Their predictions and comments often serve to motivate players, teams.
By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published October 21, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Florida State sophomore quarterback Wyatt Sexton is usually even-keeled, almost sedate, much to his coaches' chagrin at times during practice.
But his pulse rate accelerated while watching ESPN's halftime show last Thursday night.
College football analyst Trev Alberts predicted that the inexperienced Sexton would wilt in the face of Virginia's defensive pressure and the Seminoles would lose their ballyhooed showdown two nights later. Fellow analyst Mark May also picked the Cavaliers.
On paper, it didn't seem so unreasonable a prediction.
On the airwaves, it didn't come off that way. At least for the Seminoles.
"To see them, just so sure of themselves and call me out personally was a very motivating factor," Sexton said. "I just went into that game with more of . . . (an) attitude than I have since I played (crosstown rival) Lincoln back in high school."
In just his third start and his first big test, he completed 20 of 26 passes for a career-high 275 yards and a touchdown as the Seminoles routed Virginia 36-3.
Thanks, Trev.
Thanks, Mark.
But in an age when coaches increasingly urge their players to avoid saying anything that could be construed as negative or disrespectful and wind up on the opponent's bulletin board, the TV pundits, as a prerequisite of the position, often do a nice job of providing motivational material.
"You get it right there," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said.
For any player who missed the halftime show, FSU officials took the liberty of photocopying the text of Alberts' comments so they could post them in the locker room.
"Everybody saw it that (Saturday) morning and was talking about it," senior defensive tackle Travis Johnson said. "It got us jacked up 'cause we wanted to prove everybody wrong."
Bowden concedes it's tougher and tougher for coaches to fire up today's players week in and week out, especially for a game against a lesser-regarded opponent.
The players know the rankings. They see the point spreads. They surf the Web. They watch TV.
"The distractions of nowadays is so much different than it was 30 years, 25 years ago," Bowden said. "There's just so many things to take their mind off of it and to lose focus.
"Gosh. It's hard to (make them) realize that, "Hey, men, you've got a ballgame Saturday.' (They'll say) "They're not ranked.' "I don't care. You've got a ballgame.' "We're favored by this.' "I don't care. You've got a tough ballgame.' That's a point that you've got to get across now - anybody can beat anybody. We see it happen every darn Saturday."
The experts can help with last-minute pep talks, although Bowden frets when they say that FSU has an easy game. He'd prefer his players didn't hear such predictions. But rest assured, the Seminoles likely will hear how unbeatable they are before Saturday's game at Wake Forest.
Understandably so.
Analysts, whose job demands being opinionated and entertaining, rarely pick against a perennial winner like FSU. You don't want to sacrifice credibility just to be different, although the Seminoles believe that Alberts, a former Nebraska linebacker, is no fan. FSU did beat Nebraska to win the 1993 national title.
"I know who the bad guys are; they bother me," Bowden said.
He feels differently when those guys cast his team as the underdog, as they did a week ago. That he likes.
What coach wouldn't?
"There's probably a lot there you could feed off of if you listen to it," said Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, who added that there's no place in the game for players to say something controversial before or afterward. "I'm sure most coaches have said, so and so said we couldn't do this or couldn't do that or the other team was going to do this or that. I'm sure that comes into effect in some cases."
"I'm not going to act like we were just so furious," said sophomore tailback Lorenzo Booker, who usually doesn't watch the halftime show or even GameDay but happened to see the broadcast last Thursday. "Whether they said we were the worst in the country or the No. 1 team in the country, we've still got to go out and perform. But obviously, if you've got guys on TV saying you're not going to do this, you're not going to do that, especially when you feel like you deserve a lot more credit, it's going to fire you up. I like it. I would rather they talk trash every week."
Postscript: Booker rushed for a career-high 123 yards and scored two touchdowns against a Cavaliers defense that was supposed to shut down the Seminoles.
During the wrapup show that night, Alberts apologized to Sexton for doubting him.
"I didn't see that," Sexton said, "but I heard it was funny."
