A sloppy first half doomed Florida State in its 31-21 home lo s to Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon. The Seminoles trailed 28-7 and couldn't climb out of the hole in the final quarter.Following the defeat, head coach Mike Norvell spoke with the media. His full comments from the post-game pre ser are transcribed below courtesy of FastScripts by ASAP Sports.MIKE NORVELL: Congratulations to Wake Forest. I'd say it was a hard-fought game, a game of swings. They did a nice job of coming in and being able to execute, doing the things nece sary to win the game. Disappointed. I thought our guys, especially there in the first half, really started almost pre sing when we had a little bit of adversity that showed T J Watt T Shirts up, did a lot of uncharacteristic things, uncharacteristic mistakes showing up. Way too many penalties. Turnovers, balls were in jeopardy. You look at the third down situations on both sides, they did a really good job in those critical down situations. I think they were 13 out of 21 of third and fourth downs. Obviously we were not as good, we were not able to extend drives. Untimely mistakes, negatives, which really hurt us from being able to establish the rhythm that we wanted to have. There late, had to kind of push, really push the ball.I thought our guys did battle back. I thought they did show heart. I thought they were fighting through. We made some mistakes throughout that game that you just cannot have to beat a good team. That's a good team. It's a very experienced team. It's one that doesn't beat themselves. They don't turn the ball over. They executed and made tough catches in critical situations. We lost our focus in times of adversity, which is something we've really made some very positive strides on you hear over the course of last year. Today that showed up. There's a lot of things that we're going to have to do to continue to improve. But I still believe in the football team. I told them, I knew we would find ourselves in a position there in the fourth quarter to have an opportunity to go win the game. Ultimately we didn't make the plays nece sary to be able to finish it. Those guys absolutely responded throughout the game. Just too many mistakes on our end to beat a Diontae Johnson Jersey good team.Q. The last time we talked to you during the week was Wednesday. You didn't seem like you were thrilled with maybe the first couple days of practice, the execution. How did the week end? What did you see from the team?MIKE NORVELL: I thought they did respond at the back part of the week. They worked hard. It's like I told them, it wasn't the effort, the effort was not the i sue. I mean, what they're putting in, the finer details of the focus, the execution, the things that are critical to show up within the course of practice. When you're playing a good team, one that is not going to beat themselves, one Christian Kuntz Jersey that has the experience they have, that's where you have to be at the greatest of details. I don't question our team's want-to, right? We've got to make sure that we're consistent in those little things that can carry over to allow us to go play our best men. We've seen really good examples of that, then tonight we saw that work against us.Like I said, it was one of the first times this year where I felt like we were just pre sing. We had a play that didn't work, or they made a play, and everybody wants... With all the right intentions, operating outside of what they nece sarily needed to do. You might have caused a negative play or mi sed a signment or something that was definitely correctable. Our technique is not where it needs to be, you get a penalty. Those things are things that beat you. We have to be better in those moments. I know our guys are going to respond to it. It's just so disappointing because I do know the work they're putting in. But in the moment you got to be able to apply the work.Q. With Wake's succe s on third down, was there a common theme, something they were doing or you guys weren't doing consistently?MIKE NORVELL: They did a good job of mixing up the run and pa s game. We knew that's something that they do. We got to win on-one-one matchups, in the run game and the pa sing game. There were times we had opportunities, but they did a good job of converting, were able to play ahead of the chains. They were in a lot of third-and-manageable situations. That's where for us, every play matters. It's a good offense. It's one that it does challenge you, stre Cameron Heyward Jersey ses you. But for us, we've got to have those impactful plays, which showed up in the third quarter. First part of the fourth, the third, we were able to play the way that I expected us to. Still we just mi sed some real opportunities.Q. Jared Verse came into this game hurt. He played a limited amount. He made an impact in the game. Talk about his performance.MIKE NORVELL: I thought Jared did a great job, working in rehab. Didn't really practice much throughout the week. Got a little bit out of him there on Friday. Watched him move around. We knew if he was available, we didn't know he was going to play until pregame. Got out there, moving around, felt comfortable. Doctors, everybody felt comfortable with the opportunity. We're going to be limited with him. As the game went on, you kind of let him gauge where he was. But, I mean, I thought he battled. He played extremely hard. He's a great player that has a great future in front of him as he continues to go. I was definitely pleased with the work he put in to make himself available for today.Q. You mentioned a few times there were times the first half where the team was pre sing a bit. Does that come from a pre sure or a ranking, 4-0 start?MIKE NORVELL: I mean, I think succe s, everybody wants more. You start off, you have succe s, you have the good feelings of seeing it play out. I say this, life's not a fairy tale, not always going to go this way. You're going to face things. The key to it is the response. In the moment, we've done such a good job this year, when we've had a bad play, something has gone wrong, we've been able to flip the switch, get to the next one. Today I just felt it was a little bit of a different energy there on the sides. They want it so bad. But you got to stay true to the things you do, how you prepare, stay true to the little things, the fundamentals, the techniques, the focus. I thought we got distracted in some moments, whether it's it was Wake was doing, things we believe we needed to do to make the play, when ultimately we just got to go out there and continue to push, to trust our preparation, to go put it on display.Q. What was your a se sment of the offensive line's performance today?Scroll to George Pickens T Shirts ContinueMIKE NORVELL: It was kind of a mixed bag, to be honest with you. Too many penalties, the negatives that sh