Inside Florida State’s historic fall from 13-0 to its worst displaying in 50 years

Even with 40 minutes left in a misplaced season, Florida State nonetheless had hope. It flashed Saturday when defensive sort out Darrell Jackson Jr. powered previous a blocker and bear-hugged Florida quarterback DJ Lagway contained in the Gators’ 25. A Seminoles sack might assist flip the sphere in a 7-0 recreation.

As an alternative, it was a 10-second encapsulation of Florida State’s worst season in 50 years.

A proficient switch failed to complete a play; Lagway spun out of Jackson’s arms. One other member of FSU’s $2 million defensive position, Patrick Payton, began celebrating a sack that didn’t occur. Linebacker Omar Graham Jr. stomped his toes and smacked his fingers collectively in frustration after Lagway threw downfield for a primary down. The remainder of head coach Mike Norvell’s Seminoles didn’t or couldn’t reply as a aggressive recreation ultimately changed into their seventh double-digit lack of the 12 months. Lastly, ridicule rained down at FSU’s Doak Campbell Stadium, with visiting followers chanting “D-J LAG-WAY” whereas the Seminoles staggered to a different three-score rout by an in-state rival.

When Florida State’s 31-11 loss was over, one of many largest collapses in faculty soccer historical past was full.

The Seminoles’ nosedive from 13-1 and the brink of the Faculty Soccer Playoff to 2-10 is the second-largest drop in wins ever. Solely 2011-12 Southern Miss (which cratered from 12-2 in 2011 to 0-12 after a training change) was worse. Florida State joined 1954 Illinois and 1956 Notre Dame and Maryland because the lone groups to start the season ranked within the prime 10 of the AP ballot and fail to win no less than three video games.

The Seminoles’ offense allowed essentially the most sacks within the nation and completed within the backside six in scoring, dashing and completion share. Their protection compelled the third-fewest turnovers within the nation, and their particular groups had been second-to-last in punt return common.

The descent is much more putting as a result of there’s no apparent, extenuating trigger. There’s no scandal to quote, no main unfortunate breaks guilty. The teaching employees that gained final 12 months’s ACC championship with a third-string quarterback is identical one which misplaced to Duke for the primary time in program historical past.

As an alternative, Florida State crumbled due to a mixture of lingering points that collected slowly and converged instantly, in keeping with interviews carried out by The Athletic with a dozen folks in and across the program and throughout the game. Virtually all spoke on the situation of anonymity to supply candid responses. FSU didn’t make Norvell obtainable for this story, and he didn’t return a number of requests for remark.

“Horrible” recruiting, in keeping with a former staffer, and overconfident evaluating. Excessive-profile quarterback misses due to NIL coffers. Misguided loyalty and a misplaced bidding warfare. A notion gamers had been giving up, or no less than missing management abilities. Underneath-the-surface issues that had been too straightforward to miss through the Seminoles’ regular, four-year climb from Norvell’s 3-6 begin to his 19-game successful streak in 2022-23. 

“Excessive tide covers up ugly rocks,” FSU athletic director Michael Alford advised The Athletic, “and low tide exposes them.”

Excessive tide peaked a 12 months in the past this week when the Seminoles topped Louisville to win their first ACC title in 9 years. Low tide started lower than 13 hours later with the push that began a free fall.

The place all of it started: That Playoff snub

The historic stumble started with a historic snub.

Regardless of FSU’s 13-0 report in a Energy 5 convention, the Faculty Soccer Playoff choice committee nudged the 12-1 Alabama Crimson Tide forward of the Seminoles for the fourth and ultimate spot. The explanation was controversial however defensible: Florida State was not one of many 4 greatest groups after star quarterback Jordan Travis broke his leg in Sport 11.

When the FSU-less bracket was unveiled on ESPN, Norvell froze for 3 seconds. By the point he rose from his chair to say one thing, no less than a dozen gamers had already stood up and began strolling to the again of the room — or the exit.

“What occurred had by no means, ever occurred earlier than within the historical past of faculty soccer, the place you went undefeated at a big-name faculty and don’t make the Playoff,” a former staffer mentioned. “They received the Playoff taken away, and haven’t recovered from that.”

That was apparent on the Orange Bowl, when Norvell acknowledged the uncooked disappointment “positively affected” a roster with 20-plus opt-outs that misplaced 63-3 to Georgia. And in February, when certainly one of final 12 months’s captains, Fabien Lovett, admitted he doesn’t assume he’ll ever absolutely recover from the sting. And in April, when the college’s authorized counsel stood in a Tallahassee courtroom throughout a listening to on FSU’s ongoing lawsuit in opposition to the ACC and referred to the Seminoles as “what ought to have been the nationwide champions.” And in September, when receiver Kentron Poitier mentioned the snub was one thing gamers nonetheless talked about sometimes.

However Florida State considers itself to be one of many sport’s premier manufacturers — a three-time nationwide champion with a powerful pedigree and proud fan base. It was a program that ought to have been constructed to recuperate from any heartbreak or humiliation. There was no purpose to assume one devastating choice would plunge the Seminoles this far.

A longtime employees had loads of time to stockpile or replenish expertise from a fertile footprint. An NIL funds of about $12 million was large enough to fund a Playoff contender and retain some veterans. Florida State spent greater than $1 million giving its 10 assistants proactive raises whereas retaining Norvell away from Alabama with a brand new, eight-year contract that made him one of many recreation’s highest-paid coaches.

“If it is a tailspin that began at 40,000 toes,” mentioned an individual affiliated with the staff’s decision-making course of, “you’ve had quite a few alternatives to recuperate from it.”

A employees’s main weak point revealed after a number of years

“Right here’s the storyline for Florida State,” a second former staffer mentioned. “We had been horrible in recruiting in 2020 and 2021.”

The problems from these courses — Norvell’s first two — lay deeper than mediocre rankings of twenty second and twenty third within the 247Sports Composite. A few of the early recruiting misses on the root of the issue stem from unlucky circumstances: Norvell was FSU’s third coach in 4 seasons and inherited a program that was 18-20 over the earlier three years. The pandemic hit three months into his tenure; COVID-19 restrictions hamstrung his employees’s capacity to construct relationships in a brand new state. And because the Seminoles rebuilt slowly by Norvell’s first two shedding seasons, they couldn’t promote new-coach buzz, like Florida’s Billy Napier and Miami’s Mario Cristobal.

These two courses had been liable for solely seven common starters this season. Of the 15 blue-chip (four- or five-star) prospects FSU signed these cycles, simply 5 had been nonetheless on the roster.

The misses created a void on the sphere and, crucially, within the locker room. Inevitable attrition meant Florida State wanted new alphas after Travis, Jared Verse, Braden Fiske and Trey Benson headed to the NFL. However FSU’s roster had solely 28 scholarship gamers who had been on the staff for no less than three seasons.

“There was nobody to cross that torch to,” mentioned a supply concerned with the staff’s roster administration.

Within the aftermath of the Playoff announcement, two of FSU’s most impactful 2020-21 signees, Payton and linebacker DJ Lundy, introduced plans to enter the portal. Payton by no means adopted by, and Lundy remained at FSU after decommitting from Colorado. However the truth that two veterans who had been recreation captains this season brazenly thought-about leaving inside two weeks of the ACC championship was a regarding signal about this system’s management. It wasn’t the final. One in every of FSU’s Orange Bowl captains, main tackler Shyheim Brown, was suspended for the Memphis recreation resulting from a DUI arrest in the summertime. 

Norvell publicly acknowledged the staff’s want for management in late September. In 2023, Florida State trailed within the second half in opposition to LSU, Clemson, Duke, Miami and Florida. Then the Seminoles outscored them by a mixed 103-24.

“What occurred in each a kind of alternatives?” Norvell requested. “The actual ones stood up, and a few of these guys which are on this staff proper now had been these guys.”

They, apparently, remained sitting down. A staff that was No. 5 nationally in second-half scoring differential final season completed No. 119 this 12 months.

Although Alford mentioned he by no means noticed a drop in effort or change in physique language — earlier than or after the CFP snub — some outsiders did. Fox analyst City Meyer accused the staff of quitting, and a number of folks near this system advised some gamers started tuning out coaches.

“There’s solely so many instances that message (a constructive pep discuss) will be delivered,” mentioned the particular person affiliated with staff’s decision-making course of

The management issues for one particular person briefed on the staff’s roster building started within the offseason when a veteran twice tried to arrange exercises — the form of voluntary work Travis spearheaded in earlier summers. It went nowhere. “No one cared (or) needed to return,” the particular person mentioned.

And when the Seminoles might lastly promote main success final cycle after back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins, they nonetheless underachieved. Months after ending sixth within the ultimate AP ballot, Florida State needed to cancel a junior day; coaches couldn’t get sufficient folks to campus.

Florida State was amongst 4 groups that gained no less than 23 video games in 2022-23 and didn’t change coaches final recruiting cycle. The opposite three applications’ 2024 courses completed first (Georgia), third (Oregon) and fifth (Ohio State) within the 247Sports Composite.

FSU was Twelfth.

The Seminoles would have completed larger however misplaced five-star defensive again KJ Bolden to Georgia on signing day. FSU received a late go to from the nation’s prime recruit, receiver Jeremiah Smith, however couldn’t maintain the south Florida native away from Ohio State. Smith set freshman receiving information in catches, touchdowns and yards for the No. 6 Buckeyes.

These late misses are a part of a troubling development. FSU watched its prime recruit decommit in 2021 (four-star linebacker Branden Jennings), 2022 (Heisman Trophy favourite Travis Hunter), 2023 (five-star Texas working again CJ Baxter) and 2024 (Bolden, certainly one of Georgia’s prime defensive backs). Hunter, like Bolden, was a signing day flip — the form of Twelfth-hour battle Norvell has misplaced greater than he’s gained.

These had been preventable points. Norvell and most of his assistants arrived at FSU with little expertise signing elite nationwide prospects. Norvell’s first recruiting courses had been the Seminoles’ 4 worst since 2007, in keeping with the 247Sports Composite. Within the 5 years earlier than Norvell’s arrival, FSU signed 9 five-star recruits. In Norvell’s first 5 courses, he signed one: receiver Hykeem Williams.

A former Norvell assistant mentioned he’s “shocked that their highschool recruiting was simply so unhealthy.”

And but Norvell was largely loyal to his employees. Seven of his 10 assistants at first of this season had been in these roles since Yr 1. The retention made sense as his employees coached, evaluated and developed nicely sufficient to enhance from three wins to 5 to 10 and, lastly, perfection. However there was a trade-off.

“There’s an institutional lack of appreciation of the significance highschool recruiting performs,” mentioned an individual affiliated with the staff’s decision-making course of.

The 2023 Seminoles had been capable of overcome it with elite transfers and an elite quarterback. The 2024 Seminoles had neither.

Dwell by the portal, die by the portal

Florida State made up for its early, unimpressive recruiting courses with a focused technique within the switch portal.

The Seminoles’ 2022-23 switch courses netted 14 gamers who began no less than 5 video games through the ACC title run. Of these 14 contributors, 12 had been comparatively confirmed commodities — veterans at decrease ranges on the lookout for a recent begin or leap in competitors.

Verse was an all-conference edge rusher at Albany whom the Seminoles found whereas watching movie of an opponent (Syracuse) Verse had already performed. He grew to become a game-wrecker. All-ACC playmaker Keon Coleman was Michigan State’s prime receiver in 2022. He papered over the weaknesses of a place group with too many misevaluated or undeveloped highschool prospects. Others had nice impression on the rebuild, like guards D’Mitri Emmanuel (Charlotte) and Casey Roddick (Colorado) and linebacker Tatum Bethune (UCF).

Florida State’s NIL strategy — one of many first to prioritize expertise retention and never simply acquisition — ensured gamers like Verse and Bethune stayed for an additional season.

Final cycle, Florida State courted equally established transfers, too. However once they didn’t signal prime targets like Kyle Kennard (a Nagurski Trophy finalist at South Carolina), Nic Scourton (one of many SEC’s most disruptive defensive linemen for Texas A&M) and Carter Smith (Indiana’s beginning left sort out), the Seminoles needed to pivot to the portal’s subsequent tier. They veered farther from manufacturing and extra towards potential.

Six of their 17 transfers had been coveted, top-110 nationwide recruits in highschool who signed with main applications (Georgia, Alabama) however totaled simply 4 profession collegiate begins. One other, receiver Malik Benson, was the nation’s prime junior faculty recruit in 2023 however caught just one landing in his 14 video games for Alabama.

If Seminoles staffers thought they may repair the proficient prospects they unsuccessfully recruited beforehand, they had been flawed. Bama’s backups, it seems, had been backups for a purpose; the entrance workplace, a former staffer mentioned, “went 1-for-17.”

“They fully failed,” mentioned the supply concerned with the staff’s roster administration.

And the Seminoles couldn’t masks the difficulty as a result of they not had a star quarterback.

“The lacking piece in all of this was the event of Jordan Travis,” the second former staffer mentioned. “He at all times gave us an opportunity to win a recreation, after which once you put the items round him, he grew to become elite.”

Travis was a dual-threat star who might Houdini his means out of hassle. He’s the lone participant who ranks within the prime 10 on FSU’s all-time checklist in passing touchdowns (65) and dashing touchdowns (31). He accounted for 5 touchdowns in opposition to LSU, threw the sport winner in additional time at Clemson and totaled two touchdowns (one dashing, one passing) within the five-minute, fourth-quarter span that beat Duke.

After Travis broke his leg in opposition to North Alabama final November, the Seminoles didn’t throw a landing cross of their ultimate three video games. Although Brock Glenn confirmed potential in successful the ACC championship, FSU wanted instant expertise to complement the three-star freshman. The three quarterbacks Norvell signed from 2020-22 had all both transferred or had been within the means of transferring.

The Seminoles’ portal choices had been restricted. Riley Leonard was already headed from Duke to Notre Dame. Will Howard was going from Kansas State to Ohio State.

“It wasn’t actually who was obtainable,” the second former staffer mentioned. “It was who had been those prepared to hear.”

Two had been prepared sufficient to hear in particular person with mid-December visits: DJ Uiagalelei and Cam Ward. They had been veteran passers from the Pac-12 — Uiagalelei from Oregon State, Ward from Washington State — with two main variations.

One was cash. FSU, a former staffer mentioned, “didn’t wish to spend the cash for Cam Ward,” who ended up commanding twice as a lot as Uiagalelei.

The opposite was capacity — or, extra precisely, stability. Ward had great upside however great danger. In two years at Washington State, he threw 16 interceptions and fumbled 23 instances (10 misplaced), in keeping with TruMedia. Uiagalelei — who defeated Norvell’s 2022 staff on the highway behind 4 whole touchdowns — had a decrease ceiling however the next ground. Clemson and Oregon State went a mixed 30-10 over his 40 begins.

Stability figured to be adequate for Florida State. Norvell mentioned this spring that his offensive line had an opportunity to be one of the best and deepest of his 5 seasons and that the working backs might be simply nearly as good because the 12 months earlier than, regardless of shedding the second again drafted (Benson). Mix these two components, and the Seminoles wouldn’t want a quarterback to win video games by himself. They wanted somebody who wouldn’t lose them.

FSU took Uiagalelei. Each evaluation was flawed.

FSU’s dashing (2.85 yards per try) ranked third-to-last nationally with this system’s worst per-game common (89.92) since 1947.

Earlier than injuring his hand in opposition to SMU, Uiagalelei had 4 landing passes, six interceptions and a cross effectivity score (112.0) worse than any ACC starter. It took lower than six full quarters for Florida State followers to name for his benching, chanting “We would like Brock” within the dwelling opener in opposition to Boston Faculty.

“I don’t know the place the delusion got here from on their finish,” mentioned a second supply briefed on the staff’s roster building. “There’s nothing in there (about Uiagalelei) — ‘Wow, I’m blown away.’”

Ward, nonetheless, has blown away the competitors at FSU’s archrival, Miami. After deciding to not flip professional final offseason, Ward led the nation this common season with 36 landing passes, elevated himself into the dialog to be the primary quarterback drafted in April and put Miami in Playoff competition heading into final weekend.

In October, Ward’s Hurricanes beat FSU by 22 factors — the Seminoles’ fourth-worst defeat within the rivalry’s previous 60 conferences.

What subsequent for Mike Norvell?

Virtually a 12 months to the day after Norvell pounded a desk on the ACC championship to advertise his staff’s Playoff push, he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders in Tallahassee whereas confronting the “disappointing ending to an terrible season.”

In some methods, one led to the opposite. Norvell maximized the Seminoles’ 2023 window by including and retaining game-ready expertise to deploy round a standout quarterback.

“Final 12 months was our all-in 12 months,” the particular person affiliated with the staff’s decision-making course of mentioned.

And when that also wasn’t sufficient, they had been left with the fallout — an underdeveloped, un-jelled roster that lacked vocal management and was positioned to spiral with some assist from a number of uncontrollable components.

Each FBS opponent FSU confronted this 12 months is bowl eligible; 5 (Notre Dame, SMU, Miami, Clemson and Memphis) ranked on this week’s Prime 25. Final 12 months’s Seminoles had been wholesome sufficient that 4 offensive linemen might begin no less than 10 video games. Accidents compelled this 12 months’s staff to make use of 9 beginning mixtures within the first 10 video games on one of many worst run-blocking groups within the nation. Agonizing defeats in opposition to Georgia Tech (discipline aim as time expired) and Memphis (incomplete Hail Mary on the buzzer) within the first three video games saved FSU and its new lineup from producing any early momentum.

“We had been unable to construct any of that confidence that we wanted to show it round,” Alford mentioned.

However Alford mentioned he’s inspired by the younger expertise Norvell has recruited and begun to develop, although this system should domesticate stronger leaders. He mentioned revenue-sharing — colleges paying gamers instantly as quickly as subsequent 12 months — can profit the Seminoles, assuming it ranges the taking part in discipline in a means NIL didn’t. Both means, an individual briefed on FSU’s roster administration mentioned the Seminoles can’t afford to be low cost.

“You wish to return to 13-1?” that supply mentioned. “Pay the quarterback.”

Although the complete monetary methods gained’t develop into clearer till the switch portal opens subsequent week, FSU has already proven a willingness to spend its means again to success.

A day after FSU’s 49-point shellacking final month at Notre Dame, Florida State agreed to eat $8 million in buyouts to fireside three assistants who had been with Norvell since Yr 1: offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and receivers coach Ron Dugans. Florida State has stuffed two of the openings by poaching a sitting Energy 4 head coach (UCF’s Gus Malzahn) as OC and the highest-paid assistant in Nebraska historical past (Tony White) as DC.

The important thing stays Norvell. Alford mentioned he might see and really feel the defeats carrying on Norvell, however he additionally noticed his coach stay energetic and unwavering.

Former staffers describe Norvell as demanding and arranged with the mentality and skill to rebound. He already has. After an 0-4 begin in 2021 led to doubts about his future at FSU, he gained 28 of his subsequent 34 video games.

“I feel this was in all probability simply an anomaly of a 12 months for them,” one former Norvell assistant mentioned. “He’ll get it again.”

Even when the Seminoles needed to fireside Norvell — and Alford made it clear they didn’t — his buyout (north of $60 million) makes it nearly inconceivable; Texas A&M paying former Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher $76 million to go away is an business outlier. As an alternative, Norvell and the ’Noles should determine it out collectively.

“The fact now, with the way in which these contracts are structured, you’re all-in,” one Energy 4 athletic director mentioned. “I feel the rev-sharing that’s coming, you’re in all probability simply gonna should put on it.”

Norvell has mentioned, repeatedly, that he takes full duty for an “completely unacceptable” autumn. After Saturday’s season-ending loss to Florida, he apologized to followers, gamers, alumni and the college for “what confirmed up all through the course of the 12 months.”

Whereas Norvell has been imprecise about a few of the layered parts that led to Florida State’s collapse, he has hinted at potential fixes. Recruiting and participant relations can be “important” concerns as he refilled his employees. Coaches, he mentioned Saturday evening, should ensure that they “consider and discover the proper leaders,” which they’ve “finished in spots.” Even relinquishing offensive play-calling duties — Norvell’s greatest ability — is an choice if it helps this system as a complete.

For Alford, this surprising season was “essentially the most excessive instance of what plenty of applications are experiencing, particularly on this risky, aggressive panorama.” Transient rosters and NIL warfare chests could cause program’s tides to rise shortly — and fall even quicker, exposing no matter has been constructing beneath the floor.

“We will by no means take success with no consideration,” Alford mentioned. “I’ve hope for the longer term, as a result of that is Florida State.”

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photographs: James Gilbert, Jacob Kupferman, Don Juan Moore/ Getty Photos)