The talk heading into the 2025 season around Florida State was about which year — 2023 or 2024 — was the anomaly.
It turns out the answer is both, as pure averageness has instead become the hallmark of FSU under Mike Norvell.
In six years at Florida State, Norvell is 36-30. In his last 27 ACC games, he is 14-13, a game over .500, including not winning a conference game in over a calendar year (385 days). Norvell and the Seminole program are just mediocre.
Talking about firing Norvell is meaningless.
His buyout is over $60 million, which does not include assistants, a new staff and all the rest that comes with a coaching change. But what is clear is that there is no more confusion about his program.
On Saturday, against Pitt, well below FSU in terms of recruited talent on roster, the Seminoles had a blocked punt, committed a costly turnover at midfield, committed a costly offside penalty at the end of the game, blew a 21-14 lead, made a reckless coaching decision (fake punt that became a delay of game), allowed a 15-play drive and lost the time of possession battle.
“We didn’t do enough to overcome the negative plays. Obviously, we had some missed opportunities and some
self-inflicted mistakes that cost us big in this game,“ Norvell told the local Tallahassee media after the game.
Does any of that sound familiar? It should.
Against Alabama, the Seminoles muffed a punt and gave up a 15-play drive. Three weeks later, versus Virginia, Norvell’s team allowed two drives of 15 plays or more, turned the ball over in the red zone, blew a 21-14 lead and lost the time of possession battle. For an encore, in a rivalry game at home against Miami, Norvell’s team turned the ball over at midfield, committed a costly offside turnover at the end of the game and made a reckless coaching decision (4th-and-8 in the second quarter).
I could go deeper into the stats of just Saturday’s game and the strange coaching decisions. I could talk further about FSU averaging 14.4 yards per completion in the first half and then only running eight pass plays in the second half before falling behind by two scores. Or mention Tony White continuing to rush three and getting zero pressure on the quarterback. I could write an entire paragraph about how running a fake punt on 4th-and-8 in your own territory down three that would have gotten blown up but then getting “lucky” with a delay of game is the perfect encapsulation of the Norvell era.
But what’s the point? Each week is the same movie with a different script: bad coaching, strange game plans and reckless decision making. This is what they are.
“Ultimately, it all falls on my shoulders that we’re not getting it done,” Norvell said. “So we need to, as a group, talking to the guys in the locker room, it’s a pissed off football team. You can be pissed off, but we got to see application and execution in the moment from all of us, every one of us, of what we want it to look like, what we want it to be, and to get the job done to come out on top.“
“This team, I believe they will continue to fight. I believe they you’ll get everything they have and we
will get it right.“
Contrary to the quote, Saturday felt like the end more than any point in 2024. Teams have bad seasons and a concoction of horrible quarterback play, a coaching staff over their head and a cataclysmic start became the obvious reasons for the failure a year ago.
None of that applies to the 2025 season. There are no more excuses. Norvell hand-picked his staff, quarterback and received a bye and two cupcake games to fine-tune things heading into conference play. The results are his doing.
What is frustrating and disappointing about the writing officially being on the wall is who the man, not the coach, is. Norvell is easy to root for, and it frankly sucks having to watch him go through this situation for a second year in a row. He is also a wonderful person off the field, through my own interactions with him and those I have heard about. His handling of the tragedy and miracle with LB Ethan Pritchard should be commended and not go unnoticed. It’s even hard to fault the contract extension in the first place. After being left at the altar and going through the wilderness for almost a decade, FSU could not just let Norvell leave. It’s easy to say in hindsight, but Michael Alford had no choice but do it.
Unfortunately, just like the black eye on Norvell’s face, his contract will have the same effect on the university. Florida State has no easy solutions and no way out. The end of the Norvell era will not be this week; it most likely will not be at the end of the year, and he will most likely remain the head coach for the foreseeable future.
But these last three games made it clear: This is what the Florida State program is under him.
Three thoughts from FSU’s loss to Pitt
No. 1: Mason mania
A week after throwing for over 300 yards in his first career start, Pitt rolled with the hot hand and started Mason Heintschel for the Panthers’ matchup against the Seminoles. Part of the reason FSU was favored by double digits came from the belief that Tony White’s defense would be able to confuse a true freshman quarterback in his first-ever start on the road. Instead, Heintschel ripped the 3-3-5 wide open and became the best player on the field. The first-year starter went 21-29 for 321 yards and two touchdowns while running for 64 yards on 16 attempts.
For the third week in a row, the Seminole defense looked overmatched and unprepared. Whenever White rushed three defenders, Heintschel stayed patient in the pocket and usually found a wide-open receiver in a busted zone coverage. When the defensive coordinator brought pressure or a spy, poor gap discipline turned the under-recruited quarterback loose. The Seminoles allowed 476 yards, a season high, including 15.3 yards per completion and 8-17 on cash downs (3rd and 4th). Once again, the players don’t fit the scheme and the scheme puts the players in bad spots. The defensive line cannot get push by rushing four, the linebackers struggle to cover in space and the secondary are better suited to play man than zone. For all of the great quotes given out by White, he continues to write checks his defense does not cash on Saturdays. In three losses, the offense has scored 38, 22 and 31 points. After Norvell, these losses fall on White and his unit.
“It’s unacceptable to have as many just I guess easy yards with the quarterback stepping up and scrambling the way he did. We have to be better in our rush lanes.”
No. 2: Second-half collapse
Even with all the doom and gloom around the program, the Seminoles took a touchdown lead into the half while receiving the ball out of the break. Florida State held an 84.8% chance to win according to ESPN after returning the opening kickoff past the 40-yard line.
That kickoff return became just about the only positive in the second half.
Until Tommy Castellanos nailed Micahi Danzy on a touchdown with 90 seconds to go, FSU’s drives in the second half were punt, field goal, fumble, punt, punt. For all of the great play-calling from Gus Malzahn so far this season, he either became conservative or scared in the third and fourth quarter. FSU went three-and-out three times in the second half, including twice in the fourth quarter, averaged only 4.9 yards per play in the third quarter and went 2-6 on third down. When the Seminoles needed their offense most, they disappeared.
Speaking of disappearing, the defense, as mentioned, could not be bothered to get off the field in the second half. Pitt gained 274 yards in the second half, picked up 11 first downs and scored 13 unanswered points at one point during the fourth quarter as part of a 20-3 stretch to go up by two scores.
Norvell wanted to see complementary football today, but Florida State put on a clinic of what not to do. Short drives cycled an exhausted defense back on the field, and the sequence brought Pitt back into the game before the Panthers broke it wide open. In their three losses this season, FSU has been outscored 28-10 in the third quarter. So much for halftime adjustments.
No. 3: Injury bug
To add insult to an already lengthy list of problems, the injury bug bit FSU this weekend, leading the coaching staff to feel they needed to change their entire game plan. On offense, cluster injuries at the skill positions rendered the top four pass catchers on the Florida State roster unavailable by the beginning of the second half. RT Micah Pettus also did not suit up, forcing a shuffling of the deck along the offensive line. On defense, S Ashlynd Barker played in a limited capacity while DB Quindarrius Jones was ruled out for the season on Monday, throwing the cornerback rotation in flux. Most notably, the coaching staff opened their hand with wanting to protect Castellanos who does not appear to be 100%. The quarterback ran only eight times for 12 yards, and on what looked to be a critical fourth and short, Norvell sent on Brock Glenn to be involved in a QB run play instead of Castellanos (the play was later ruled a first down).
The loss of key individuals would be a worthy excuse for Florida State’s falters on Saturday, except that the depth stepped up. Micahi Danzy went 7-133-2, his first-career 100-yard receiving game, while sophomore Landen Thomas caught a prayer for a 25-yard touchdown. Jacob Rizy blended in along the offensive line for Pettus and true freshman Shamar Arnoux became a rotational piece in the defensive backfield and broke up a play in the end zone. The coaching staff putting the car back in the garage and not trusting their homegrown depth turned out to be a fatal miscalculation, culminating in another one-score defeat.
“We just need the consistency of where to be, what to do, how to do it at a high level. You know, we have to continue to coach and develop them. It’s not in a lack of want-to of our coaching staff or the players. It’s that application. Yeah, it has its effect but I still believe there is plenty of capable playmakers within those groups to be able to get the job done.“