Mike Norvell, Jordan Travis stress importance of Miami, Florida rivalry games | The NoleBook
Miami and Florida.
Those are the two games Florida State football head coach Mike Norvell talks to his team about before the season.
The two rivalry games with the in-state opponents are important games for the No. 4 Seminoles (9-0, 7-0 ACC) every year, but with three games left in the regular season, the Hurricanes and Gators stand in the way of a perfect regular season.
“There are only two games I talk about before the season and I talk about them before our offseason,” Norvell said following Wednesday’s practice.
“Every day matters when it comes to that. If that’s not important to you, then you’re not going to play in this game. You will get exposed. This game takes everything you have.
“I’m grateful I get a chance to coach in this game. It’s special. You respect the past, you respect every game that has been played before. You respect the people who have played in this game.
Quarterback Jordan Travis - who attended The Benjamin School in Palm Beach - agreed with the notion from his head coach about the importance of the game.
“We talk about at the beginning of the year, there are two games that mean the most to us,” Travis said. “It's Florida, Miami. So talking about the beginning of the year.
“We know what comes with this game, there's going to be a lot of energy, but at the same time, we have to keep the main thing the thing it is a football game and we have to focus on the play in front of us and keep our emotions under control.”
During the segments of practice indoors Wednesday, Norvell and his staff pumped up the volume on the music and added crowd noise to prepare the team for the potential atmosphere from the sold-out crowd.
“It’s going to be rocking Saturday,” Norvell said. “All expectations of what it’s going to be like inside that football stadium. We will make sure our defensive guys are communicating and understand they won’t be able to hear.”
Here are observations from the Democrat writers in attendance for Wednesday's practice ahead of the Week 11 matchup.
Observations from FSU's Wednesday's practice before Miami
48 seconds, 1 TO for indoor 11vs11 drill: Wheel route to Lawrance Toafili goes incomplete plus an offensive procedural penalty. Mike Norvell is not happy. Gilber Edmund gets in and forces Jordan Travis to dump the ball to the ground. Throw to Toafili out of the backfield results in 3rd down. Another penalty on OL. Norvell mad. 25 seconds left —Travis to Morlock. Morlock makes a defender miss and gets first down and more before getting out of bounds. 16 seconds. Travis to Toafili, who catches and gets first down, then runs out of bounds. 11 seconds. Another offensive penalty. Toafili with a catch over the middle for first down. 5 seconds left. Ryan Fitzgerald is good from 42 after a defensive timeout.
Third down drills: Botched snap to Travis, play is blown dead as QB is touched. The next play is a defensive offside call.
Fentrell Cypress breaks up a pass to Kentron Poitier but is called for a holding.
Travis to CJ Campbell for a touchdown pass in red zone drills. Nice route out of the backfield for Campbell.
Markeston Douglas makes a catch in traffic in the end zone. Throw from Travis over Shyheim Brown.
Destyn Hill great route to get open vs. greedy Vance, hauls in a pass and taps his toes for TD.
Keon Coleman catches a screen pass from Travis. Looked crisp running his routes Against the scout team.
Blake Nichelson with an INT of AJ Duffy during scout team drills.
Conrad Hussey picks off Brock Glenn after undercutting Joshua Burrell on a route in the end zone. The entire team and Norvell go over to celebrate.
Travis hits Coleman with a pass over the middle. Coleman looks confident and fluid.
7vs7 scout: Travis drops a dime for an over-the-shoulder catch for Jaheim Bell.
Travis throws a deep pass to Coleman for a TD. Coleman having a great practice.
Rodney Hill breaks off a big run down the sideline. Norvell throws up his arms and goes to congratulate him.
Burrell continues impressive practice by stealing a ball off the turf on a throw from Rodemaker.
Beautiful route by Coleman to get open on a deep route. Tate Rodemaker slightly overthrows him but Coleman's route is the most important thing there.
GAME INFORMATION
Who: No. 4 FSU (9-0, 7-0 ACC) at Miami (6-3, 2-3)
When/where: 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Doak Campbell Stadium
TV/Radio: ABC/94.9 FM
Live game updates: www.Tallahassee.com; @Ehsan_Kassim, @jackgwilliams and @JimHenryTALLY on X, formerly Twitter
Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football: Mike Norvell, Jordan Travis talk importance of UF, UM
