On Labor Day Weekend, Florida State on primetime Monday night got dismantled by the Boston College Eagles who debuted coach Bill O'Brien. The Eagles ran for 263 yards on the ground, mind you the only reason it was that low was because they kneeled their last three plays and lost about a dozen yards. Three BC players tripled FSU's entire rush offense, which was a lowly 21 yards. DJ Uiagalelei was so inaccurate that the home crowd loudly chanted for backup QB Brock Glenn. Switching starting QBs doesn't mean much when they're sitting on the sidelines because the D-line can't stop the run and the offensive line can't get any push. Not to mention the time of possession that was heavily in favor of Boston College, they had 39:09 of possession, so any FSU QB would be ineffective because he would be on the sidelines the majority of the game. The worst part was that this was a week AFTER the disappointing loss to Georgia Tech in Ireland.
Now that brings up a sobering reality for the people of Tallahassee. Mike Norvell is living off of the play of Jordan Travis. Here's the evidence to show: This is his third 0-2 in his five seasons at FSU. That's due to a long history of having his teams look underprepared against inferior, lesser-talented opponents. The first game in his tenure was his first loss to Georgia Tech. That's right. Mike Norvell has lost to Georgia Tech twice. He lost to an FCS opponent in 2021 because he co-signed his DC to call a two-deep safety coverage when Jacksonville State dialed a Hail Mary. After all, they didn't have enough time to set up a game-winning field goal instead of calling the prevent coverage. The cherry on top for that season was losing to a Florida team that fired Dan Mullen a week before the game and missing bowl eligibility.
So then here comes the last two seasons. Florida State seemingly had a renaissance through the transfer portal and went 23-4 over that span which included an ACC Title last year. Sadly, a 13-0 record with a conference title wasn't enough for a spot in CFB's final four-team playoff format. It has been downhill from there. Because the team deemed their following Orange Bowl game with Georgia as "meaningless", the majority of their best players skipped the bowl game to either prepare for the NFL Draft or to enter the portal, resulting in the worst margin of defeat in the history of bowl games. Afterward, FSU players, administration, institution, and fanbase spent the winter and offseason complaining, whining, and filing petulant lawsuits against the ACC over the playoff snub. Not to mention the continuous harassment of ESPN commentator Kirk Herbstreit.
This must have set the tone of FSU's season. I won't go over the two losses because they have been dissected by everyone watching the games but this article will point out the culture encouraged and condoned by the FSU coaching staff. A major black eye to the perception of Mike Norvell as a coach. The lack of progression and development questions the credibility of a Florida State coaching staff that is in year five. Another issue that has become blatantly obvious is Norvell's recruiting struggles have finally come back to bite him in the backside. Five years in charge and his recruiting class have bear little to no fruit of his labor. Even if FSU fans want to blame DJ Uiagalelei, that still falls on Norvell for picking him out of the portal. It's also apparent Norvell hasn't competently developed any of the QBs that he has recruited and signed to the program. The best-case scenario is to change defensive coordinators over the bye week and consider putting Brock Glenn in to give themselves a spark.
My conclusion is that Florida State hasn't even played their third game of the season and they are in danger of missing a bowl game. Look at their schedule. They still have Clemson, Miami, Notre Dame, and in-state rival Florida at the end of the season, not even accounting for the games deemed "50-50" such as Duke, North Carolina, and Southern Methodist. The worst part isn't even how bad the season is going for the Seminoles, the worst part is that the institution gave him a massive extension last December to last until 2031. The Seminoles are in the same position with Mike Norvell as Texas A&M was in with Jimbo Fisher. A bad coaching tenure that's going to last a couple of years longer than it should because of an erroneous, undeserved contract extension. The irony of that is Jimbo leaving FSU to coach A&M is what ultimately got FSU in this spot.
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