TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -Coming off one of the most lopsided losses in school history, things – it would seem – can only get better for Florida State and coach Jimbo Fisher.
The first-year coach said Monday that he doesn’t want to forget the 47-17 whipping the Seminoles received at No. 7 Oklahoma without getting some benefit from the experience.
“We found out we have a lot of work to do,” said Fisher, who could’ve been speaking about much of the rest of a red-faced Atlantic Coast Conference after a tough week of nonconference games.
If not for a touchdown pass against the Sooner subs on the final play of Saturday’s game, it would’ve been Florida State’s worst loss since 1983. Regardless, it was the worst since a 45-12 humiliation at Florida in 2007.
“I want to learn from it,” Fisher said. “It’s how you deal with it, how you fix it.”
It might appear Fisher has a lot to fix before Saturday’s home game against BYU, but the coach said he didn’t plan any significant lineup changes. That’s despite the shredding his secondary received last week from Oklahoma’s Landry Jones, who threw for 380 yards and four touchdowns.
“The environment and atmosphere got to some of them,” Fisher said. “I thought we would get our feet on the ground a little quicker.”
Florida State’s Christian Ponder, who was being promoted by the school for the Heisman Trophy, had the worst performance of his career. In one week he dropped from leading the ACC in passing efficiency to seventh.
“We got manhandled,” Ponder said. “We’ve got to learn from it, forget it and move on. We’ve got to work hard this week and not let Oklahoma beat us twice.”
BYU (1-1) gave up more than 400 yards rushing in a 35-14 loss Saturday at Air Force.
Florida State won 54-28 last year in Provo, Utah, and Ponder knows the Cougars haven’t forgotten. He’s also noted that despite that loss, BYU went on finish 11-2.
“Ten games down the road we’re going to be a totally different team than we were Saturday,” Ponder promised. “We still have everything we want to achieve ahead of us.”
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