The vibes surrounding the Florida State football program weren’t the highest entering this week’s home game against Virginia.
Pretty much everyone was thinking when, not if, Mike Norvell’s tenure would come to an end this fall.
Even our most optimistic Tomahawk Nation prognosticator, Frank DaNole, had a pretty hard ceiling on what he thought FSU could achieve this week, picking a 35-31 win for the Seminoles.
But Norvell didn’t hear no bell.
His team delivered a result that I’m not sure anyone saw coming,
a thorough 38-7 demolition of a Virginia team which derailed last year’s promising start.
It was a performance that went against everything we thought we knew about this team through four weeks. Norvell was in his offensive playcalling bag. Ashton Daniels was a lethal runner, breaking the program record for most rushing touchdowns in a game with five. The pass rush was legit. The third-down defense was effective.
It was a manifestation of everything Norvell has been preaching this team could still be, even if no one listening really believed him.
“The message of the week was go do your job,” Norvell said after the game. “We went into today, 11 guys out there, offense, defense, special teams, every one of us will do our job, our staff, everybody focused on their responsibility, we thought some great things could occur, and they did that.”
That the offense broke through as firmly as it did wasn’t a huge surprise. Scoring points hadn’t been this team’s problem through the first four games of the season.
Ashton Daniels attempted 23-plus passes in each of Florida State’s first four games. That felt to 19 as the offense really began to feel catered to him against the Cavaliers. He essentially doubled his rushing yards from the first four games (136 on Saturday compared to 242 in the first four games combined) and more than doubled his rushing touchdowns (five compared to four in the first four games).
Norvell had shown an ability to cater an offense to the quarterback and players he has previously in his tenure as FSU’s offensive coordinator. But much of what was shown before the Virginia game made people question if he was going to be able to find it again.
At least for one day, he very much did.
“I thought Ashton played at a high level, really did some good things and took advantage of opportunities that presented themselves. He was a great play maker,” Norvell said. “You see the respect that the defense tonight had for our backs, our receivers and the way they were trying to defend us. I think Ash earned some respect tonight on the performance he had. So we got to continue to grow from it, but I love the young man. He shows up every day to try to push to be better. He shows up every day trying to encourage his teammates and the willingness to be an example.”
The defense, though, was an utter shock. In four games entering Saturday, including one each against an FCS team and a Group of Six team, FSU managed seven total sacks.
The Seminoles got home 10 times against Virginia quarterback Beau Pribula, the most sacks for an FSU defense since 1989 against Louisville.
“This week we continued to challenge (the players) to give everything they have and to go out there and strain for a little bit more. From how you sit in the meetings, to what you do in a walkthrough to preparation and taking care of your body,” Norvell said. “We knew this was going to be a physical game against an experienced team, and that is a good football team we played. But, as I told the guys, we’ll take care of us. I believe this can be a really good and dominant football team.”
Now, the downside of a performance that solid is that it begs the question of why the team didn’t play remotely close to that level through its first four games of the season. Had the Seminoles being that complementary and solid against mistake-prone SMU, they would have easily won that game. They may have even had a chance against Alabama.
But bygones are bygones. And given the track record of what I’ve seen, this team will have to prove it in a sample size larger than one game for me to really believe this is what they are capable of being on a consistent basis.
Next up, a Louisville team that certainly seems to be leaking oil, off to a 3-2 start after consecutive losses to Wake Forest and NC State.
