Mike Norvell Says FSU Will 'Stay Together,' History Tells Us Different
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
There is a straight line from a room full of shattered Florida State Seminole players in December 2023 to what unfolded Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.
The circumstances have changed. The players have changed. The expectations have changed.
The troubling constant is Mike Norvell.
When the College Football Playoff committee left undefeated Florida State out of the four-team playoff, it did more than end a championship dream. The committee ranked the 13-0 Seminoles fifth behind one-loss Alabama, with the committee specifically pointing to how different Florida State was without injured quarterback Jordan Travis.
It was devastating but what happened next was Norvell’s responsibility.
Florida State’s roster fractured before the Orange Bowl as a mass exodus entered the transfer portal and Georgia humiliated what remained in a 63-3 embarrassment.
Nobody should pretend Norvell could magically erase what happened to his players that December. He couldn’t.
But a head coach’s job is to put the pieces back together.
Nearly three years later, it is becoming increasingly difficult to argue Norvell ever had the ability to.
The Seminoles followed their 13-win season by going 2-10 in 2024, including 1-7 in the ACC. Their offense averaged only 15.4 points and 270.3 yards per game.
Then came 2025. Florida State improved dramatically statistically, averaging 33 points and 472.1 yards, but the results still weren’t there. The Seminoles finished 5-7 and 2-6 in conference play.
Now they are 1-2 in 2026 and on the precipice of a third consecutive lost season in Tallahassee.
Saturday’s 50-36 loss at No. 10 Alabama felt like the entire post-2023 Norvell experience condensed into one night.
Florida State showed exactly why people still want to believe. The Seminoles jumped ahead 21-6 and were threatening to make a major statement on the road. Then everything unraveled.
Alabama scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions spanning the second and third quarters. The Crimson Tide finished with 567 yards, 247 rushing yards and zero turnovers. Florida State committed three turnovers and was penalized six times for 40 yards.
Weather interrupted the game multiple times, but Alabama emerged from those disruptions looking like the team capable of resetting itself. Florida State did not. The Seminoles had an opportunity to close out a game against a quality opponent and instead watched control disappear.
That is the larger concern.
Norvell continues to talk about focus.
“There’s been noise around the program, you know, for the last couple of years,” Norvell said afterward. “We’re working to make sure that we stay focused on the things that we can control.”
He repeatedly emphasized belief in his players and insisted he has seen no “pullback” from the team.
“I believe in this team,” Norvell said. “I believe in who we are. I believe in what we can do, what we can accomplish.”
That belief is admirable but it also isn’t enough anymore.
Florida State has gone from 13-0 entering the Orange Bowl to 8-20 since. The program that once appeared positioned to become a permanent national contender instead has spent nearly three years trying to recover from the moment everything came apart.
The question is no longer whether Norvell can build Florida State. He already proved that in 2022 and 2023.
The question is whether he can hold it together when adversity arrives.
The Orange Bowl aftermath was the first warning.
The 2-10 season was another.
Going 5-7 provided little reassurance.
Saturday night, with Florida State leading Alabama 21-6 before eventually losing by 14, offered the latest example.
Norvell says his team remains together but keeping a team together means more than preventing the locker room from splintering.
Eventually, it means keeping the season afloat and increasingly, there is little evidence Norvell can.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos