Willie Taggart talks preparation for Clemson, gaining confidence, and game-changing special teams

Heading into Saturday, Florida State knows that they will need just about everything to go right in order to beat the Tigers. That starts with a great week of preparation, and from the sound of it, Willie Taggart’s Seminoles were locked in all week.

“Great week of practice,” Taggart said. “Very energetic, very intense, and physical football practices. I felt like our guys had a great week of concentration.”

The ‘Noles are not only a home underdog, but also expected to lose by two touchdowns. Obviously no team can enter a game with that mindset. While it is true that FSU is physically outmatched in certain areas on the field, they will need to come out with a confidence that has been slowly building this season.

“I thought our team was gaining confidence for a while now,” Taggart said. “Since the Syracuse game I thought each week our guys were getting better. We stubbed our toe against Miami, but I felt like we were getting better. Each week our guys are gaining confidence and it is showing and we’re improving.”

One area where the ‘Noles may be able to gain an advantage is on special teams in the return game. If there were any game that FSU needed a return touchdown or a couple big chunk returns to give the offense a short field, it’s this one. Luckily, D.J. Matthews has done that for Florida State often.

“Whenever he gets the ball good things can happen,” Taggart said of Matthews. “We need to take advantage of it however we can. Whether it’s special teams, offense, or defense. We look for that to be an advantage for us again, no matter who we’re playing. Of course we would love for D.J. to have a big time return against Clemson this week.”“

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