Column: Florida State’s uninspiring season-opening win leaves more questions than answers
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It took only 20 minutes of game action to hear the first boos of the 2026 Florida State football season.
After the Seminoles raced out to a 10-0 lead, NMSU responded with a touchdown before FSU went three-and-out, leading to a surprisingly packed crowd to let their feelings be heard and the boo-birds to rain down. For the next 40 minutes, head coach Mike Norvell’s team largely kept the Aggies at arm’s length, although a dropped ball in the end zone for New Mexico State could have cut its deficit to just three in the second half. It was uninspiring at best, puzzling to say the least, as what should have been a routine week zero victory became another unimpressive night for Norvell in a seven-year tenure full of them.
“We had some mistakes, areas we have to clean up, continue to get better, but I thought the guys handled that well…I saw flashes of what you want to see, areas where we continue to build upon.”
Part of what made the night so disappointing was the lack of explosive plays from the players billed to be the leaders of the 2026 team. Daniel Lyons, who carried the hammer for Florida State, did not record a stat on the stat sheet. Ja’Bril Rawls, billed as the best NFL prospect on the Seminole defense, was burned on the first Aggie touchdown and committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second half. Quarterback Ashton Daniels played a “meh” game, although he certainly did enough to win. But his interception was what gave so many pause when he committed to FSU, and nothing about his game wowed. Chris Jones, who did step up as Florida State’s leading tackler, said as much during his postgame interview with the local Tallahassee media on the leadership group.
“The leaders are going to have to step up and talk about it this whole week…Don’t get me wrong, we went out there and won the game, but we didn’t play to our standard.”
Ultimately, though, the result of the game, as long as it was not a loss, did not matter. Tonight was about seeing growth from a litany of errors from a season ago, and none of that happened. The Seminole defense allowed 10 third-down conversions after finishing 8th in third-down defense in the ACC a season ago. Ashton Daniels’ interception means that a Nole quarterback has thrown a pick in four of FSU’s last five games dating back to last season. Florida State committed eight penalties tonight, two of which were on special teams, and seven were accepted, higher than the average penalties per game (5.6) from a year ago.
Norvell decided to limit the amount of information about his 2026 roster as much as he could leading up to the Seminoles’ first game of the season, down to not releasing a depth chart like he did the previous six seasons at the helm. However, there are no places to hide now, and after Saturday’s performance, neither he nor his team has convinced anyone that this season will be different than the previous two.
First thought: Ous, Duce, Tres
Florida State — did — win on Saturday night, and the skill position players, who were assumed to be some of the best players on the team, carried Florida State to victory.
Ousmane Kromah (nicknamed Ous), Duce Robinson, and Sam Singleton Jr. (who wears #3) combined for 261 yards of Florida State’s 419 yards of total offense, 62%.
Through the air, Robinson and Singleton Jr. were the focal points of the passing attack. FSU’s standout wide receiver led the team in targets with six, and on the offense’s only fourth-down attempt of the game, of course, the ball went his way for a critical first down that helped close out the contest. Norvell also ran plenty of screens to try to use the athleticism of the offensive line, targeting Singleton Jr. five times, resulting in four catches for 54 yards and a receiving touchdown.
On the ground, Kromah led the Noles in carries and yards with 14 for 115 and a TD. The sophomore made the play of the game in the fourth quarter, a 52-yard scamper when the play began with what seemed like he was wrapped up by Aggie defenders at the line of scrimmage. While Singleton Jr. provided excellent change-of-pace moments, and produced nine carries for 42, the rushing offense must go through Kromah who looks and plays differently than almost anyone else on the roster.
It will have to be another article as to why FSU decided to make running back ‘Tre Wisner one of the most expensive players on the roster when they have two running backs that deserve the lion’s share of the carries (even though Wisner played well in his cameo). For now, though, for a team that appears dull and bland, the offensive stars on Florida State provide an excitement the rest of the team may not deliver. After the game on Saturday, Singleton Jr. told the Tallahassee media about his preparation leading to Saturday’s two-touchdown moment.
“I felt pretty confident coming in. I felt like I put in a lot of work in the offseason and in the summer. That led me to how I played today.
Second thought: Toothless Trenches
Now, for the bad. All offseason, the coaching staff seemed to say the defensive line was ready to take a step forward in the 2025 season, and the offensive line was a work in progress. But if iron sharpens iron, then whatever the opposite is appears to have happened to FSU in the trenches.
On both sides of the ball, the Noles struggled to generate a push against a physically inferior opponent. Norvell constantly dialed up screens to get the ball out of Daniels’ hands quickly and not put the OL to block for long periods of time. When they did, plays often fell apart. There was no worse example of the inconsistent offensive line play than what occurred on the Noles’ opening drive. Singleton Jr.’s touchdown run was called back for a 15-yard tripping penalty on starting left guard ‘Andre Otto. Two plays later, 3rd-and-seven became 3rd-and-12 after Xavier Chaplin, supposed to be the best offensive lineman on the roster, committed a false start. On the ensuing play, a simple stunt from the NMSU defensive line led to Daniels on his back and the field-goal unit coming out after a sack. The front five did get a push later in the game as the Aggie DL started to wear down, but against better competition, Herb Hand’s unit could be overmatched. Norvell summed up the offensive line’s performance in his postgame media availability.
“I thought we got better as the game went on. There were some things early on where we did not react as quickly as I would have liked to see. I thought our perimeter run game was strong, but there were obviously some things we needed to improve upon.”
The offensive front was always going to be a work-in-progress, but FSU’s inability to cause pressure on the defensive line may be one of the largest eyebrow-raisers of the game. Tony White’s unit only created four tackles for loss and three sacks, one of which was a debatable intentional grounding, a small number for a defense that prides itself on explosive plays. The most concerning stat for the DL was New Mexico State’s success on third down. The Aggies went 10-17 on third while averaging nine yards to go, an indictment of the defensive front’s ineptitude at getting to the quarterback.
The Seminoles took risks in retention and in the portal in multiple spots in the trenches. For now, those decisions do not look to be correct.
Third thought: Coaching Confusion
Maybe with more explanations, FSU’s two play-callers, Norvell on offense and White on defense, could offer a better understanding of their game plan on Saturday. But, at first watch, it rarely made sense.
On offense, Norvell, who could have done this to protect his plans for SMU, called an incredibly vanilla game. Daniels only had a couple of designed quarterback runs. The screen game worked, but a smarter opponent will start to sniff those out. His craziest sequence of the game was a third-down run on 3rd&10 before deciding to go for it on 4th&4, with the offense trying to draw the defense offside before snapping the ball. It does not matter that FSU picked up the first down, it was another reckless fourth-down gamble that calls into question his game management.
Flipping sides, White struggled to get a feel for his defensive play calls on Saturday. Throughout the first half, FSU dropped into zone and was picked apart with 10- to 12-yard in-cutting routes over the middle. When White decided to blitz, New Mexico State scored its only two touchdowns of the game due to miscommunications on the back end. NMSU should have scored a third touchdown, as the Seminole defense bit hard on the Aggies’ double pass, but a dropped ball in the end zone let the defense off the hook. Like Norvell, White could have been bland in his call sheet for a reason, but he needs to go back to the drawing board to figure out ways to play to the defense’s strengths.
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