WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Notes, Quotes

The Sports Xchange

November 19, 2018 at 11:31 pm.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

–LB Dontavious Jackson came up huge for the Seminoles against the Eagles last Saturday, leading the team with 14 tackles, including one sack. When asked what spurred his best game of the season, Jackson said it went back to last year’s beating that Boston College handed Florida State, 35-3, in Chestnut Hill, Mass. And he wasn’t about to let that happen again. “That feeling we had up there and got whooped 35-3 wasn’t a great feeling,” Jackson said. “It was a long flight back home and we wanted to win to not have that feeling again.”

–DB Stanford Samuels picked off his team-leading fourth interception last Saturday against Boston College and said afterward that while it felt good, personally, to lead the defense in that category, he was proud of how the unit stepped up as a whole.

“This one was everything to us. We haven’t played to our potential pretty much the whole second half of the season,” Samuels said. “We started out pretty strong and then it kind of died down. It’s just on us to pick it back up and play to the level we know this defense can play at. We’re capable of playing like this every day, no matter what team and whom we play.”

Samuels and the defense will have its hands full Saturday against Florida as quarterback Feleipe Franks has thrown only six picks all year, and the Gators have two running backs — Jordan Scarlett and Lamical Perine — who have both rushed for over 600 yards this year.

SERIES HISTORY: Florida leads Florida State 34-26-2, but the Seminoles won the most recent meeting 38-22 last year. FSU has also won five in a row against the Gators and seven of the last eight.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I’m going to tell you what, I’m going to be really nice. What would be really nice is if (the referees) had to sit here and answer you guys questions. I don’t throw (flags). I don’t pick them up. I don’t do it. I can’t answer for them. But that would be really, really neat if they did that for you all. I think everybody would appreciate that.” — Florida State head coach Willie Taggart, on being asked if he’d ever seen a penalty flag for holding picked up during a game as it was in Saturday’s game against Boston College on a crucial third down that kept an Eagles drive alive.

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