After watching Florida State wear down in Saturday's season-opening loss to Boise State, coach Willie Taggart is examining whether his players were properly hydrated.
On his weekly radio show Monday, Taggart said he has spoken with FSU's medical staff about better hydration after seeing several players cramp up in the game.
Florida State led 31-13 late in the third quarter before Boise State scored the game's final 23 points to win 36-31. Because of Hurricane Dorian, the game had been moved from an evening kickoff in Jacksonville to an early-afternoon kickoff at Florida State's Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.
"They need to start hydrating early in the week and take care of their bodies," Taggart said on his call-in show. "We can't leave it up to our players just to do it. We've got to force them to hydrate and take care of themselves. I don't know if we did a good job of that last weekend. One of those situations where you live and learn, and we'll make sure that we help our guys when it comes to that."
Boise State ran 106 plays in the game, 46 more than Florida State, which had possession for only 19:57.
Earlier Tuesday, Florida State offensive lineman Baveon Johnson questioned the team's conditioning level, saying it "wasn't our strong suit." Johnson later said of the Boise State game, "No, we weren't prepared. I wasn't prepared, we all weren't prepared."
"I feel like it was just conditioning overall," he added. "That's what we need to get better at."
Taggart also addressed conditioning Monday, saying the team would continue to condition during practices and the coaches need to improve their substitution patterns going forward.
Florida State next plays Saturday afternoon, when it hosts Louisiana-Monroe.
