Mike Norvell appeared to hit a wall on Friday night, unleashing a torrent of emotion following Florida State's latest loss. He blamed coaches and players alike for not meeting the standards of the once-proud program.
Florida State head coach Mike Norvell was, understandably, disappointed after his team's 21-11 loss at North Carolina State on Friday night. It was FSU's sixth loss of the year, dropping the Seminoles to 5-6 overall, but it was the first one to elicit the type of reaction Norvell had after the game.
Norvell appeared and sounded equal parts disgusted and defeated, saying his Seminoles are "not even close" to being good enough.
Norvell started the press conference expressing some frustration, but it was nothing too out of the ordinary. Midway through, he got a pointed question on FSU's results, and that's when the dam holding back his emotions burst open.
The head coach was asked if he feels that his team has met the standards of the Florida State program.
"Hell no, we haven't," Norvell responded. "We're not even close to living up to expectations. We're a fully-capable football team and that's not good enough, and that's not been good enough for the six losses that we have."
Norvell went on to acknowledge that the problems go deeper than the numbers suggest, pointing out that FSU out-gained the Wolfpack by nearly 100 yards, 383-286. In a game riddled with errors bordering on the comical in all three phases, Norvell spared no one. He blamed coaches, first, before saying the players need to be better, too.
"It's extremely frustrating," he said. "However many yards, differentials, improvements - all the crap. Got to make the plays to win the games. We got to do a good job coaching them. We got to do a good job as players. We got to do a good job as everybody, and we've not done a good enough job to play the way I believe we're capable of.
"You sit there and look at a stat sheet and say well, we out-gained them, we did this, we did this," he continued. "Still got to come down to doing enough to win the game. And we have definitely not filled any expectation of what I have."
With this loss, FSU has to beat in-state rival Florida in Gainesville to reach .500 for the year and qualify for a bowl game. Missing the postseason for the second year in a row would all but assure FSU triggers Norvell's $50+ million buyout. Even a win over the Gators may no longer be enough to save Norvell's job after the NC State debacle. His reaction afterwards seems to indicate he knows that, too.
There are only so many times that Norvell can blame himself and the coaching staff for losses before the university leaders start to believe him.
FSU and UF will kick off at either 3:30 or 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 29. Seminole fans across the country are waiting to find out if it will be Norvell's final game on the FSU sideline.