updated 7:24 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2006

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said Monday that team morale is high despite a disappointing season and that he doesn’t regret making his youngest son, Jeff Bowden, the team’s offensive coordinator.

But fan impatience with the younger Bowden has increased after a half-dozen years of mounting losses and declining offensive production.

“I don’t think he’d get half the criticism if his name ain’t Bowden,” Bobby Bowden said Monday.

“How can I have nine coaches and it’s always one guy’s fault?” the elder Bowden asked Monday. “We’re a team. We win and we lose. We don’t point fingers.”

Bowden called a meeting Monday of his unity council as well to take the pulse of morale among a half-dozen key players, including quarterback Drew Weatherford, after the Seminoles’ 24-19 loss Saturday to Boston College. It was Florida State’s seventh loss in its past dozen games dating to last November.

Bowden created the unity council after the 2002 season, when the team split over whether Chris Rix or Adrian McPherson should be playing quarterback shortly before McPherson’s removal from the team over gambling questions.

Weatherford had words with quarterbacks coach Daryl Dickey during Saturday’s game in the second half when he was warned he could be replaced by Xavier Lee.

“I wasn’t pleased,” Weatherford said. “I just asked him what I should be doing out there ... probably not in such a moderate tone. I just wanted an answer.”

Lee didn’t get into the game.

“I feel like the coaches are kind of confused about what we’re best at,” said Weatherford, who contends the offensive line and skill players largely prefer being in a spread formation. “We’re still trying to get an identity on offense.”

But the sophomore also took some of the blame for throwing an interception that Boston College scored on and then missing a wide-open Greg Carr in the second half for a sure touchdown.

Jeff Bowden, meanwhile, said his father and brothers Terry and Tommy, who is Clemson’s coach, have all been criticized during their careers.

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“I’m not immune to it,” he said. “They’re not immune to it in Gainesville. They’re not immune to it in Miami. They’re not immune to it in any town where they lose a ball game.”

But seven in less than a calendar year? The Seminoles are 4-3 overall this season, and 2-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“I don’t like it. That’s just the nature of the game,” Bobby Bowden said. “When you lose, you’re in bad shape. When you win, everybody’s happy.”

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