Column: FSU’s inability to respond to adversity is the defining trait of Mike Norvell’s waning years

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Head coach Mike Norvell was the reason Florida State was in command against Louisville on Friday night.

FSU’s head man and offensive play-caller scripted a masterful opening drive, going 14 plays, 11 runs, to put his team up by a touchdown. After Louisville turned the ball over on downs, the next Seminole drive saw them convert on fourth down and, a play later, score to take a 14-0 road lead.

Everything continued to go as planned. On the ensuing UL drive, head coach Jeff Brohm played it safe and trotted out his field-goal kicker for a 54-yard attempt instead of going for it on 4th-and-4 — which was missed. Once again, FSU got the ball with great field position, converted on a fourth down, and seemed primed to take a three-score lead.

Then, everything changed.

On 3rd-and-goal from the two-yard line, Norvell called a play-action pass, a do-or-die call, and the Cardinals did not bite. With a chance to go up 17-0, the head coach left his offense on the field and, again, instead of running the ball, dialed up a long developing play. UL’s defense promptly snuffed it out, and as soon as the Cardinals’ offense touched the field, they never looked back.

A play later, it was 14-7 after a 97-yard touchdown. Thirteen plays later, after a poor FSU runback and a three-and-out, the score was 14-14. By the time the Seminoles reached the end zone again, Norvell’s team trailed 35-20 with 8:30 left in the fourth quarter. In one sequence of the game, Florida State capitulated, and a 14-0 lead turned into a 44-20 loss, as Louisville went on a 44-6 run in 40 minutes of game action, leading to one of the craziest stats of the Norvell era below:

In any football game, one play is not the defining factor. Of course, no one wants to give up a 97-yard touchdown run, but bad moments happen throughout a game. As Norvell reiterated during his rise, above anything else, he cared about seeing his team’s “response.”

Now, as his FSU coaching career circles the drain, Florida State’s inability to handle adversity is the defining reason why.

Take last night, for example. Louisville rushed for only 15 yards in the first quarter and finished the game with 397 yards on the ground, the second-most allowed by a Florida State team — ever. The Cardinals did not score in the first quarter, yet still finished with six rushing touchdowns.

By contrast, the Seminole offense cratered. Florida State started 4/5 on third downs, went 3/12 on third down the rest of the way, and finished 7/17. Individual players started to crack under pressure, such as Micahi Danzy, who made a brilliant one-handed touchdown catch in the first quarter, and dropped as bad a ball from a D1 wide receiver in the third quarter that forced FSU off the field for a three-and-out after falling behind 21-14.

The best stat of all may be this: After Florida State was stopped at the goal line, they punted on five straight drives, while Louisville scored a touchdown on four straight drives (excluding halftime).

“Too many times where we didn’t show the detail, the discipline, the mental toughness that’s necessary on the road,” said Norvell to the Louisville media postgame. “Starts with me … the guys were not prepared for those moments like they needed to be.”

Florida State, though, hasn’t had the mental toughness to win on the road in over 1,000 days—the last time they won a game away from Doak Campbell Stadium. As the program declines, so has its mentality. The same script that played out on Friday mirrored what happened against Alabama three weeks earlier: FSU went up 21-6, gave up a fourth-down stop late in the second quarter, and trailed by a touchdown at halftime.

The Florida State public saw the same story in 2025, when the Seminoles beat up on lowly ACC opponents at home, defeating Virginia Tech and Wake Forest by a combined 76-21, sandwiched between lifeless road losses to Clemson, North Carolina State, and Florida.

“A week ago (after the UVA win), we weren’t talking about the drawing board. We gave up 20 rushing yards a week ago. This week was 400 yards. It’s not because we forgot to coach this week. You’ve got to be able to execute in the moment.”

Throughout this three-year cycle, Mike Norvell has been the one constant. The Seminoles have replaced all the coordinators, started a new quarterback every season, and now even have a new athletic director. But football teams take on the identity of their head coach. Stay in the state and look at Miami and Florida’s attitudes. Or go around the country and see how programs like USC, Oklahoma, or Clemson, for better or worse, take after their head coach. As for Florida State, they will never break this cycle because their head coach cannot handle the momentum swings of a football game, and his players follow suit.

So, will FSU win more football games the rest of the season? They will, and they might even be bowl-eligible because the schedule after the bye week does not seem as daunting as it did at the beginning of the season.

But when the going gets tough and the Seminoles need someone to step up, they don’t have a leader in place to do it. Nights like Friday seem jarring in the moment, but no one should be surprised. Since Florida State came back from double digits four times in 2023, they have not responded to adversity. Until the head coach is gone, that will continue to be a feature, not a bug, of the Florida State program.

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