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Florida State’s 0-3 debacle is a product of poor evaluation, development

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Florida State’s 0-3 debacle is a product of poor evaluation, development

How does a college football team win 13 games one year and turn into an absolute train wreck the next?

Florida State’s Mike Norvell — who signed a contract extension in January that pays him close to $11 million a year — is facing that question.

His Seminoles, picked by the media to repeat as ACC champions, lost to Memphis, 20-12, on Saturday afternoon to become the ninth preseason AP top-10 team since 1950 to lose its first three games.

If that isn’t embarrassing enough, Norvell left Memphis five years ago to coach FSU. Now, for the second time in his tenure, the Seminoles have started a season by losing their first three games.

“I know what it takes to win games,” Norvell said after Memphis outgained the Seminoles 337 to 228 at Doak Campbell Stadium.

“I know what it takes for a team to go out there and be able to execute and play at a high level. We all have to do a better job of what we’re doing throughout the course of the week and challenge the players, challenge the coaches. Because we can’t continue to come into games and see things that absolutely are not a part of what we are and who we are.”

But this might just be what Florida State is without Jordan Travis at quarterback, Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson at receiver, Trey Benson in the backfield and a collection of leaders on both sides of the ball who are now in the NFL.

It took Travis a couple of years after he left Louisville to settle into FSU’s leading role at quarterback. He earned the respect of his teammates through the struggles of Norvell’s first two seasons (3-6 and 5-7) before the success of the last two. Those Seminoles — whether brought in through the portal or homegrown — developed into a championship team and enjoyed playing together.

This collection of transfers and homegrown products does not look like it’s having fun.

I wrote this two weeks ago — after Boston College won in Tallahassee — but it’s obvious there simply hasn’t been enough development of the players Norvell has recruited from the high school ranks over the past five years. Not enough starting quality players and not enough homegrown leaders have emerged.

The culture isn’t good.

And the offense is just bad.

Saturday’s first half was a comedy of errors.

It started with former Alabama running back Roydell Williams fumbling on the second play from scrimmage and ended with freshman Lawayne McCoy muffing a punt after teammate Quindarrius Jones was blocked into him as he attempted to field the ball. It was one of three turnovers in the half, which included only 67 yards of total offense and three first downs.

There were plenty of dropped balls and a collection of embarrassing stats. At one point, quarterback DJ Uiagalelei was 5 of 5 passing for 7 yards. The Oregon State transfer finished 16 of 30 for 201 yards and one interception. Uiagalelei’s last-second heave toward the end zone was deflected away to secure Memphis’ win.

The Seminoles have suffered some injuries. Starting right tackle Jeremiah Byers — the team’s best run blocker — missed his second straight game. Safety Shyheim Brown, the team’s leading tackler through two games, was also out Saturday, and several other players got banged up during the game.

But you can’t blame injuries for why the Seminoles have been this bad.

You also can’t blame Adam Fuller’s defense. The Seminoles have given up 24, 28 and 20 points in the three losses.

The majority of the issues are on offense. Is it evaluation? Development? Belief in the system? Things are clearly not working.

Recruiting has been good but hardly great under Norvell. The 2025 class took several hits in recent weeks when two blue-chip defensive linemen decommitted. There could be more defections if the product on the field doesn’t improve.

Norvell’s press conference on Saturday ended with a fire alarm going off in the building.

Nobody at FSU is going to fire Norvell anytime soon with the amount of money left on his contract, but it’s fair to sound the alarms about FSU’s future. It does not look good right now.

(Photo of Mike Norvell: Don Juan Moore / Getty Images)

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