Grant Gibson: "They're Fast Up Front"

Check out what NC State center Grant Gibson had to say this week about tonight's matchup against Florida State.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

What were your emotions knowing that that was your last trip to Death Valley, with all your family connections?
It was cool going down there. I'm not going to lie to you. The ride over and just when I stepped on the field, it was a cool place to play. I think I was more upset that we didn't play the way that we wanted to on offense. But yeah, it was definitely a cool experience. My mom and dad came. So I think to be able to just experience that and to see some stuff from me on the field was very cool.

Was the noise difficult to deal with?
It was very loud, but we knew they won 36 straight home games, so we knew that that was something we would have to deal with, and I feel like we had a good plan going into it. But yes, it did get a lot, at points in the game.

You've seen so much over the last six years. What kind of perspective do you give the younger guys that it's not the end of the world?
Oh yeah. Three years ago when we went 4-8, we just wanted to win a game. You know what I'm saying? So for us to lose one, we understand that you can't let this game take over the rest of the year. We still have a lot of games to play, and the thing that we've seen is that each week some teams might lose. You know what I'm saying? So you just got to make sure that you're on your game at all times. And we just told a man to just keep playing hard because things will start to go our way for sure.

I know it was a frustrating moment, but what happened on that one snap late in the game where it went off a little bit early?
That's on me. I thought I heard something and I didn't. I just got to do better. That was on me, really. Yeah, I thought I heard something. I mean it was loud, but that's on me for sure.

What version of Florida State are we seeing this week that... I mean, you've seen a lot of Florida State over the years. What version are we getting?
This will probably be the best team -- or the best FSU team – that we've played since my time since I've been here. They're fast up front. They're strong. No. 5 is really good. 91, I've been playing against him for the past four years. He's strong. He has good hands. They are a great group up front, and we know that we're getting into this time of the year where you're going to play good groups each week. And as a offensive line, that's something that we look forward to. So we're just going to go out here, and we've had a good two days of prep, so we're just going to keep doing our thing.

Payton Wilson said maybe in years past, teams would let one loss become two and three losses. So what is Coach Doeren and the team leaders emphasizing to try to curb that from happening?
I think the good thing is that the team is older. We've all been through it for a long time, and we've seen years past where we let one win affect the next week, and we're like, "That's not going to happen this year. We want to make sure that we grow from this loss and that we can bounce back this weekend."