Over the last five years, this Florida State football program has provided some all-time rock-bottom moments. Ones that we didn’t think could ever be surpassed.
Then came Saturday night, and the 2021 Seminoles went and made history: They produced the worst loss in the history of the school.
Hey, the good news is there’s nowhere to go but up! Right?
The bad news, of course, is that just when you think this program has turned some corner, it instead clips the curb, flips onto its side and slides right into a brick wall.
Saturday night was the brick wall.
And that performance was an all-time crash.
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We’ll get to the final play in a moment — because trust me, I have some opinions on that debacle — but in the grand scheme of the program and what we were hoping to see, Saturday night had already been a terrible disappointment even before that final touchdown.
Instead of building on the momentum of last weekend, instead of keeping a desperate, starving fan base excited about the direction the program was heading in, you went out and played an absolutely awful football game. From start to finish.
Same as it ever was.
All that goodwill that was build up from the overtime game against the Irish, the fourth-quarter comeback, the crowd, the Milton Magic, it all vanished against a Jacksonville State team that broke your heart in unbelievable fashion and then planted a flag on your logo at midfield.
While their fans did a mock version of the Warchant.
Yep, an FCS team celebrating like that, in Doak Campbell Stadium. That’s the new rock bottom for this football program.
And it’s up to Mike Norvell to fix it.
That’s what he said he was going to do after the game. He promised he would turn things around. But so did Willie Taggart.
He said that after the Virginia Tech game, after the Boise State game, after the Louisiana-Monroe game and all the other ones.
It never got fixed. It just got worse.
And after a loss to Jacksonville State, in which you managed 17 measly points, there’s certainly no reason for fans to believe right now that Norvell has the answers either.
“It’s 100 percent on me,” Norvell said. “Did not have the guys ready to go. That’s something that will be fixed. Will be addressed in every potential way that we can moving forward. That was a very disappointing performance for our football team.”
You ain’t lyin’, Mike.
And it was a very disappointing effort from you and your coaching staff, too.
Starting with the decision to have an entire offensive series with McKenzie Milton and Jordan Travis running all over the field, lining up at different positions, like it was a Pop Warner scrimmage. You want to give fans, opponents and (maybe) your own players the idea that you’re not taking the game all that seriously, call a play in which Jordan Travis fakes a handoff to McKenzie Milton.
Or have your punter go ahead and boot one left-footed just to show opponents he can. Because you’re trying to put something on film for future opponents while, you know, seemingly toying around with your actual opponent.
Still. One series with two QBs didn’t lose this game for FSU. Neither did a left-footed punt.
No, there is blame to go around everywhere.
It’s like FSU just can’t build on anything. Play great in the fourth quarter last week, have everyone all excited about what you’re building, and then go and lay a big, fat egg for 60 minutes against a team that has no business getting to celebrate a win on Bobby Bowden Field.
This loss was a total team effort.
Drop touchdown passes. Drop interceptions. Lead with your helmet while forcing an interception. Block a man 10 yards downfield on a pass. Line up wrong.
Commit penalty after penalty after penalty.
It was just a staggering display of bad, undisciplined football.
And that’s on Norvell. This is his program now. These are his players. And 11 penalties for 114 yards, in Game 2 of Year 2, is unacceptable.
For a coach that preaches discipline and attention to detail, his team sure seems to lack a whole lot of both. Or at least it did on Saturday night.
It doesn’t mean he won’t — or can’t — fix this. I’m not punting on him. Not even after that horror show. Heck, maybe this is the game that turns it all around! The ashes have been laid, and he’s got the team ready to rise out of them like a wonderful Phoenix streaking toward the heavens.
Maybe this was all a ploy to get Wake Forest overconfident!
Or, he needs to get a whole lot better. And all of his coaches do, too.
Because what happened on Saturday night was an embarrassment. Senior defensive end Jermaine Johnson must’ve used that word six times in his postgame press conference. And it wasn’t just about that last play … I promise, I’m getting there!
Florida State had a first-and-goal at the Jacksonville State 9-yard line up 17-7 in the fourth quarter. The Seminoles had a third-and-goal at the 2. They were two yards away from going up 17 points and ending the game. Two yards.
Then Lawrance Toafili got tackled for a loss. Toafili, who it should be pointed out was in the game instead of the two running backs that are currently better than him — Jashaun Corbin and Treshaun Ward.
Norvell attempted the fourth-down conversion on the next play, probably thinking that even if the offense didn’t get it, surely Jacksonville State wouldn’t drive 97 yards to cut the lead to 17-14.
But that’s exactly what the Gamecocks did. And then they got the ball back after FSU couldn’t convert another short-yardage play. And that’s when the debacle was completed.
There have been some horrible coaching decisions in recent years at this university. That’s not breaking news.
I’m not sure there’s ever been a more preposterous defensive alignment than what Florida State ran with the visiting team having the ball at its own 41-yard line with six seconds left. The Seminoles did not get in a prevent “Hail Mary” defense. They did not send seven players back to their own 10-yard line.
Nope! They ran a traditional nickel defense, with half the players up at the line of scrimmage.
They rushed four. Linebacker Stephen Dix was on the field. For what? In case they ran a draw play? In case they ran a tight end drag route? Why was Jammie Robinson at the 40-yard line when the ball was thrown?
Why was there only one safety anywhere near the football?
Norvell was asked about that defensive call after the game.
“It was a two-deep man-under (defense),” he said. “Make sure we tried to get pressure on the quarterback. … They still had one timeout. Just not to give up something quickly underneath or in the intermediate passing game.”
Well, they didn’t do that at least!
Here’s why that alignment was so baffling.
Say, Jacksonville State does run a 25-yard route in the middle of the field. And they catch it. And call timeout. All in five seconds. Jacksonville State STILL has to kick a 51-yard field goal to just tie the game.
Jacksonville State’s kicker is a true freshman who has now scored two career points in college.
Maybe you take your chances there?
At any rate, even if FSU had managed to make a tackle on that final pass, would we really feel any better about what we saw on Saturday night?
It still came down to the final play against an FCS team that had lost 31-0 the week before. To UAB.
It was already an awful performance.
The last play just made it historic.
It also made Mike Norvell’s job harder than it’s ever been. He’s got to convince a fan base that he’s not another multi-million-dollar mistake. And when you start your career 3-8 with a loss to an FCS school, that’s not exactly the way to win hearts and minds.
And most importantly, he’s got to convince his players that if they stick with it, believe in his vision, keep climbing, keep getting one percent better and all the rest, that eventually it will pay off.
After the embarrassment of Saturday night, that might not be too easy, either.
Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.
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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council