Here it is. The “Know Your…” posts began with this very game. This week we feature our good friend Bill (NoleCC) from Scalp Em to trade questions and answer with. We’re starting to find out more about our own team that seems to be different from the team that started the year out getting trumped by Alabama in the Dome. What a few people didn’t expect for this year is the success of the Seminoles and Jimbo Fisher’s revitalization of the program. People knew Florida State would start to come back sooner or later, many just didn’t see them turning the gears so soon. Here are our responses over there.

1. It’s mostly assumed that Jimbo Fisher and the revamped coaching staff have sparked the new fire the Noles are playing with this year. What’s the plan for the eventual coaching change over from Bobby Bowden and do you know of a time frame?

Time frame? Good luck. Bobby will go when he feels like it. That said, there is a Golden Parachute in place for Fisher, so something will happen after the 2010 season, if not before then.  Jimbo gets a cool $1.5 million if he’s not named head coach by the end of January 2010. On the flip side, the change is already starting to happen. Fisher is fully involved with the program, and Bowden is deferring all offensive comments to Fisher. I think you’ll see Bowden hang on to the end of this contract, because things are turning around slowly, so he’ll get the glory without having to do all the work.

2. We know and fear Myron Rolle… I even think I saw him consume a football once on national television to show his seriousness and commitment to the game. Who else on your defense can be considered a harbinger of pain?

I think you guys would be shocked to hear what most Seminole fans think about Myron… slow, bad angles, never lived up to his potential. He certainly has his moments, but he never has any INTs. For pain, you’d have to go with Budd “Nasty” Thacker on the DLine, but in all honesty when this team plays well it’s because the entire unit plays well and gets aggressive. When the fail, it’s because they’re all playing badly.

3. You guys change quarterbacks too damned much. Would you stop it? Stop it. I mean it. Stop it. Who’s on the chopping block this week and how have they been faring?

Repeat after me, it’s not a chopping block, it’s a system.  Here’s how it works, Christian Ponder is the starter unless he gets injured. End of story. D’vontrey Richardson is like having a running back that can pass, so there are packages for him in each game. And, Drew Weatherford is holding a clipboard. I’m a big Drew fan because he’s a class act, so I hope he somehow makes it big in the NFL… kind of like Brad Johnson who rode pine at FSU and is the most succesful Seminole QB at the pro level. You’ll see mostly Ponder and a bit of Richardson on Saturday, although in the coming years it might end up the other way around.

And the best of the bunch (potentially) is a red shirt freshman by the name of E.J. Manuel.

4. You’ve also been replacing running backs at a high rate too, albeit due to injuries. Who’s the mouse in the wheel powering your offense this week and what does he bring to the table?

Antone Smith will go again for as long as he can. He’s banged up from carrying the load all season. He’s small but powerful, and has semi lived up to his hype this year.  Let’s face it, the Seminole offensive line is young, but they’ve figured out how to run block so most of the guys on the roster have a shot to rack up the yards. Jermaine Thomas is a true freshman, but he had 130+ yards on 9 2nd half carries against GT. The kid is going to be a star. I can’t wait to see that line and a Thomas / Ty Jones backfield in another year or two.

5. Historically all aspects of your return game have been phenomenal. Your kicker, Gano, is 15/15 on the year. We had a punt blocked for a TD last week against BC, but we also had a game changing return. How big a part of the game do you think special teams will play this week? What facet of special teams do you think changes the game, if any?

Special Teams is huge when you’re not blowing anyone out. Case-in-point, Gano hasn’t been handling kickoffs because of an early season injury that’s only now getting to 100% better. Esco, the backup can’t kick the ball deep. So against GT the first two returns they had were for huge gains. Bowden put Gano in, and in 4 more kickoffs there were 2 TBs, 1 return to the 19 and 1 to the 23. Also, Gano is back to punting which is making a huge difference, since his leg is much better than FSU’s backup.  Our return game is solid, but the coverage team has to keep the Tigers pinned back, or it will be a long day.

We found this picture via google image search.  The description read, “Twenty minutes after the game.  These guys are going to milk this glitter for everything they can.”  Those guys probably wound up milking each other later on.  Just saying.

Lastly, Bill also asked that we liveblog the game but we’re 1- 0 with open threads. We leave it to you, the reader, to…. ughhh… vote on what we should do.

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