Florida routed Florida State in the annual rivalry game, keeping the Seminoles out of the postseason and putting a dark cloud over FSU's program ahead of the 2026 season.
Just about every mistake that plagued Florida State in 2025 reared its head in the Seminoles' 40-21 loss to rival Florida on Saturday night. The result secured FSU's second consecutive losing season under head coach Mike Norvell, despite this week's announcement that he would return as head coach in 2026.
The 60 minutes of play in Gainesville were an appropriate retrospective of FSU's 2025 struggles. The offense couldn't convert in the endzone, special teams had miscues, and the defense got destroyed at the line of scrimmage and in the middle of the field. Even funky turnovers and dropped passes made appearances.
And that was FSU's performance with the postseason on the line against a rival that entered the night 3-8 overall and 0-3 under a lame duck interim head coach.
2025 had been somewhat of a lost season since early October for FSU, to be fair. But a win in Gainesville would've secured a 6-6 record and bowl eligibility for the Seminoles, just one season removed from a disastrous 2-10 campaign.
It wouldn't have met the standard of a program with National Championship, ACC Championship, and College Football Playoff aspirations. However, it would've at least given FSU something positive to build on going into 2026.
Norvell needed something positive. Even the seemingly positive news that he is being retained for next year has now been tarnished by FSU's 1-3 finish to the season. Saturday night's result only heightens the pressure on him going into 2026, and it risks alienating a fanbase that he is depending on to finance his team's NIL purse to attract (and retain) talent.
Perception isn't always reality, but the appearances now are that Florida is going to start fresh with renewed energy under a new head coach and momentum following a rivalry win. Meanwhile, the external view on FSU is that it is just biding time until it can fire Norvell for less than his current $53+ million buyout, and at a time when there will be less competition to hire his successor.
Norvell may ultimately succeed at FSU. He showed in 2023 what his ceiling can be. That team went 12-0 in the regular season, won the ACC, and only got left out of the then-four-team playoff because of an injury to star quarterback Jordan Travis.
But Saturday night in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium showed the bad side of what a Norvell team is capable of.
A previously anemic Florida offense racked up 440 yards. Sophomore running back Jadan Baugh had the best rushing performance for UF since Emmitt Smith, totaling 266 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries. Gators quarterback DJ Lagway, who was benched just three weeks ago, threw for three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the once-prolific FSU offense only managed 14 points in the first 56 minutes of the 60-minute game. That unit converted 7 out of 16 combined 3rd down and 4th down attempts, as drive after drive stalled out either in or before the redzone. It was appropriate that the game ended on Florida intercepting a last-ditch effort by FSU quarterback Tommy Castellanos.
Perhaps the worst statistic for the program is that it marked 735 days since FSU's last road win. The Seminoles will begin the 2026 season having last won a game outside of Tallahassee in 2023.
This game shouldn't have meant much in the big picture for either team, given their mutual disappointment in 2025's results. Instead, the Florida side got momentum going into the offseason, while the dark cloud over Norvell's FSU only grew larger.
It will be a long nine months before the Seminoles kick off the 2026 season.