Florida State 38, Duke 20
Q. What was that atmosphere like? Have you experienced anything quite like what it was tonight in Doak and just walking off the field winners? That just seemed like an old-school Florida State win.
FABIEN LOVETT, SR: Yeah, I could say we experienced it last year when we played Florida. It was about the same crowd. It was a great time. We played good, and it was just a great, great team win.
Q. Jordan, Coach Norvell said you were having fun out there. How did it feel out there today? Were you indeed having fun?
JORDAN TRAVIS: Yeah, I had a lot of fun today. Winning is fun at the end of the day. When you win, you have fun. I'm very thankful for my teammates. Coach Norvell and I had a meeting last Sunday about having fun again. He feels like sometimes I might be pressing, I feel like I have pressure and I'm trying to do too much. So I'm just trying to be back to myself, enjoy the game of football, enjoy it with my teammates, but yeah, winning is fun, so I would sacrifice the pressure and everything to win every single time.
Q. Jordan, you guys were 0-2 on 4th down situations tonight. Do you think that this needs to be a focus in practice this week as you guys gear up for Wake Forest, or was it just Duke's defense tonight that really caused that situation?
JORDAN TRAVIS: Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, it's two really good football teams going at it. Duke is a really good football team. That defense is really good. Sometimes that defense is going to make plays, too, at the end of the day. But we've got to keep chipping away. We'd love to convert those downs, but at the end of the day there's two football teams going at it, and one side wins on each play. They came up big on those plays, but at the end of the game we came up when it mattered.
Q. Jordan, in that fourth quarter the offense scored 18 points, nearly doubled the total for the game. What adjustments did y'all make to be able to turn it on like that at the end of the game?
JORDAN TRAVIS: We really didn't make that many adjustments at all. We knew we had to keep chipping away. Like I said, Duke is a very good football team. I mean, I think they were 1 for 26 on plays over 20 plus yards this year or some crazy stat like that.
Yeah, we were going to keep chipping away. We knew it was going to pop at some point. We got the run game at the end of the game, and Keion made a big plays, and Deuce made the biggest play of today's game.
Deuce is the type of person that comes to work every single day. He always doesn't get the ball on offense, but he came up when it mattered. We're thankful for him.
Q. Shyheim and Fabo, the goal line stop you guys had, what goes into that toughness both mentally and physically in that moment, and why does the defense continually play well with its back against the wall?
SHYHEIM BROWN: Well, on the team, we got a saying, January to January. That work we put in the off-season, fall camp, spring, summer, that prepares you for those moments like that. Today's motto was they don't score, and unfortunately we didn't do a good job of that. But anytime we can stop as a defense the offense from scoring, that's our job, and it's whatever it takes down there. That's what you seen.
Q. For all three of you guys, as leaders on the team, when you go down early on in games, is there any rah-rah speech on the sideline or any heads dropping, or is it just you guys business as normal?
SHYHEIM BROWN: You come to Florida State to make plays. This is DI football. It's division athletes on the other side just like there is on your team. As a team, as a defense, as leaders, as an offense, you just let your guys know that you got them. It shouldn't be like no rah-rah because at some times rah-rah ain't good for the environment or the scenery at the moment.
But you've just got to pull like individual guys aside, and they're going to relay the message. As a team, we've got each other's backs, so we're going to say something when it needs to be fixed, and when it's going good, we're going to say it's going good.
Q. Shyheim and then Fabien and Jordan, just the way you guys played that second half against LSU, it felt like this team was going to be maybe unstoppable, almost flawless. It hasn't been perfect, but you guys keep winning football games. How confident are you that you guys can find ways to win football games even if it isn't perfect every night?
SHYHEIM BROWN: It's the want-to. You've got to make up in my mind that my man ain't going to beat me, or your 11 ain't better than our 11, and our motto on defense is trust your brothers. Like Pat said, trust your teammate is going to do his job so you can do yours, and everything will work out fine.
Q. Fabien, you guys have been really good late in games. How much of that do you think is the rotations you guys do so that guys are fresher in the second half?
FABIEN LOVETT, SR: It has a lot to do with the rotation because at the end of the day if I'm going out there fresh, I'm going to go make plays like I did today. If Fiske go out there fresh, he's going to make plays. If Josh is out there fresh, he's going to make plays. At the end of the day, it's all about putting each other in the best position to be dominant, regardless. We don't want to put nobody out there if you're tired, just because you're tired you need to come off the field.
Q. For Jordan, 10 carries, 62 rushing yards. Was that something that Duke was giving you guys, the ability for you to run, or is that something that you guys felt like you had to have in the second half especially?
JORDAN TRAVIS: We kind of knew that this week. We talked about that. A couple of those plays were going to hit, and they did. But it starts up front with the offensive line. I appreciate them more than anything in the world. They fight through a lot of adversity, injuries, and they just keep going. Maurice on that last drive, he was hurting pretty bad on his knee. I just said to him, come on, man, this is the last drive right here. He got up without saying anything and just grinding on that last play, and we scored a touchdown.
I mean, kudos to them, kudos to the guys on the perimeter blocking. It makes my job easy. I wasn't getting hit beyond the line of scrimmage. It was always downfield. Yeah, that's all my teammates.
Q. For Jordan, you mentioned today was about having fun playing the game and letting off a little bit of the stress, as well. There were a handful of big catches tonight from Jaheim, Markeston -- you can go down the list. It seems like Keion has one every week. How much does the game become funner when you're seeing those guys make those type of plays?
JORDAN TRAVIS: Yeah, I love seeing my teammates be successful. At the end of the day, that's the biggest thing for me. It puts a smile on my face and makes me enjoy the game even more just seeing my guys happy. But yeah, those guys stepped up big, but it comes from practice. Everyone goes really hard in practice. Keion goes hard in practice. Johnny goes hard in practice. Just guys making plays. Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games. That's what we've got on this side of the ball.
Q. Jordan, you just mentioned, I know he wasn't out there at the end to celebrate, but the game Johnny had and what it means to this offense, the toughness he continues to show to be here and keep making those catches that he makes.
JORDAN TRAVIS: Yeah, Johnny is my guy. Praying for him. He fights through a lot of adversity, too. My favorite thing with Johnny is no matter what, he doesn't get the ball, you never hear him complain, never see him throw his hands up in the air.
That's one of your favorite things as a quarterback. You don't want to see your guys showing you up, and Johnny never does that. I respect that more than anything in the world, and Johnny fights through so many injuries. He's always in practice no matter how he's feeling with a positive mindset. That's my guy, and that's all I've got to say.
Q. Jordan, you're now the career leader in total yards here at Florida State. You passed Chris Weinke. I was wondering if you knew that was in sight for this game but also kind of how you feel about having your name up there at No. 1 now.
JORDAN TRAVIS: Yeah, it's a blessing from the man upstairs. I did not know that. I'm very thankful. Once again, I can't do anything without my teammates. That award is for all of us. Offensive line blocking really hard, the receivers making big-time plays, and running backs making big-time plays, too.
I'm thankful for my teammates. My coaches putting me in the right position all the time. Defense giving us the ball back with good field position. I'm just thankful for my teammates.
Q. Shyheim and Fabien, y'all have seen Jordan play a lot of football. Does he still surprise you sometimes with his play making ability, be it the feet or the arm?
FABIEN LOVETT, SR: Yeah, it's always a surprise even at practice, even chasing him around at practice, it's always a surprise. He does different stuff every day, but we're used to it now. At the end of the day, he's a ball player.
SHYHEIM BROWN: It's like he's in that green jersey in practice so we really can't touch him. It's always an argument in conversation, is he down or not, but you see him perform on Saturdays, and it's like, as a defense we're like, you know he wouldn't have been down right there because you know how he gets.
Watching him in practice, watching him in the game is just amazing. You want to have a guy like that back there all the time.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports