Willie Taggart said Florida's State's blown second half against Boise State in their season opener Saturday night had much to do with dehydration.
The Broncos stunned the Seminoles by rallying from a 12-point halftime deficit to win the game, 36-31. Taggart said he's already talked to his medical staff to ensure the team is properly hydrated throughout the entire game to try and help prevent any other breakdowns caused by fatigue.
"I think after going through last weekend and seeing our guys going down and cramping, one thing we talked about with our medical staff is our guys got to hydrate," Taggart said on his weekly call-in show, via the Tallahassee Democrat.
"That can't be on Friday, that can't be on Thursday, they need to start hydrating early in the week and take care of their bodies. 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."
How the Seminoles conditioned their players also was brought up, with center Baveon Johnson questioning how their current process didn't prepare the team enough.
"No, we weren't prepared. I wasn't prepared, we all weren't prepared," Johnson said, per the Tallahassee Democrat. "I feel like it was just conditioning overall. That's what we need to get better at."
Taggart also said adjustments need to be made with conditioning and that the coaches and trainers were making adjustments.
On the other hand, Boise State took more extreme measure to prepare for the heat and humidity of Florida. According to KTVB, the Broncos closed the doors to their indoor facility, cranked up the heat and water the turf to try and replicate Florida's weather.
The tactic seemed to work against FSU and has a high success rate for Boise State — the Broncos secured wins against Troy last season, against Louisiana-Lafayette in 2019 and nine years ago against Virginia Tech by creating an outhouse affect to simulate hot and muggy weather.
Taggart's dehydration comments come after players at Oregon got rhabdomyolysis — a breakdown of muscle tissue that releases a damaging protein into the blood — after conditioning workouts in January of 2017, where Taggart and current FSU strength and conditioning coach Irele Oderinde were working at the time.
Two of those players have filed lawsuits against the program, claiming they weren't provided enough water during workouts.
Because of Hurricane Dorian, the game was moved from Jacksonville to Tallahassee, which made FSU's loss more bitter for the team and fans since it became a true home game.