit different and that's why we don't know um so it makes you feel good friends he stayed in Clemson though buddy if they say game time today that makes you feel really good about Jared verse returning next week or another question I think there's no doubt he'll be back next week if he doesn't play today I'm hoping he plays today I think he I think Florida State needs him if they're going to get some stops here and without him I just think it's a it's a wild Affair I think we're talking about a ton of points uh I think that you'll probably see this thing go near the 40s for both teams if if in fact those two players are out for Florida State because if you don't get to Hartman he'll make plays it's true he doesn't love this place though he did play here four years ago there's a lot of college football players are now like in their 17th year NCAA 27 years old balding with a mortgage payment yeah William DeAndre ran away from this team a few years back this is not the same Wake Forest they got more weapons on the outside I'm not trying better for it is the better version but he missed a couple of throws early and what happened was the offensive Avalanche for Florida state was on by the time they got their stuff together it was too late that's a cautionary tale for both teams today is you don't want to come up empty let off the gas because they're going to keep throwing 14 nothing the other way is a tough thing to chase down you're putting a lot of pressure on defenses that are at a disadvantage before the ball's even snapped Clemson got up 14 to nothing we're doing anything they wanted against Wake Forest last week and the next thing you know we're in a wild Affair going into double overtime so obviously Florida State cannot let up here this is a game where you trust your quarterback an awful lot right now let him continue to make plays let him run this offense right now he is a master of this offense and I didn't think I'd say that this year it continues to be the story of the season is how well Jordan Travis has played as a quarterback in all facets of the game he's a better thrower now than I would have ever given him credit for a year ago question will be how does Wake Forest attack Florida State we talked about that in the opening segment but it's just it'll be fun to see because they had a clear plan against Clemson which was leave their corners on Islands I don't know if that was a great plan but then attacked a lot of scrimmage and then forced DJ to beat you with his arm and DJ made some big throws for Clemson's what that we'll note in a couple of weeks as we lead up to the Clemson game he's getting better but still it was about attacking the line of scrimmage with numbers and attacking the running game and trying to stop that if that's their approach today you've got a better quarterback in Tallahassee than they do in Clemson maybe not in terms of total potential but actual on the field production so far this season and Trends we've got the better quarterback Jordan will make him pay in ways that DJ did not and that's with his arm and with his legs you hear this wind coming into the mics here it's very windy on the on the roof here at Hotel Indigo I'm hoping it's really windy out there because if this thing has to revert back to two teams who want to run the ball because it's too many to throw it I think it's Advantage Florida State yeah the wind tunnel effect is not the same as you know walking in the streets of the city and what dope with the bowl set up it might be pretty Gusty down there that affects all kinds of things the kicking game that we're not going to talk about today the throwing of the football we actually do have to talk about it because we're about to do who's hot who's cold I think we know the candidate for cold yeah so I mean I think I think we got to do that in fact we'll come back here in a moment uh it is warchant game day we're broadcasting live from Hotel Indigo up top the roof and if you're in the area we would invite you to stop on by great food plenty of drinks and fellow Knowles here getting set for Florida State and Wake Forest a reminder that the show is sponsored by our friends at Zaxby's pregame post game no game at all anytime is the right time for Zaxby's platters just as long as you're hungry feed your team with your choice of traditional or Buffalo fingers or boneless or traditional wings as well if you're having trouble deciding get the best of both worlds with a sampler platter and don't forget that world famous sauce satisfy your chicken gravy craving with Zaxby's platters Tallahassee Zaxby's a proud golden Chief booster for 17 years go Knowles something big something huge is taking over the world of chicken sandwiches Zaxby's new signature sandwich with Zack sauce or new Spicy Zack sauce because the chicken sandwich wore ate or yet the new signature sandwich it's taking over and it's only at Zaxby's warchant.com has been the definitive home of all things FSU sports for over 20 years and is now part of on three the Next Generation Network warchant.com has the most experienced tenured and largest staff on the Florida state Sports beat and Now features Innovative resources including an nil database that projects player value and a truly aggregated composite recruiting ranking system that will set the bar in the industry there are no words to describe the perfect bearing of Zaxby's hand ready fingers and our 12 delectable sauces but there is a sound and that sound is the Zaxby's chicken finger plate with endless sauce abilities only at zash piece welcome back war chant game day we are broadcasting live from Hotel Indigo Up on the Roof where it is a beautiful day for football actually a picture perfect day for football a little Breezy but it uh it's nice for everybody that's gonna be heading into that Stadium which is off to my right a little bit different View today because of the wind we had to come over here against this wall but it uh it works out just fine we appreciate you watching show is brought to you by our friends at Zaxby's it's now time for who's hot who's cold brought to you by bearno heating and air conditioning turn to the experts at bearno heating and air conditioning to make your home and Fan Cave the ideal temperature today online at bearno ac.com I'll start with uh who's hot it's Jordan Travis every week uh he just had another huge game and he didn't even need to complete that many passes to throw for well over 300 yards 16 completions I think it is so as long as he stays that way I'll just continue to fall back on the obvious candidate and go with Jordan Travis but you've got a lot of guys to choose from I do a hop you can do it oh that's cold you know we know it's the chair oh but yeah missed extra point yeah you had a good week of practice I don't want to hear it all right all right so then we're just gonna stick with a hot the rest of the way uh I'm gonna project for today rather than saying who has been all right we'll do a twist on it this feels like a Johnny Wilson game to me sir and it's you know you look at the way that wake defended Clemson last week and the challenges that they presented to DJ which was beat us in one-on-ones and he did Johnny's open when he's not open because he's so large and you know that he wasn't somebody that was a centerpiece to the game plan last week it's funny you've had three different uh Power five games of note and you've had three different receivers step up in those games who knew that Darian Williamson would be the headliner last week nearly 100 yards before he got banged up I thought that might be where you he went because he had himself a day for the uh for the ages for a kid who hasn't been that productive well he was dinged up at the end of that game so we'll see today uh how much run he gets but this feels like a Johnny Wilson game to me because if you're going to be playing in single coverage and you get shots down the field I mean you know it's not just that Tate rodmaker loved him in the second half of the Louisville game Jordan gave him a ton of chances against LSU and then early on in the Louisville game on that big third down play the first third down on the first drive he rolls left that's two dudes making a play that was not part of the scheme whatsoever and Johnny makes what I thought was actually his most difficult catch uh in that moment well so that tells me that the chemistry is there if you've got all the platforms trust and there's going to be quite a few off-platform things I think happening today and off schedule things and that tells me that Johnny Wilson I saw in our friends and prize picks they had the over under set that's just 54 and a half yards well over man I think that's way over today yeah yeah I think there's a chance it's over today as well feel pretty good about that for a lot of the receivers I would take the over today I think this is again I I said it when we started the broadcast I still feel this way I hope I'm wrong I feel like it's just a big day for both offenses I think they're both going to scroll up so we have a contribution and a tip from Florida man in Texas thank you to Florida man in Texas he's asking are there any specific superstitions we have wearing 90 gear today you know we did not coordinate but you've got the uh the retro logo yeah so do I I've got the old starter jacket on is there anything to that no I I no it feels a little bit like old times it feels it feels like we're we're back playing meaningful football again but uh no I didn't think about it I just like it I just like the old school look and the yeah what's old is new again and all that good stuff yeah the funny thing is this is actually short sleeve I don't know if you can tell that on the screen but this is just an undershirt that's uh yellow and it's got long sleeves I mean if you have the opportunity and and your wife says hey there's a short sleeve starter jacket on eBay and I said how much is it she said 18 by it now with shipping I said all right yeah get it you say yesterday that so that's why I'm wearing it today it's just a little bit breezier up here the temperature is gorgeous to answer that question right no we did not coordinate but I'm excited to be able to actually yeah that would be weird uh that said uh Florida state is hoping to go to Five at home we start talking about these you know first for Florida State first since first right you would go back 4-0 start uh this season 2-0 in the ACC both for the first time since 2015. it's the second uh program in ACC history to start a season 4-0 one year after starting 0-4 uh Virginia did that back way back in 83 after an 0-5 start uh they did that four states the other team to do that in the ACC Florida state is one of two programs nationally with three wins over power five opponents in 2022 the Knolls were the only undefeated team in the state of Florida the only undefeated team in the State of Florida it's fun to throw that out that's usually yeah that's that's another one to do there but yeah so again you get to 5-0 here if it happens it's an ACC win another one of those and you're talking about trying to win the Atlantic and you've got two huge games coming up after this one now you have to win this one yeah uh and and I'm not assuming that I'm not disrespecting the D because I think they're pretty good uh I just think that this is the stretch obviously where you start to Define what is possible for Florida State this game you got NC State you got Clemson yeah it's just so crazy that that's a potential goal and you know that'll be something that we have on the watch long today Dominic Robinson will be there it'll be a separate link from this channel starts at 3 30 on war chant TV but uh Aslan and D Rob have the first half Aslan or sorry uh myself and D Rob had the second half and then we have the post game show yeah there's gonna be some nerves in the air from this guy because if we're in position to win the goals that are on the table over the next two weeks if Florida State wants to get the win today are crazy oh things I never thought we'd be talking about in the middle of October well not during the rebuild right I mean right obviously in days have gone by Florida state would routinely win this conference and and play for you know big Stakes including national championships but during the rebuild you've wondered how soon do we have those conversations how quickly will we be able to have those conversations again and with the season that they had a year ago you thought okay they may still be a couple years away and then they began this year 4-0 and they look bought in as we said they've won 10 of their last 13 games they've played really good football since Jordan Travis kind of settled in as the starting quarterback in fact if you want to hear some numbers it's interesting I know you got a question that came in there in the chat we'll get to it ain't a question but it's appreciated thank you uh FSU leads the ACC currently in uh total offense rushing offense as well as passing yards per completion really it's averaging 15.4 yards for completion Jordan Travis is having a year folks I mean this is something to watch uh that is the seventh best in the country it's also averaging 226.8 yards rushing a game that's top 15 in the country 503 yards of total offense per game that's also top 15 in the country I could keep going they have upwards of 9 to 12 statistical measures by which they're in the top 15 in the country that's the crazy thing and look you're allowed to have an off day in college football and it's windy you can hear it in the microphone so that might affect the explosiveness for both teams but in watching other opponents you know watching wake ahead of this week's game and uh watching Louisville before that and some of the teams that they're playing I just look at the opponents and I go this offense is better than that if they get that same read this is going to be a 20 or 30 yard play right yeah it happens so fast confidence yeah it's the defense that we are not sure about I mean if you're picking apart this team you don't start with the offense because you're happy about that you start with the defense and you say I don't know I don't know we haven't really seen a a guy that can drop back pass and consistently do so and they've seen a bunch of guys that can run and they've handled those tests but they haven't seen a guy who can really sling it the official DMD of war chant TV is z-chan and he dropped it with a massive contribution thank you Z Chan and uh he has a score prediction too I believe it was 45-31 Knowles so thank you z-chan we appreciate that very much and we've got another one from Pete uh he says let's go Brave so that's fair thank you guys for all that you do so uh we appreciate that thank you Pete very much thank you Pete and uh thank you Z Chan we do appreciate it very much and uh hey I didn't get a chance to to say it at the start of the broadcast today but this allows me to Segway way right to it now it was an amazing thing yesterday as we broadcast both during the Jeff Cameron show and then afterwards we had the uh happy hour show and then obviously wake up warchanted it as well um we were able to raise over eight thousand dollars yesterday from listener contributions like we're getting here today uh 100 of that money uh goes to Aid the folks who were most affected by Hurricane even Ian uh that money goes to the American Red Cross not a penny goes to YouTube not a penny goes to warchant nothing goes to us nothing like that every cent that you guys donated yesterday went to uh the American Red Cross as um yeah it was well over uh nine thousand dollars all told between all all three broadcasts it's simply amazing so thank you everyone out there we just want to say thank you to everybody that was uh really quite awesome and it was also impromptu you know that's where you can utilize the platform for for something good like that and uh you know we all sat around we all saw the devastation on our screens and we all have fans friends and family from downtown we'll be here some might have left their homes because they have no power they decided to just come up to Tallahassee I know a few that have already done that yeah and so uh and I've met a lot of people who came over because they wanted to avoid the storm and they're going to a game some of them for the first time ever and that's exciting man it's great we welcome all of you in and if you're listening to the show or watching this show we really do appreciate you doing that uh but yeah I wanted to say thank you here at some point during the show today for those that contributed and helped out that was an amazing number and we decided the last second to do it boy as usual you listeners responded you know by the way Florida state has scored of their eight opening drives so far this season so you talk about the start the Haves and all that Florida state has scored on seven of those eight opening drives and by the way six of those have been touchdowns uh that's the best in the country yeah well I mean you think about the Louisville game specifically uh that response with Tate at quarterback might be the drive of the season if Florida State let's say goes on to huge things and they win this game and the Atlantic is in play and I'm already getting nervous even thinking about that but let's say that November looks like that where you're playing Miami and Syracuse for the right to hold on to the Atlantic and go to the ACC Championship game one of the drives of the season has to be I think it was six and a half minutes to start the second half against Louisville Tate rodmaker leading the team down the field he breaks contain on a third and nine I think it was for a first down run and then Lawrence Sofia caps it off with a touchdown but that was a huge drive another one like that was the LSU Drive uh in the second half you go down you score to start that second half then they score and you respond right back it's just they've got a sense for when to make something happen in a timely fashion that's what I like that about this team yeah they got Hudson man they've got a lot you know I call what for they've got a ton of what for uh Florida State teams in the past would have lost that Louisville game for a lot of reasons one they weren't very good the last several years uh but also that was not a team that was always imminently likable this one is and one of the reasons they're very likable is they are tough they respond on to opposing team scoring they respond to the big moments of the game so far through four games that has been their MO really dating back to last year the last eight games where they played so well down the stretch and now these first four so I think it's a large enough sample size I'm going to include the games from last year so I'm talking about 12 games thereabouts that Florida state has shown this sort of fight and this resilience and the ability to make plays on offense they've kind of become that team now and fans love a team that plays with passion that shows a lot of heart that is willing to you know dig in in the big moments after something negative happens and fight back and overcome that obviously nothing worse than having your starting quarterback go down on the road against Louisville at a night where your defense isn't getting stops and Louisville's desperate to win a game they have the most mobile quarterback uh in the country You could argue and Malik Cunningham he's really really good and so at least most mobile that can throw it like that yeah and so you're thinking to yourself well this may be a loss and you described it aptly as uh you know obviously it was a great moment for Tate rodmaker and a great moment for this team they got that win and that's why we're still sitting here in a position to talk about more grandiose achievements that are possible you know for Florida State if you really do get to 5-0 and it's a big if but if you do we're we're legitimately talking now about a two-game stretch now obviously later in the year you got to go on the road to Miami we don't know what they're going to look like by then right now I'd rather play Miami right now obviously but I agree uh but the point is we'll see if they get it turned around but and that's always rivalry game so that'll be a tough test but you have other tough games but this stretch of three games here beginning today really defines whether or not we're still talking about winning the Atlantic competing to try to win an ACC title and no before the season began I did not think that was a conversation we could even entertain and yet we are here and if we got the lead in the third or fourth quarter you'll get a dream once you we'll be thinking about the game in front of us but you'll also be thinking about the stakes of what's to come and if you do get the win today and for the folks that are in Tallahassee they'll be flooding local establishments here to watch Clemson and NC State uh by the time you get out of the traffic maybe the second half of the game actually you can come up here to Hotel Indigo they have a they have a post game little Soiree up here on the seventh floor so you'll be able to watch the game here if the traffic is too crazy but the point being if we do get the win today that game becomes a whole hell of a lot more interesting let's go around the country top 25 get you updated yet again we like to do that for those of you are listening to us traveling about don't have an eye on a television Michigan leads Iowa still that game is at halftime now 13 to nothing Michigan that's a wrap entertaining I was not scoring 14. entertaining game at Ole Miss and we thought it might be number 14 Ole Miss is hosting number seven Kentucky that game is 19 to 12 in the second quarter a fun game right there with those two offenses and look at what TCU is doing to the Oklahoma Sooners folks TCU leading OU in the second quarter early in the second quarter 34 to 10. Grant 34 to 10. what are you doing yeah Brent Venable's struggling on defense there at Oklahoma they gave up 27 first quarter points today did the Sooners and they trailed 34-10 to TCU Purdue still leads Minnesota that game is approaching halftime it is 10-3 that is a surprise great game between Kansas State and Texas Tech 13 to 10 at halftime Kansas State the ranked team there later on this afternoon while we're playing uh Utah and Oregon State's a good game it is an afternoon game I wish they would have had that be Pack 12 after dark but it's not uh should be a good football game Arkansas and Alabama a kickoff at uh in Fayetteville while we're playing so you'll get updates when you're inside Rutgers Ohio State Oklahoma State Baylor as well Northwestern Penn State Texas A M Mississippi State and Georgia and Mizzou night game NC State Clemson I've got a strange one for you in the ACC right now Boston College oh you got one for me all right it's in the second quarter Louisville's in the Red Zone Boston College is winning 21-16 Boston College has scored 21 first half points in a game I don't care who it's against it happens today to be against Louisville Louisville's in the Red Zone with a chance to go ahead but what a weird score that is I would have never expected them to drop 21 period but it means they're protecting uh Djokovic that's what it means they're pissed off yeah but they're that they are finding a way to protect him finally and I mean the kid can throw we overwhelmed them a week ago obviously they couldn't block it up front but they're clearly having some success seven of nine for a buck 55 and two touchdowns that's what Phil's numbers are in the first half you wonder if you lose a game like this Louisville are we talking about a coaching change in that particular Market we might very well be that would be strange if that happened uh obviously it's a tough one to take but they already have some so uh we shall see yeah so that's a fun game uh and you know I never root for Louisville so I'm fine with that story I agree I will say this we've got another hour of war chant game day I had a chance to catch up with David Hale earlier this week yesterday in fact espn.com college football writer and analyst also works for the ACC Network we had a good talk about Florida State as well as all things ACC including Clemson some other things you'll hear that in the next hour it's working at game day as we broadcast live from Hotel Indigo brought to you by our friends at Zaxby's something big something huge is taking over the world of chicken sandwiches Zaxby's new signature sandwich with Zack sauce or new Spicy Zack sauce because the chicken sandwich wore ate over yet the new signature sandwich it's taking over and it's only at Zaxby's warchance.com has been the definitive home of all things FSU sports for over 20 years and is now part of on three the Next Generation Network warchant.com has the most experienced tenured and largest staff on the Florida state Sports beat and Now features Innovative resources including an nil database that projects player value and a truly aggregated composite recruiting ranking system that will set the bar in the industry there are no words to describe the perfect bearing of Zaxby's hand ready fingers and our 12 delectable sauces but there is a sound and that sound is the Zaxby's chicken finger plate within the sauce abilities only at Zaxby's the following is a live production of the warchant.com multimedia Network fire up the grills and turn up the volume welcome to warchant game day presented by Zaxby's of Tallahassee here's off one man to beat cuts it back he landed on somebody they're gonna say touchdown warchant.com Chef Cameron and Tom Lang bring you the latest news updates and Analysis around the FSU program ahead of today's kickoff on Bobby bowdenfield and know what this game means and if you don't get up for this one then go somewhere else go do something else because it is not for you this is why you play Tallahassee game day is brought to you by Zaxby's the official chicken of sports fans your Tallahassee saxby's a proud golden Chief booster for 17 years go Knowles now live and worldwide on workshant TV here is warchant game day workshead game day hour number two as we broadcast live from Hotel Indigo if you're in the area we would invite you to come on out it is a great place to overlook the tailgate Lots in the stadium to our right good day for football Florida State and wake four has two ranked teams and an opportunity here for both to put their name squarely in the conversation regarding the Atlantic division Florida State hopes to remain undefeated and prove their status obviously moving forward and of course this Begins the stretch of three really big football games in the ACC I'm talking about this one I'm talking about NC State and Clemson as well and so it is that uh the Knowles have everybody talking that's true on college game day today it was a nice point of contention and conversation regarding just how good is this team I think obviously this stretch of games will help us decide exactly where they sit I think we believe Florida State's better than we thought they'd be we don't know how much better yeah and this stretch will let us know that too yeah that's where the next three weeks are about just looking over in the tailgate Lots we got a question about that they're starting to fill in it's not quite a BC level Mayhem but that's the interesting thing today is Florida State went to Great Lengths and and a couple of wonderful gestures by Michael Alford in the athletic department saying that anybody who is displaced or troubled or in any way by the impact acts of hurricane e and come up here and get free tickets I don't know what to expect in terms of the crowd now last night a corner pocket was packed we've got a really good crowd here at Hotel Indigo a lot of passionate Knolls some that come that came up from the affected areas because the power is out so they said let's go to Tallahassee and go enjoy a football game but I wouldn't be stunned if there was 58 000 I wouldn't be stunned if they were overpacked because too many free tickets were given away and season ticket holders are saying get the hell out of my seat what are you doing there I wouldn't be stunned by anything in terms of the uh the capacity but for those that will be in the stadium the atmosphere is going to be ready they're ready for this one that's it's just perfect though if you did if you're one of the lucky ones who got up here to go to this game you got perfect weather I think a kick off they're talking about it being 80 degrees the slight breeze and there's no humidity in the air you can't ask for anything more than this and the stakes are high that's the other part of it you know I mean it's a big game not just because you're here and it's an exciting atmosphere and all that but you're talking about two ranked teams two good teams in the ACC Atlantic there's a lot on the line and that's that's why it's fun again around these parts you got a quarterback you trust you had a coach who's got Total Team buy-in uh now you have wins to go along with that on the resume you're making an impact in recruiting these game days they get bigger and bigger with each Victory and the moment becomes more intense but it's also why we love this game why we love this team why we love this sport to the 600 of you that are watching across YouTube Facebook live Twitter live thank you for being here make sure to hit the like button subscribe to war chant TV these are the broadcasts that we wanted man these are the ones we've waited for I mean when we first started at the FM dial together now 10 years ago the stakes were already high the improvements were already made by Jimbo Fisher at the time the the recruits were here the players were here the expectations for That season were not met because those were actually National Title expectations but game day was coming here every other week it felt like I mean this was it was a big deal to watch football in Tallahassee it's been some time since that has been the case but we're in the thick of it for the next three weeks well you know what the other part part of it is too I know we don't make nearly as much money and that pisses me off too as other conferences acc's got a decent conference and this is a really good division in terms of the top three or four teams in it compared to any other division to power five football and you're about to have a round robin for Florida State the next three weeks that is must see TV for the nation not just a small group of people that love Florida State when they're down this is actually now nationally relevant football yeah and I think we go back to watching practice I'm thinking about all those days where it's hot and we go down there and we we watch these practices in the mornings and I'm talking about the last several years that is one of the great things about Mike doorbell's media policy you can go down to watch practice and really kind of get a sense where the team is or is not or who's coming on and all that stuff gives us context to be able to talk to you which is greatly appreciated it's a talk show host who's had coaches not do that and coaches who do it makes a world of difference but I think about the the Toil and the hard work and all the stuff that they've done and a lot of days you walk off that field and we would talk amongst each other in media and say yeah there's still a long ways away it's just such a joy now to wonder uh not not how how long till they become competitive until they become an interesting team in the ACC but rather to what extent are we talking about that relevance are they a team that will be talked about as a possible conference champion and from there you obviously know where the conversation goes if you start getting into that one the next one becomes this year I'm just talking about the way those conversations work right and if you win today that's the conversation it isn't yet but if you win today Championship conversation yes yes I thought you were talking that no no well I mean look it's down here across the board if you're not one of the three halves there's a spot at the table usually that fourth seat gets absolutely obliterated I think baby steps let's just start ice cream here today you I mean and and I'm sure some folks who are cautious by Nature are watching this the same fellas slow down agreed easy but if they do win today I mean you got a night kick at NC State next week and they're not the only ones that are gonna be riled up for it we are going to be riled up for it but you've got to take care of business today and there should be a lot of fireworks although as we get closer to kickoff this win is not dying down I understand we're on the seventh floor of a hotel and so it's going to be a little different than field conditions but it's enough for me to ask you once you get into the stadium and text you how are we looking what's the wind like I'm excited to get over there in fact it's it's gonna be a nice day if I get up on that roof it'll be really windy of course but I am kind of curious I'll try to get a better sense of what it is uh by the way thank you Troy and everybody else in the chat saying hello I the reason I call Troy out is he's watching us on a plane from 26 000 feet in the air right now on his way to California so I appreciate the dedication there Troy watching war chant game day while you're flying and my wife's in the air right now flying to Hawaii I'm not watching this show I'm sure of it I'm sure well tell her to say hi to spartanell Ralph's out there yeah I know I did there are several knows in Hawaii who listen to this show or listen to The Jeff Cameron show and watch this as well I am kind of it'd be funny I don't think she wants to talk football when she's in Alaska probably I don't think that's going to happen but that being said back to the game at hand you know I talk about the Knowles coming out the gates fast eight opening drives seven times they've scored points on those opening drives six of those are touchdowns that's the best in the conference one of the best in the country uh they have done it both halves that's where the eight comes from so it's been something to watch and you're going to want to get off to a fast start here again today because we think that a lot of points are going to be scored a lot of wide open plays too you know that's the thing that we saw the first year that Norvell was here is the covet season and uh the first 12 to 15 plays were clean and we're right down the field we said man when they get off script they're terrible but the script was beautiful since then it was a little in between nothing was great nothing was terrible uh but now they're showing like they were in uh 2020 where if they're on script things are good but then even when they get off script they can still be explosive it's just a quarterback what I love about it is I mean like the cam McDonald play last week uh or two weeks ago against Louisville I should say why the hell open that's the first play from scrimmage they rep the heck out of that they're ready to go they saw something I mean I think too it maybe they're they didn't give themselves enough credit but I think they saw something too with LSU and the way that they were you know lining up to block their extra points and field goals because the way they loaded over there you thought man okay they must have they must have scouted something whoever is doing the scouts for Florida State and they have added some offensive assistance I know Jason Garrett's brother I believe yeah is a part of the staff as an offensive assistant they're ready to go you don't see players who look shocked by what they're seeing in front of them on either side of the football and that to me is a sign of good coaching good preparation but that's not just about the coordinators and the on-field staff that's also about the support staff they talk about it in Alabama all the time they've got an army of analysts those dudes help their team because they're scouting three four weeks in advance they have so much resources whatever's going on in the process of leading up to a football game and preparing this team this year it's really looking good yeah and we talk about coaches a lot as college football fans I'm talking about generally speaking we talk about coaches an awful lot and everybody's got an opinion about this coach is a good coach this coach is a bad coach or we're not real sure about this guy just yet let's see what happens it's year one year two year three whatever it might be but I think this team's well coached and that is another reason to get excited is that it's not just that the players have bought in not just the players have shown toughness and they work hard obviously it's that they have been a team that comes out looking well coached they've got a plan they execute the plan and they do it very very well now again this defense is really about to be tested so we'll see if we're talking about Adam Fuller's defense or him specifically in a good way at the end of these three weeks but as of right now you know I mean we feel pretty good that is the one area that we're worried about but they they too look pretty well cooked yeah then the thing is it's tough when you're going against the Malik Cunningham or Jaden Daniels you can look foolish and do a lot of things right and prepare well uh he's been gutted too in terms of personnel so that's got to be part of the conversation if you lose your best defensive player and then your best rush in might be your second best defensive player your best corners banged up your best linebacker is playing with a broken wing I mean that's a lot of things to have to deal with and scheme around uh I would say though going back to the LSU game that's the one I know everybody wants to focus on the fourth quarter on what didn't go right with Coach Fuller and that final drive but that was a hell of a game plan and it spoke to something that's going on in his mind which is I'm going to be aggressive you saw a single coverage across the board on LSU's wide receivers which is something we said in the Scout all off season long and all the month of August long you don't want to do that you're going to get exposed but he knew that if I pressure this quarterback his eye level is going to come down he's going to make poor decisions to start Daniels I think he realized okay I can get this guy to drop his eyes but kudos to him for being aggressive in that moment the question is is being aggressive worth it today against the quarterback like Sam Hartman in a scheme like this it'll be fascinating to see what their first couple of drives look like and they'll probably have to adjust off it one way or the other but what did he decide to do Monday through Friday this week is it to be aggressive and to force quicker decisions or is it to lay back and force long drives Marcus uh thank you for your contribution he writes what's the key to Victory today go Knowles uh well honestly I think you got to be really good in the Red Zone I keep saying that I'm gonna go back to this for Florida State on offense got to cash in in the way of touchdowns when they're in the Red Zone they've been good about that uh and then secondarily obviously can you get wake to settle for a couple of field goal attempts there and and win a score Fest because I think that's where this is headed they have been good recently in the Red Zone but I go back to LSU and the management there it was frustrating to go there's some interesting decisions were made and then last uh the Louisville game before Johnny Wilson catches in the back corner of the end zone we're trying to trick our way with a yard I'm hoping that they've gotten beyond that now too again I don't know that they felt like it was strange on that particular night obviously Louisville was doing a pretty good job up front and yeah I don't know if they felt like they could block him and that worries me a little bit I guess that is that is getting very concerned if we're being honest we talk about this secondary can they prove themselves they get the opportunity here during this stretch especially today against a good passing veteran passing attack like this I would ask you the same thing though about this offensive line can they sustain now we know the quarterback's going to play it well and he's pre-snapping with the best of them but can you run the football consistently when you need to and are they good enough to do that up front we'll see that would be a good I mean and we haven't talked about that uh too much this week but I think that's a worthy test if you're the offensive coordinator if you're closing you're putting this thing together the straight ahead and run worked very well for Louisville and I think honestly the game got out of hand too quickly but BC actually ran the football up the middle a few times in the first half okay when the game was in flow got out of hand and then it really doesn't matter after that but they've been tested up the middle and they haven't always passed those tests so I think that's a good call there that if I'm awake I might try the middle of the defense again and see can you hold up against a straight dive no match play let's just see if you can hold up against that because if you can we can run a whole lot of stuff off of that and now you're right behind the eight ball well we're getting back to the concerns about injuries and whether or not they come back to haunt you they haven't yet but you're right every team that rolls in here is going to test the interior of Florida State's defensive line so long as Fabian love it's not there they don't have another dominating figure inside like Fabian love it nobody close and big Coop's a nice player but he's not an elite player uh you know from there other guys that they run out there are guys that you you're happy they can contribute they're decent players but they're not difference makers right now and some of them are banged up too right yes some of them are I don't know what we can do coach Norvell did note this week that um Josh farmer had a much better game against Boston College and that's a player you need him this week you really do because he's quick enough to shoot the Gap and I understand that wake's number one thing is no no pressure between the center and the guards the a gap no pressure there but if there's somebody on this roster who's quick enough not named love it to be able to do it it's farmer it's 44. and those are the types of plays again that if you get uh Wake Forest in a second and 12 now we can see some things here you can you can run some wrinkles and throw some wrinkles at them and maybe that's the uh the canvas with which you get a couple of stops and you put yourself in position to run away with this thing well I want to challenge big Coop today because he has yet to have a huge game and I think he's capable he was the guy at camp that did a really good job on a daily basis of disrupting this offensive line and I thought he was poised to have a huge season now obviously uh if you have your full allotment of guys it's easier for him to have an impact on the game and without verse there we don't know if he plays today obviously that has an effect was banged up too at the end right I mean without those guys it's harder for Coop to have an impact but I think this is a day today where if he's gonna show up and make plays and be a disruptive force in the interior here you go man because this is their entire offense it's predicated on that being clean most offenses want to be clean at the feet of the quarterback obviously right but but the feet of the quarterback are so close to the ball when it's being snapped here yeah so that you really can make an impact today we'll see if they do I sure hope so also Brian writes should we lose to Wake Forest should Mike Norvell still race Cooper to the end zone at the start of the practice at their following practice I don't think that's going in the way anytime soon Brian thanks for the contribution also thanks for the contribution Tony I think it was who uh donated back there I appreciate you Tony uh no I would I would just say that that is something that uh they've done for some time now it's part of the camaraderie that this coach has with his team uh and and not you know I know you're kind of having fun and it's all in Jess but honestly that is a big reason you see this team fight they love their guy they love their head coach and it's because he does silly things like that he has fun with him he's hard on him but he has fun with him he is hard on him and he and he didn't love practice on Wednesday uh that was one of his comments posted practice was immediately you could see he was kind of sour he's got a good pulse of his team though he knows when to push the buttons at least to this point in the season you know there are times where you see practice and you say all right I wonder how he's going to conclude the day and what his message is going to be and he might either overreact or he might pull it back and say whoa these guys are tired everything's all right but he seems to have the pulse of the team locked in such a way that if he's mad and looking for details and he's asking for execution after the final public practice is held I think again this is going to be a team that comes out of that tunnel with their hair on fire and that's one attribute of this team that I absolutely love and adore is that both on the offensive side and the defensive side they want to run through you they don't want to make a play they want to run through you and they'll make mistakes about that sometimes going about that business but I love the extra toughness that they show because it tells me that the chip on the shoulder for all of them still exists they're not going to be complacent with a big time win over Boston College and again that went over BC proved in and of itself the maturity I was gonna say they were very mature in the way they handled that they had an opportunity to seize the moment overwhelm a team that was a little beat up don't let them hang around and begin to believe the way they kind of believe today against Louisville obviously you're watching BC hang in that game they Trail 23-21. I it's interesting too that they responded to the club last week you could feel it when you were there if you were in The Stance you saw it even that team well obviously you take the opening kickoff back to the house and you talk about the physicality Benson has emerged as a guy that will deliver the pain on offense some Greg jones-esque runs last week against BC in which guys got absolutely emasculated so it's it's fun to watch what was impressive about that run was that he's basically standing straight up that wasn't I'm getting my pad level to your thighs and I'm gonna explode and you've got nowhere to go like uh Jones did to uh Sean Taylor way back in the day oh yeah yeah but this was I'm just stronger than you you're gonna bounce off of me or you're gonna go flying because my base is just that level and then the helmet goes flying after that kid has to come off the field how about that he runs over your teammate your helmet comes off and you're not allowed to participate in the next play will you go over there and think about what was done yeah you go over there think about what happened we could have brought him up for who's hot as well I was thinking about it but I just can't ignore Jordan Travis it's one of those things where it's like Michael Jordan should have won the MVP every year but they had to give it to Charles Barkley one year Carl Malone one year they got tired of giving it to Jordan and if he runs hard again today the way that we've seen at trade Benson then it was the second half specifically the fourth quarter at Louisville in which the switch flipped on for him yeah when he figured it out yeah I hope that we see that version the rest of the year it changes the dynamic in the backfield I mean that you got a three-headed monster back there right now and we really like all three guys because they bring a little something different to the table I think between the tackles in the Hole uh Ward is a lot of fun to watch I mean he's a guy that'll make you missing a phone booth right he's just got a knack for that Benson will run you over but also has Breakaway speed when he's in the open field until it feels a guy that really sets up runs nicely these days he's a little smaller but he catches the ball better than all of them and he's the guy that gets the edge because he's really fast so they all bring something different to the table and then you incorporate Jordan Travis's legs it becomes a fantastic and dynamic uh rushing offense well part of the thing is if again Wake Forest approaches this game plan and uh like they did for Clemson I think those players are going to make some big plays those running backs but not in traditional run sets because one thing that happened last week to Wake Forest defense because they lost track of the running back out of the backfield a lot whether it was releasing down the field on a route on an in cutting route or whether it was out to the flat uh there was a play that we put in in the piece I'm watching it this week where it's simple motion pre-snap for Shipley he's quite open he might score if DJ just throws in the ball it's it's only an eight yard away from him it's kind of a throw but they lost track of the running backs they were so concerned about downfield coverage in the receivers that little plays could turn into big gains and Clemson didn't always take advantage of that if the approach from Wake Forest is exactly the same today as it was last week those dudes that we just named might have a lot of moving yards receiving yards on top of the running yards you could score a VIP Fan Experience at the FSU Florida game on Friday November 25th courtesy of Bud Light and Triangle Sales text Bud Light fan 22 that's Bud Light fan 22 to 855-297-9460 for a chance to win sideline passes Hospitality passes as well nice two tickets to the game plus Bud Light and FSU Fan Gear that's Bud Light fan 22 to 855-297-9460 thank you football season Epic with Bud Light you must be 21 years of age or older in order to enter a complete contest details visit trianglesales.com or check game day continues from Hotel Indigo brought to you by Zaxby's in a moment something big something huge is taking over the world of chicken sandwiches Zaxby's new signature sandwich with Zack sauce or new Spicy Zack sauce because the chicken sandwich War ate over yet the new signature sandwich it's taking over and it's only at Zaxby's warchant.com has been the definitive home of all things FSU sports for over 20 years and is now part of on three the Next Generation Network warchant.com has the most experienced tenured and largest staff on the Florida state Sports beat and Now features Innovative resources including an nil database that projects player value and a truly aggregated composite recruiting ranking system that will set the bar in the industry there are no words to describe the perfect bearing of Zaxby's hand ready fingers and our 12 delectable sauces but there is a sound and that sound is the Zaxby's chicken finger plate with endless sauce abilities only at Zaxby's welcome back Fortune game day as we are broadcasting live from Hotel Indigo Up on the Roof seventh floor if you're downstairs you're walking around you're listening to us we appreciate it very much come on up say hello we're out here on the deck it's beautiful nice breeze coming through here perfect day for football as we said Florida State not that far away from kicking it off against Wake Forest both teams ranked and a lot on the line today in the Atlantic division seeing if the Knowles can keep this thing going had a chance to talk about the ACC as a whole uh yesterday with who I think is a great reporter for ESPN David Hale who I've got to know really well over the years is a friend of the program but does a great job of covering this conference and we had him on yesterday's show wanted a chance to bring that to you again here today for those that are listening to war chant game day this is my interview with David Hale ESPN college football writer yesterday on the Jeff Cameron show let's talk to David Hale Let's uh bring him in that's uh it's been too long David how the hell are you my friend [Music] again it's been far too long it has man it has um I know for instance that and we'll get we'll delve into just where you sit on your level of hatred for Florida State but I want to be I want to begin with I don't think you hate Florida State as it has been revealed this week uh in comparison to say how much Dave Clawson seems to what the hell happened to Dave what's going on with Dave you know Dave uh poor old Dave Clarkson he Surly is early this week he had a rough week last week uh he's got a lot of pent-up frustration that's gotta that's got to come out somewhere and uh I don't uh you know it's you he the the beauty of Dave Clawson is he's very steady Eddie you know like who and he'll he'll tell you about how much effort he puts into just being the same guy every day but but here's the truth of and the reality of being a human is that sometimes you just need to like curse somebody out punch somebody in the face like just take a baseball bat and Destroy something and I think that he has been compartmentalizing that for too long and it needed to get out somewhere uh and maybe that's it I don't know that's my dime stores psychology on all of this it's just strange David I I don't get it it's been odd uh I think he realized that he kind of put his foot in his mouth earlier in the week when he prattled on about whether or not you know Florida State or the ACC would do the right thing and and not endanger his players or their supporters uh let alone the people that would be I guess going to the game here to watch Florida State as well I mean that seems silly right it was sort of inferred though that he wasn't sure they would and then later of course the messaging about Vanderbilt type crowd and all of that well I can tell you David if he gets here today it's 74 Sunny with a slight breeze no humidity and I think he's going to be able to find food yeah yeah um I wondered how much some of that was kind of working the refs because they weren't exactly eager to go and play a game after having their hearts ripped out yep um yep so that was the first thing that occurred to me uh and Dave Clarkson is not above a little Machiavellian uh behind the scenes you know but look I think what it says to you is that he is probably fairly concerned about the emotional uh situation within his locker room and that's rightfully so I mean look it is when you were a team like Wake Forest that only gets so many bites at the Apple and you've got it right there you're holding it in your grasp a win over Clemson like that uh and it gets ripped away from you at the last second like yeah that takes a toll and we see far more accomplished teams have hangovers in the next games after moments like that so you know look if I was Dave plus and I'd love to take the week off too and then recalibrate and be ready to go in two weeks but instead they get a second straight top 25 opponent and a really darn good one in Florida State it's not an ideal situation for him David your in play question of the day was who's your pick to win the ACC Atlantic right now and it's another bone I have to pick with you why wasn't the question should FSU be considered a legit college football playoff contender uh if you listen to My Pal Joe ovious who uh does a show that is really just a shadow of what you do down in Tallahassee but he he tries very hard yes uh doing a Sports Talk show up in Raleigh and uh he spent some time this week wondering aloud why it is that uh a certain Network that I may be employed by I don't know I don't want to name names uh but why they're so eager to write off everyone other than Clemson as a potential playoff team in the ACC I mean there is certainly the odds of FSU going from five and seven to a playoff team are fairly long but you know who did that a year ago Michigan Florida State shouldn't be holding you know second place to Michigan by any stretch of the imagination you know NC State anybody in the country he thought like that's a bad team coming into the year so if they beat Clemson this week like why wouldn't they be a legitimate Contender um I went to Syracuse I have absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest they should be playoffs anyway the conversation I mean no I mean um I perhaps as much as any other you can look at all the underlying metrics say this the polls say this there's three teams that are at the top of college football right now that's Ohio State Georgia and Alabama only two of them can even win a conference and then after that I think it's about as wide open as it's been in a long time I don't know who number four is and so if you're going to suggest that it can't be far to statement it can't be NC State I mean to me that seems pretty short-sighted the good news is the next three weeks um will really tell us everything we need to know and that's the exciting part they're going to play each other it's little round robin action here and it's fun and I I will say all seriousness I like you know we're having fun with each other but I I would ask you this because I the answer is yes uh from my end I'm wondering uh how you have proceeded up to this point it is rather stunning uh the advancements and strides uh made in Jordan Travis's passing game this year this is a different quarterback Who uh right now is a guy that would rather make plays with his arm from the pocket than run around it's incredible how far he has come uh give me your thoughts on what you've seen from Jordan Travis so far this year and go back three years to the start of the Mike doorbell era when James Blackman was sort of the starter by default if you had told me that Jordan Travis was not just the starting quarterback but a successful good Difference Maker in the league type of quarterback I would have said you were crazy the growth there's not a lot of um equivalents of guys who have blossomed all the way around the way that he has because even if you look at sort of the well they flew under the radar the Josh Allens of the world they were under the radar went to Wyoming oh yeah but they had all the tools you just look at them and you say like well you can like put together the mechanics you'll be good like I don't know that anybody even thought Jordan Travis had the tools to become an adequate passing quarterback and he has and the other thing is when you are a really good runner as he most certainly is and then it gets in your head that you need to be more of a passing quarterback you need to establish that go back and look at the history of guys whose careers that has upended because it gets in their head they don't know how to do both stop using the thing that is their best weapon to do this thing that they're not actually that good that and he is to his credit not just become a much better passer but not abandoned the thing that makes him good he has found a way of making really good decisions and that in some cases is the hardest part of trying to become a more balanced quarterback so look top to bottom I don't know how you can say enough good things about Jordan Travis and the player that he has become and then on top of all of that you know you we've talked a lot just me and you and I'm sure you and many many others about the culture change that needed to happen in Florida State's locker room yeah for how many years how many Bad Dudes were in that locker room there's not a better than Lee Travis and you look at the benzi Milton situation and you say what more could you ask for from a player he has been the the point man both on and off the field to this Florida State Renaissance and like you I genuinely don't know how you could say enough good things about him yeah it's exciting David I feel I feel very fortunate to have watched the transformation here and and you're right you and I have had that discussion in the past on and off the records and we had any number of conversations about what has to happen at Florida State and that's really where Mike Orville gets the most amount of credit that and really doing very well in the transfer portal uh and he's helped put this roster obviously you know in fact like all bias aside David I think I mean that's worth a story in and of itself that everybody uses the transfer portal very few people have been as effective in flipping their roster and sustaining this the way that Norvell has with the amount of transfer portal players that have changed this team's makeup talent wise raising the floor to that extent right and you could go and like point at Lincoln Riley and say great job in the transfer portal oh well great genius you figured out Jordan Addison and kill him right like the guys that Mike Norvell has gotten have been not just good players but players who have gotten better at Florida State and to get back to sort of the locker room conversation have fit in well with what he has tried to do there I mean you look at Jermaine Johnson that's a big one and he came came from that Georgia program that that desperately wanted to win and he brought in that that sort of hunger that I think was missing at Florida State just because it had been so long since anyone at FSU had had tasted winning like that so I mean it's just such a um again like getting the best players out of the transfer portal there's not necessarily a ton of mystery to that but getting the guys who a want to come play for you B you're going to fit in the locker room and C can still develop and become better players that are not just looking for a place that'll let them play the way they want because they didn't get along with their last coach that's hard to do and frankly I I think if Mike Norvell wanted to sit down and write a book about it now he'd have a lot of other coaches lining up to buy the first copy so it's not just our game and I know at the end I'll ask you I know you took wake I I can see it I I think the number is way too big I think it's going to be a shootout and a fun one at that we'll we'll Circle back to that but there's another big game obviously and involves Clemson yet again and so my question first of all would be I don't know why this happens every time we talk but I have a question to you about Dabo you guys talk so frequently I'm sure you're texting on the regular why can't Dabo Sweeney understand that if a player is playing poorly and articles are written to that end that it's not a conspiracy or personal [Laughter] like Dabo is beyond repair on this particular topic um it's frustrating uh for a lot of us part of it is um there's a very insular Community there what you think no no campus okay but let's just say there are a lot of folks at the press conference with Dabo wearing orange so I don't know if he lives in a world where the truth uh is put in his face very often uh I do think it's funny to me because you know you look at last uh or 2020 after the George Floyd stuff and Dabo got a lot of criticism for that I thought some of it over the top but a lot of it deserved and you look at how his quarterback Trevor Lawrence handled that situation and it was beautiful I mean it was exactly what you would want a head coach to do except it was the quarterback and you look at this situation with DJ youngale and Dabo getting all up in his feelings about people saying that he wasn't good last year when he clearly was not and DJ's handled it perfectly you know he doesn't yeah it doesn't bother him that everyone's been criticizing him and he'll be the first to tell you I didn't play good enough so it it's it's hard to ignore the fact that the 20 year olds on the roster have no issues Dabo does now in DJ's case I think there's a couple of things going on number one um did DJ had it hard last year on the field and off the field and was dealing with a lot that he wouldn't point fingers at anybody else and nobody else was standing up to say it's not DJ's fault and I think there is a a lot of like let's wrap our arms around this kid who took a lot of bullets for everybody else last year so I think that's part of it part of it is I think davo just sees himself in DJ like gabbo is so um thin-skinned I guess is the easiest way to put it about you know what's going on when people criticize him and there's some projection there again me being Dime Store psychologist here I think he just sees the way that he is criticized for things that he doesn't think is fair and so he fights that same battle for DJ because he didn't think the criticism was fair but at the end of the day anybody who criticized DJ as a human being doesn't know him at all because he has been great but he played horribly last year there's no way around it and I didn't see a bunch of Articles being written about DJ being a bad guy I mean maybe I glossed over him I didn't hear one criticism of DJ the human being it was that he was playing terribly I just think it's weird and that's I'm not gonna go down this road and belabor the point but he's gotten worse about it and I don't know if that's because he's become more insular as you're saying or if he's it it's strange to me to me once you have success yes you can become a tyrant because where are you going to go nobody's gonna get you out of there but at the same time it really usually gives some gives one Teflon to a certain extent like what do I care what anybody else thinks about my quarterback or me for that matter if I've won multiple national championships and oh by the way in an off year I went 10-3 like I don't get that part of it I am 100 with you on this like I just don't understand why it matters um you know but we see this like get outside of the realm of sports or actually I would argue and I've argued this for a while you look into like other news they'll just become more like sports has always been but get out of the road and you look at the way like and this is true on both sides of the political Spectrum but it'll be like you know Trump did this and all of the uh you know liberals will be like well why didn't why aren't y'all reporting on this stupid thing Trump did and the exact vice versa had you know Biden says something dumb and Fox News why didn't you report on that people are reporting on it you just have decided this is going to be your narrative because you read something on a message board or Twitter and then you have taken that piece of information and made it your entire ecosystem and I don't think again to your point I would I would love for somebody to show me the story that was written about what a bad guy DJ oyungalow is nobody wrote that I would not doubt that there was some crazy stuff posted on message boards about uh I got two caught up in nil I wasn't concerned about the team Whatever by some blow art who's never been in around the locker room in the least but nobody who was around the team and around DJ said any of that stuff last year and so but I think this is I a lot of it comes third hand to you know it's uh some booster or some guy yeah it tells him oh the media the monolithic media is saying and in dabo's head that's just that's it that's the whole conversation because he heard it from some guy who is a booster that he talks to on his radio show or something right and uh you know it has this way of taking on its own life and uh Dabo the number of times I've heard him say Well that's just the world now that's just the way the media is now I'm like you know Dabo like yeah I'm sorry that social media exists like it's been 20 years now we gotta we gotta come to grips with it who do you think wins that game I think Clemson wins it I I look at that wake was able to uh uh really extend the fee the field last week and I think there was two reasons for that or three really Clemson's very banged up in the secondary that may still be the case this week but wake's wide receivers are real good and I don't think NC State's receiving core is nearly as talented as wakes and I the thing that has been the most confusing and confounding to me is that Clemson defensive front which should be essentially filling out the entire all ACC team they're that talented has not played that way so far they've been picked up a little bit too we don't know if Xavier Thomas is going to play this week but they've had to Blitz a ton to get pressure and even then they didn't get it much against Sam Hartman last week and every time they blitzed Sam Hartman shredded them so I think they need to figure out a way to get that front four who's really good to play like a front four who's really good and if they do that I just I don't see NC State being able to move the ball consistently on them even if the secondary's still banged up a Adelson was on the right side of the Ledger uh but you however were not in taking Wake Forest why did you take wake and and I'll be honest with you the caution comments this week don't exactly provide me with a lot of encouragement but I think again wake it has a lot of Firepower there and that defense which had not been good the last couple of years I think is markedly better um Brad Lambert's done a nice job there with with the talent that they have I just think they match up with Florida State pretty well um and look I I wanna I wanna jump on the FSU bandwagon and maybe if they win this one uh I will jump on with you maybe uh maybe David I I I feel like this is sort of you know wake sees this is sort of the last the last stand for them or they're going to come in with like the type of Hangover I'm used to having when I'm in Tallahassee so one of those two things I bet on them coming out to play I could be entirely wrong it has happened before believe it or not I just wanted to have fun with you brother I always appreciate the Insight keep up the great work it's good to see the extra exposure you're getting as you deserve and we'll talk again real soon sooner than rather than later my friend something big something huge is taking over the world of chicken sandwiches Zaxby's new signature sandwich with sack sauce or new Spicy Zack sauce because the chicken sandwich wore ate over yet the new signature sandwich it's taking over and it's only at Zaxby's warchance.com has been the definitive home of all things FSU sports for over 20 years and is now part of on three the Next Generation Network warchant.com has the most experienced tenured and largest staff on the Florida State sportsbeat and Now features Innovative resources including an nil database that projects player value and a truly aggregated composite recruiting ranking system that will set the bar in the industry there are no words to describe the perfect bearing of Zaxby's hand ready fingers and our 12 delectable sauces but there is a sound and that sound is the Zaxby's chicken finger plate with endless sauce abilities only exact piece broadcasting live from the top Hotel Indigo it is war chant game day good to be with you thanks for joining us if you're in the chat we appreciate it you came here to Hotel Indigo we appreciate it of course and uh hopefully if you guys are out there making your way over to the stadium uh that you're doing so well listening to us and watching us as well we appreciate that very much so perfect it's starting to fill up over there just to give you a sense of game day if you're out of town and you're watching this and you want to know I'll let you know that uh the lots are starting to fill up nicely uh which we were concerned about giving the storm in the State of Florida and um you know what looks like they're gonna have a good good crowd here for a big game against Wake Forest in the remaining 15 minutes we'll give our prediction to do all that good stuff but also never lose your nerd thank you for the contribution appreciate that game day subscribe to warchan got in just in the nick attack that's a great idea yeah that's a good idea to subscribe to war Channel because subscribe to the channel for absolutely free a uh a low rate low low rate I don't even know what it is right now but at warchant.com the homepage and as a reminder we will have a watch along and a post game show here on this channel the watch along will be Aslan and Dominic Robinson for the first half I will join the show for the second half and the post game show 10 to 15 minutes after the game as well it all begins at 3 30 here on warchant TV we look forward to seeing if Florida State can improve to 5-0 because if they do the butterflies don't go away they just multiply yeah the games get more intense and they matter each week uh the stakes can become greater and that's a fun thing to be a part of again I do want to remind folks for the best game day Apparel in Tallahassee and online support garnet and gold for all your FSU needs garnet and gold is locally owned and operated and their owners are FSU grads too no support Knowles when they shop at garnet and gold scoreboard check here real quick again within the top 25. Michigan is currently trouncing Iowa 20 to nothing there that game as you said is a wrap five quarters they would score a point that's correct uh it is 20 to nothing Michigan with three minutes to play in the third quarter there as advertised we thought Kentucky Ole Miss would be a good game between two ranked teams it is a good game between two ranked teams number seven Kentucky 19 number 14 Ole Miss 19. in the third quarter late good game there TCU continues to pour it on Oklahoma they are only at halftime and TCU has scored 41 points against the center's defense it is 41-17 TCU unranked leading Oklahoma 41-17 surprise of the day there Purdue in Minnesota are tied as well in the third quarter interesting game there 10 to 10 good football game sounds like a big ten game right now in October there you go 10 to 10 between Minnesota and Purdue Texas Tech Trails Kansas state number 25 Kansas State 20 to 13 and they are underway now between Utah and Oregon State I figured this would be a good game early in the first quarter cam Rising has led Utah to a score it is seven to nothing there later today Alabama and Arkansas they kick it off at the same time that the Knowles do should be a good game in Fayetteville as well Alabama's surprising in my main Minds 17 and a half Point favorites today uh yeah I think you did yeah yeah it's a huge number and I thought it was kind of a big number for us this week too initially it opened up around one and a half two depending upon where you look it's up to a full touchdown now I haven't checked this morning but six and a half seven or so is the spread Florida state is favorite over Wake Forest and I understand it somewhat in that Wake Forest played a really physical really emotional game last week at home and they came up short so maybe you're catching them at an opportune time and opportune time if you're FSU but still that feels pretty strong for a game that we feel like at least locally is going to come down to maybe who has the ball last yeah I think it's a game where both offenses let the scoreboard I said that all week long I'll stick by that I hope I'm wrong I hope four State's defense shows up and plays a great game but I I have a sense that it'll likely be a contest where both quarterbacks have a huge day they're both playing really well right now Jordan Travis has played great so far this year and obviously Sam Hartman is a veteran quarterback coming off a six touchdown pass performance against Clemson uh you know listen you gotta you gotta favor him in terms of what we think will happen for the offenses uh in terms of both quarterbacks having great days I should say yeah one thing I'll know too and we'll see again an up to kickoff time just take a look at your screen when it comes on ABC hopefully Aaron judge isn't batting at the time but take a look and see what the win conditions are like they have settled down a little bit up here but that can change at any moment if the wind is up that means a lean towards the ground game the downfield shots that Wake Forest really loves to take it mitigated somewhat so weather could indeed still be a factor today we'll see what happens when they kick it off in about oh an hour and 15 minutes that number to give you an update Tom is six for Florida State as we sit right now now that number at DraftKings that has come down to six so we've seen a move every which way to Sunday it started out low at one or two moved all the way to seven seven and a half down to six uh listen it's a one score game Florida State's gonna play at a ton of one score games this year we've talked about it before the season began and we said listen hopefully you take your times before each of these games because I have a suspicion that the games are all going to be fourth quarter games now BC obviously was not it's great to have a rocking chair game for the first time in a long time Rocky chair games ACC I should say yeah we had a rocking chair game against the Kane but that really wasn't a game but this this I don't think will be that and if it is we're on to something here pal if they somehow get to where Florida state is boat racing wig for us we may have something special going on in Tallahassee I would be very surprised if that happened I would be surprised I wouldn't be stunned if Florida State won this game by a couple of scores though the reason is it's just again the balance in this office is really good right now and the timing of the game you're catching them at the perfect moment you're catching them when your starters that are healthy at least and your deaf guys that are healthy only play two and a half quarters against Boston College and that's not nothing so I just the circumstances around this game are good and the circumstances around the offense as long as you don't suffer any more catastrophic injuries feels like it's going to be consistent you can set it or and forget it that the Arts per play count the explosive play count all of these metrics that we're going to be talking about in The Game notes are going to continue to see Florida state in the top three to top five in the country and a lot of these metrics it's just a whole hell of a lot of fun when the other team kicks the ball to us now you don't dread what's to come you can't wait to see what's about to happen yeah being uh kind of eagerly anticipating uh you know being a fan who's eagerly anticipating their offense taking the field is a nice change in a minute it's been it's been a minute and I brought this up last last hour so I know I'm being redundant but it is just fun to read these stats that we could put together FSU staff did over there and we appreciate it because these are things that are fun to read fsu's offense leads the ACC in total offense rushing offense passing yards per completion again when you're averaging over 15 yards of completion uh that's really good that's top 10 in the country it's 226.8 yards rushing per game that's 13th best in the country 503 plus yards a game is top 15 nationally so all of these stats again you could go on and on about this because there are even more of them I mean it's time and again you look at these offensive numbers it reiterates your point Jordan Travis this offense I think you got to give Coach Atkins a lot of credit as well Norvell is a great play caller as well and I this has all worked really well so yeah I I think I I should say it this way I think mine Rebel when he gets into a rhythm is a very good play car he's a little weak in the Red Zone still so the decision making is it doesn't always it's not congruent each week you wonder what you're gonna get I think well we're still trying to trick people down there inside the file I wish we'd get away from well two things number one last week you saw that the approach inside about the 25 yard line is to go for it on third and fourth down and that speaks to the lack of trust in the kicking game and then again with the wind whipping today I think you might want to do that a little bit more if you're Mike Norvell but the other thing inside the other 240 is go for it I think so maybe inside the 15 you think about kicking it but maybe maybe I did short Alex Atkins though when I was talking about what is it about the game planning that we come out firing and I'm talking about the support staff I'm talking about norvel I'm talking about that's my fault I'm sorry coach Atkins uh obviously you're the offensive coordinator too and even though you might not be calling the plays yes you're putting in the game plan so forgive me coach Adkins don't ever leave us just never leave please stay here you want to be in a position and we talk about this all the time where your coaches are sought you want a staff full of guys that other people want to steal from you and and if you have that then obviously you have a lot of trust in your coaching staff because they're putting together successful game plans hence the reason people would like to take them and and utilize their services I I would say this Mike norbell has done a very good job in his career for those that do worry about things like that uh of replacing guys of finding guys on the rise he did it with Alex Atkins you know he looked at him from afar while competing against him when he was at Memphis meaning coach robelle was at Memphis and Atkins was at Charlotte I think it was and and you know he came away from that game going their offensive line is really good and this is really really good and then he looked it up who's the guy doing that well I love that we have a coach who's that forward thinking that you got a guy looking at other stats after games going hmm if I ever need a guy their time it's like when Belichick did playing the Dolphins years ago when Wes Welker was killed he's like he's like this guy every week whatever you got to trade just go get that guy I'm tired of it I'm tired I'm tired of game planning for him yeah yeah that's that's pretty funny yeah so uh we have some guys like that right now is really the point that we're making and it's reason to celebrate by the way it's uh time it's already times huh this show flew by today's game predictions are brought to you by ABC Fine Wine and Spirits find an ABC Fine Wine and Spirits throughout the State of Florida and become access Rewards member today all right well we've spent a lot of time on the game all week long because we're excited about the football game and we both both quarterbacks are playing very very well you'll get all the numbers and you can't help but being impressed I do think it holds the form here today Tom and I think it's a high scoring Affair I picked Florida State earlier in the week in a nail biter I'll do it again here I think 41-34 somewhere in that neighborhood is where I'm going to go in Florida State yeah I like the number 41. uh the question is do you get there from two field goals or a missed p-a-t how do you probably all right all right six touchdowns on the day for Florida State I too have 41. I got 31 on the other side I think the Knowles are going to cover again wow there's something about the intensity of this group and again it's just you match Florida State's intensity that you saw against Boston College against a group in Wake Forest that's going to be up for this game but how can you be at the level that you were last week for the matchup against Clemson I love catching them at this point in the schedule that matters more in college football than it does in the NFL so that's why I think Florida state has a chance here to cover and win so 41-31 a reminder that none of this would be possible without a great sponsor from Zaxby's I'll do it one more time pre-game post game or no game at all anytime is the right time for Zaxby's platters just as long as you're hungry feed your team with your choice of traditional or Buffalo fingers or boneless or traditional wings if you're having trouble deciding get the best of both worlds with a sampler platter and don't forget that world famous sauce satisfy your chicken craving with Zaxby's platters order online or in the app your Tallahassee Zaxby's a proud golden Chief booster for 17 years go Knowles and by the way hey have fun today buddy oh I will I will I want to tell everybody that obviously we've got the watch Along coming up you can find it on a different channel here yeah it'll be a different link but then once you start up with the watch along it'll be Aslan and Dominic Robinson for the first half I'll join for the second half that link will take you all the way through the end of the post game so it'll be live for everything I think you know as well it's really good but I think it's gonna be even better today because he's got a great pair of socks on okay I just saw him and I love the socks he's got to be feeling good about himself wait a minute I can't show this on the camera but take a look at this what kind of socks do you have I've got home run apps those are really good socks they are they are I'm not going to try I've got boring ass socks on today guys I I didn't get the memo I'm not going to tear my hip Rotator to show those babies off but that's coming up right after 3 30 p.m 3 30 and then uh the post game show also with you and Gene as well so to the folks that are here still about 700 of you please hit the like button subscribe to our Channel and uh thank you for contributing in the chat whether it was actually with a tip or whether it was just a question or advancing the uh the conversation all of it without you guys it doesn't happen appreciate you be well enjoy the rest of the day if you're going into the game man we got a good one right perfect weather for a great football game go to holes until next time we thank all the folks that came out here to Hotel Indigo and producer Ben and producer Ben for doing a great job and all of you yet again go to holes talking again down the road be well everybody