Mike Norvell praises team for postseason work, reveals practice schedule moving forward

After a two-year drought, Florida State will appear in a bowl game this season, facing Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl on December 29. With their bowl game a ways away, Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell detailed what the team’s preparation has been looking like following their weekend practice.

“I thought today was a good work day to wrap up the weekend, really pushed guys the last couple days trying to ramp up the intensity, a little bit of the physicality, tried to create some situational work, two-minute, third downs, red zone, just try to stay sharp on base fundamentals,” Norvell said.

The Seminoles will slowly but surely ramp up as they get closer and closer to their bowl game, focusing on bettering themselves before they turn their full attention to the Sooners.

“We really haven’t gotten a whole lot into Oklahoma or any of that, but we wanted these five days leading up to this break we’re gonna give the guys, we wanted that to really just focus on us,” Norvell said. “We’ll get back on Sunday, Sunday Monday still kind of modified bowl prep, try to get back to the speed of our competition and then we’ll jump into bowl week.”

Florida State will have over a month of time between their last game and their bowl game, a difficult challenge for players, but even off the field, Norvell commended his team for their consistency.

“I’m really proud of the work these guys have done, I’m proud of the work they’ve done out here on the field, I’m proud of the work they’ve done in the classroom, I thought they challenged themselves academically to go get better, and I think it all equates to the success and the growth they’re showing out there on the field,” Norvell said.

Whatever the Seminoles are doing down in Tallahassee is working for them, as they’re fresh off of their first 9-plus win season since 2016 and have shown steady improvement in each season under Norvell. They ended the regular season as the ACC’s top offensive attack and second-best defense, taking a huge step in the right direction this year and looking to cap it off with a bowl victory.

“Just grateful for this group of guys and the work they’re putting in without an immediate opponent that we have to play and I thought they took advantage of the work that we’ve tried to provide for them,” Norvell said.