Seminoles plan to mob Lynch
Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher already knows all he needs to about Northern Illinois.
Stop quarterback Jordan Lynch and you can stop the Huskies.
“You're going to have to do it as a group,” Fisher said Wednesday at the press conference in Miami to introduce the coaches for the Orange Bowl. “We're going to have to give a great team effort (because) the guy throws it, he can run it and he has weapons all around him.
“We're going to have to be sound in everything we do and we'll have to mix things up, give him multiple looks and do different things. We know he's a great player and they've done a tremendous job as an offense.”
Lynch leads the country in rushing yards (1,771) and total offense yards (4,733), but he hasn't faced a defense like Florida State's. NIU will enter the Orange Bowl riding a school-record 12-game winning streak.
Huskies coach Rod Carey expects Lynch to handle the pressure of being a marked man the same way he has all season.
“He's the same player he was a week ago when we were playing,” said Carey. “He's been pretty good. He's a tough kid; we run him, but he can throw it too. But that doesn't define Jordan. What defines him is how he leads and how good a teammate he is and above all else, the good person he is.”
The 11-2 Seminoles won the Atlantic Coast Conference title behind a defense that finished among the best in the nation led by leading tackler, defensive end Tank Carradine.
This is a team that began the season with hopes of a national championship that were derailed by losses to North Carolina State and Florida.
Florida State, 12th in the BCS standings, is looking for its first Orange Bowl win since 1995.
“We've been trying to get here for a long time,” defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan said. “Get back into the national title conversations, winning ACC championships and Orange Bowls and those types of games. We're Florida State. That's what we're supposed to do.”
It's certainly going to be the biggest game in NIU's history.
“It's the biggest game NIU has been in because it's the biggest stage,” Carey said. “It's an earned thing, too.”
Fisher isn't taking NIU lightly and doesn't feel the Huskies backed into a BCS Bowl despite what all the critics are saying.
“I don't really know what they've been saying,” Fisher said. “There are a lot of experts in this world, but that team had an unbelievable football year. You look at the teams they've beaten and the things they've done, they're a great opponent.
“I disagree with (the negativity). It's disrespectful to Northern Illinois, and we definitely don't think that way. We know what kind of opponent they're going to be, we've watched film, we know how they play, the things they do and the kind of football they play.
Northen Illinois has a tremendous amount of football history and great players in its past,” Fisher said. “What an expert says we don't worry about. We've just got to look at the film, play our game and control what we can control. We know one thing: Northern Illinois is going to be ready to play when they get here. We have to prepare to play a great game.”
Carey is just as impressed by Florida State from what he has seen on film.
“They've got tremendous speed, tremendous size and they're well coached,” Carey said. “Their schemes, offensively and defensively, are good.
“It's going to be a challenge for us and we're going to have to do things right. We feel like we'll have a good opportunity.”
The magnitude of this game is not lost on Carey.
“It's a BCS game, it's a national stage, everyone's watching,” Carey said. “It's prime time, 7:30 on Jan. 1. That's what you think of when you think of the Orange Bowl and the history of the Orange Bowl. This is a great stage for us to finish off a great season.”