Florida State got the win Saturday, but the performance raised more questions than answers. With a brutal schedule ahead, the pressure on Mike Norvell is growing with people already asking if he can survive the season.
Florida State’s opening performance looked nothing like what many hoped for, leaving one glaring question: Can Mike Norvell make it through the season?
The Noles opened the season with a 34-17 victory over New Mexico State, but the final score doesn’t tell the story of just how close the game was. Midway through the third quarter, the Noles found themselves in a close fight, leading 17-10 despite being more than 30-point favorites heading into the season opener.
Florida State’s performance left much to be desired. The Seminoles second-highest-graded player by PFF in the win, running back Ousmane Kromah, admitted the team “could have been better” but did what it needed to do when it mattered most to get the win.
“I feel like we could have been a little better,” Kromah said. “We had to get things going, and we just did our job.”
Defensive coordinator Tony White, after watching the tape, saw several positives from Florida State, but pointed out that there were “a lot of things” for the Seminoles to clean up.
When I got a chance to watch it, there is a ton of good things,” White said. “But there is stuff we need to correct 100 percent.”
David Pollack, the former ESPN College GameDay host and current host of the See Ball, Get Ball podcast, also saw a few positives in the New Mexico State game. Unfortunately for the Noles, the positives were Doak Campbell Stadium and the Seminoles’ home crowd, and they ended there.
Pollack, however, pointed out several areas where Florida State needs to improve, including the pass rush, the secondary’s coverage, the offensive line’s ability to consistently move defenders, the offense’s lack of rhythm, and the defensive line’s ability to consistently get into the backfield.
Pollack summed up what many around college football were thinking about Florida State: The standard is no longer the standard in Tallahassee.
“First thoughts of Florida State, I did not think of them being like I remember them,” Pollack said.
Fans voiced their displeasure and concerns by filling Doak Campbell Stadium with boos over the Noles' performance against New Mexico State.
Joel Klatt, like the fans, was disappointed in the performance and expressed enough concern after Saturday’s game, combined with the difficult upcoming schedule, to question whether Mike Norvell will even make it through the season.
“Based on that performance, struggling with New Mexico State, you look up at their schedule, and you start to think to yourself, is Mike Norvell going to make it through the season?” Klatt said”
Florida State faces an early gauntlet of a schedule, starting Monday night with a matchup against No. 19 SMU. The Seminoles then travel to No. 13 Alabama, where the Crimson Tide will look to pay back the early-season loss Florida State handed them last year.
Central Arkansas comes next, and it will be the one game in this stretch Florida State will be expected to win. After that, the Seminoles face Virginia, which looked dominant in its Week Zero matchup in a 34-8 win over NC State, unlike the Noles.
The Cavaliers are followed by No. 24 Louisville, in-state rival No. 7 Miami, and finally Clemson.
It took Klatt seeing just one game before questioning whether Norvell would make it through the season. Jack Crain, however, had already answered that question before Klatt even asked it, predicting that Norvell would be fired after the Seminoles fall to 3-5 with a loss to Clemson.
And while Klatt and Crain both believe Norvell will get a chance to get things right, Brandon Walker took a different approach after watching Florida State’s season opener. Walker questioned whether Norvell should have been the Seminoles head coach this season.
“The sequence of the game. I knew that it was 10-7 for a while. I knew going in, but it was still so underwhelming,” Walker said. “In this day and age. I don't know how they started another season with Mike Norvell as the coach. I don't know how they started another season with him on the sideline”
Florida State got the win Saturday, but it has led to more questions than answers about the state of the program and what Florida State should do with Norvell. And those questions will only continue to grow. With a schedule considered one of the toughest in the country, Norvell has limited time to find the right answers.
If he can’t quickly improve the performance that has plagued Florida State over the last two seasons and now into this one, the question of whether Norvell can survive the season may not need to be asked much longer.
