Aug. 11, 2004

You will need Real Player in order to access video clip below, which includes sound bytes from interviews conducted at the 2004 ACC Football Kickoff. Download the Free Real Player now!

2004 Florida State Football Preview

The Noles captured their 11th ACC title in 12 years finishing 10-3 overall and 7-1 in ACC play in 2003. FSU made its 22nd consecutive bowl game appearance losing to Miami 16-14 in the Orange Bowl and finished the season ranked 10th in the final Coaches poll and 11th by AP.

Bobby Bowden, with 342 wins in 38 years as a head coach, is the all-time winningest Division I-A head coach. The only coach in college football history to have 14 consecutive 10-win seasons, 1987-2000.

Quarterback Chris Rix enters his senior season with a 24-10 record in 34 career starts. Rix stands ninth on the ACC career total offense list (8,333) and 10th in passing yardage (7,525). He also has 808 yards rushing in his career.

Senior WR Craphonso Thorpe earned first-team All-ACC honors after leading the league with 11 touchdown receptions. Seven of the 11 TDs were on plays of at least 25 yards. Thorpe was Florida State's leading receiver a year ago with 994 yards on 51 catches. He missed the final two games of the season after suffering a broken leg against NC State but has fully recovered from the injury.

Florida State is one of only two ACC teams to return all five offensive line starters. Headlining the group is senior tackle Alex Barron, a consensus All-American 2003.

Despite the departure of three-year starter Greg Jones, who concluded his career as the school's sixth-leading all-time leading rusher with 2,535 yards, the Seminoles return two running backs who combined for 721 yards in 2003 while averaging 5.3 yards per carry. Junior Leon Washington is the team's leading returning rusher with 387 yards. Lorenzo Booker averaged a teambest 5.4 yards per carry while totaling 334 yards.

Despite tying Miami with a league-low four starters returning defensively, the Seminoles return four of their top six tacklers, six players who accounted for 11 of the team's 15 interceptions and 15 players who had 24 or more tackles in 2003.

Although veteran defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews (20 seasons at FSU) returns only four starters, three of those are in the secondary. Free safety B.J. Ward and rover Jerome Carter started all 13 games a year ago. Ward is the team's leading returning tackler (78) while Carter, an honorable mention All-ACC performer, had 76 tackles and two interceptions.

Defensive end Eric Moore, the only returning starter on the defensive line, earned second-team All-ACC honors after finishing tied for fourth in the ACC with 7.5 quarterback sacks.

All 11 ACC Football Previews | More FSU Info From ACC Media Guide

QUOTES FROM 2004 ACC FOOTBALL KICKOFF

Bobby Bowden, Head Coach, entering 29th season
"You take '98, '99, 2000, Florida State played for the national championship and we won it once. Then we were wiped out -- we lost everybody. Now you start rebuilding in 2001, 2002, 2003 and now in 2004. This year, we have fewer question marks than we had last year, and last year we had fewer than the year before and the year before. Now I think we have a chance (for another national championship) this year."

2004 FSU Football Schedule
Sept. 6	at Miami
Sept. 18	Alabama-Birmingham
Sept. 25	Clemson
Oct. 2	North Carolina
Oct. 9	at Syracuse
Oct. 16	Virginia
Oct. 23	at Wake Forest
Oct. 30	at Maryland
Nov. 6	Duke
Nov. 11	at NC State
Nov. 20	Florida

"I don't like being second-best. I don't like it when people look down their noses at me as a conference. I always wanted Miami in our conference. Why? Because I always thought they had one of the best programs in the United States ... People say, 'You must be nuts. They're going to beat you every year for the championship.' Well, I'll take my chances."

"(Chris Rix) had to start as a redshirt freshman ... He had to learn the hard way, through the school of hard knocks, make mistakes. (Rix) was criticized like we're going to criticize anbody who's going to make mistakes, and now he goes into his last year with more experience than any quarterback we've ever had here at Florida State. He is a four-year-starter and has more wins under his belt right now than most of our quarterbacks had in their career. I personally think he's ready to do it."

"We're going to take (shots downfield) if we can get them, and (Craphonso) Thorpe is the kind of guy you want for that. If I was a defensive back, I'd hate to line up against him because he is so fast. If you don't back off of him, he'll run right by you. Then if you back off, he'll catch everything in front."

Craphonso Thorpe, Wide Receiver, Senior
"It really shows your dedication, how much you really want it, when you come back from a serious injury. And not only come back but bigger and stronger and faster. Up until this point I had been trying to gain weight like crazy and just hadn't been able to do it. Since I've been hurt, I've put on about fourteen pounds and came back faster than what I was before I got hurt, and stronger. So I've been working pretty hard."

"I don't hope to make plays, I expect to make plays ... When the ball is in the air, I'm going to come down with it, bottom line. I don't care if there are four or five people stading around, that's my job to come down with the ball. It's the quarterback's job to get it to me, and it's my job to come down with it."

"People ask why do I think that this is our year to win it all. It's simple. In years past when we lose, we haven't played as a team. Everybody was trying to do their own thing. This year, we're close-knit, like a family, like brothers, a hundred of us. And everybody's working together for the same goal. An example of that is this summer, in voluntary workouts, we've had more people there this summer than we've ever had. And we didn't have to sit down and tell everybody, 'We need everybody to be here.' Everybody just came on their own because they knew what we had to get accomplished this season."

A.J. Nicholson, Linebacker, Junior
"Everybody's making it to workouts, we have cookouts together, little get-togethers, unity council, we get together and talk to Coach Bowden. We're doing a whole lot of things to come together closer on and off the field. So when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, we'll fight for each other even more."

OFFENSE - Returning Starters
QB Chris Rix, Sr.
FB B.J. Dean, Jr.
WR Craphonso Thorpe, Sr.
TE Paul Irons, Sr.
OT Alex Barron, Sr.
OT Ray Willis, Sr.
OG Bobby Meeks, Sr.
OG Matt Meinrod, Jr.
C David Castillo, So.

OFFENSE - Starters Lost
TB Greg Jones (2,535 career rushing yards)
WR P.K. Sam (50 catches for 735 yards)

DEFENSE - Returning Starters
DE Eric Moore, Sr.
RV Jerome Carter, Sr.
CB Bryant McFadden, Sr.
FS B.J. Ward, Sr.

DEFENSE - Starters Lost
DE Kevin Emanuel (9.5 TFLs & 3 QB sacks)
DT Darnell Dockett (ACC Defensive POY)
NG Jeff Womble (4-year starter)
LB Michael Boulware (1st-team All-ACC)
LB Kendyll Pope (3-year starter)
LB Allen Augustin (2-year starter)
CB Sanford Samuels (1st-team All-ACC)

Bobby Bowden
The winningest coach in college football history with 342 career victories, the 2004 season will mark Bobby Bowden's 29th season as the head coach at Florida State and 39th overall. One of the most innovative and successful coaches in the history of college football, Bowden has turned the Seminoles into perennial contenders for the national championship. Since his arrival in Tallahassee in 1976, the Seminoles have been to 25 bowl games, including a string of 22 in a row and 19 New Year's Day trips. Under Bowden, Florida State has played in three BCS national championship games, winning the national title in 1999 with a 46- 29 win over Virginia Tech in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.