In his third season with the Seminoles, head coach Mike Norvell has Florida State at 4-0 heading into a three-week stretch where they'll see ranked opponents.
They will see 22nd ranked Wake Forest this weekend, followed by a road trip to 10th ranked NC State and then 5th ranked Clemson at home.
Norvell and the Seminoles are one of 21 undefeated FBS teams at this point in the season, and they're one of only two of those teams to have three wins over Power 5 opponents (with Syracuse being the other).
Special teams coordinator / defensive ends coach John Papuchis was asked about their success on special teams this past weekend during his Monday presser, after his units excelled against Boston College, taking a kick return 93 yards to the house and executing at a high level even as the game was out of reach.
His response tied in to the culture that is being created in Tallahassee, and Papuchis believes that special teams are the perfect environment to see culture displayed.
“It's tremendous because special teams is really a reflection of your culture as a program because it’s the unit that guys - I’ve said this in the past but I think it’s worth reiterating - no one except for the actual specialists themselves were recruited to specifically play on the special teams units, they were all recruited to play a position offensively or defensively."
"A lot of the positions on the units aren’t really glamorous positions. It’s kind of your opportunity to give back to the team. We feel like it's the foundations of our fundamentals as a program. So your special teams units really are culture defining."
"In reference to that final kick off, when you get to a place where you have a comfortable lead in the fourth quarter and you still have your first group of guys who are asking to get in on the kick off cover and challenging each other on who can be the first one down there, that just shows the culture that we're trying to build is resonating with the players."
Hear Papuchis' full comments below.