5 questions, 5 answers: FSU continues downward trend with recent weak loss

Florida State (1-4, 1-3 ACC) suffered a 14-9 halftime deficit against the SMU Mustangs on Saturday night that turned into a 42-16 loss with the ball turned over three times and over .400 Yards abandoned in a sold-out street was a loss.

As has been the case with the Seminoles all season, an inefficient offense and multiple turnovers, coupled with a defense that is among the worst in the country at getting off the field, collapsing, resulted in a perfect recipe, to let the Mustangs completely break through as the second half carried on.

Below the Tomahawk Nation The staff is trying to process the recent disappointing results with five answers to five questions.

Is this the worst thing you've felt about Florida State football?

Matt Minnick: No, 30-0 Wake. Which, not entirely coincidentally, was also a team that had to fire its OC.

Evenflow58: No. I think the beginning of the Willie Taggart era was worse because there was one rake after another. There's still the afterglow of last year, snub and all.

Jon Lösche: I was there for the 30-0 win against Wake Forest in the rain. But damn, this feels close.

Perry: I could be a prisoner of the moment and also someone whose first year and first season for FSU was 2012, but the helplessness coupled with the disappointment of what was expected of this team before the season makes me lean towards “yes.” The Seminoles are now 1-4 for the second time in Mike Norvell's tenure, but the difference in those two seasons couldn't be greater. In 2021, that 1-4 mark meant FSU broke its winning streak and finally broke through, while in 2024 it looks like all the progress the program made under Norvell has completely evaporated. Turning around a previous coach's culture is one thing, reinventing your own before September ends, just a year after an undefeated season, is simply unimaginable.

Who is most responsible for today's result?

Matt Minnick:Mike Norvell. He made two terrible decisions this offseason: 1) keep Alex Atkins, Randy Shannon, Adam Fuller and several other assistant coaches; 2) not playing modern football and refusing to field a quarterback with the slightest semblance of mobility.

Tim:Mike Norvell. This team looks terrible in every aspect of the game except kicking. QB, bad. OL, bad. TE, bad. RB, incomplete due to OL. WR, flashes but is incomplete because of QB. DL, bad. LB, bad. Secondary, bad. It's just a really bad team start and that's on him… And Kyle Morlock.

Evenflow58: Norvell. There is no excuse for this type of game. The team is letting him down and he doesn't seem willing to do much about it. There's not much you can do during the season, but he does less. Ultimately, everything begins and ends with him, and this year it never really started.

Jon Lösche: Like everyone else said, this all falls on Norvell. The Orange Bowl should have been more of a wake-up call to how depleted of talent this team would be. This was a year to take a few lumps and gain experience for young people. Instead, he doubled his stake on the portal in order to reach the playoffs. Now that it's been exposed, he's made those mistakes even worse.

Perry: Plain and simple about Mike Norvell – from continuing to DJ Uiagalelei even after it appeared he had injured his finger, to head-scratching gambles, to a general lack of execution that clearly belonged to the coaching staff at this point in the season attributable to his apparent reluctance or inability to make any significant changes or corrections (personnel and personnel) is mind-boggling for the man who preaches attention to detail in all aspects.

Assuming he's healthy, is there any reason to join DJ Uiagalelei in any capacity in the future?

Evenflow58: After the Boston College game there was no reason to, but here we are. The same could be said of pretty much any upper-class person who doesn't perform well and perform well. I have no problem playing someone like Farmer because he has a design to think about. But why play Morlock or Cypress?

Matt Minnick: No. Honestly, DJ made some nice throws tonight. His receivers gave him no help, and Morlock's drop on a 14-9 game probably changed the entire second half. So it's not like DJ was the main or even top 3 problem. BUT that's not really relevant here. What's relevant is that DJ won't be playing more meaningful games at FSU. You need to see what you have at quarterback before opening 2025 as a 28-point underdog against Bama.

Tim: Only if you think that line will ruin your young people. That's it. Otherwise, we'll have to see if Brock is the future. And if not, then try Luke. No reason to continue the DJ Fairwell tour.

Jon Lösche: The entire team is broken. Brock made the nicest pass he's ever thrown in an FSU uniform, so it was dropped, and the OL then left two SMU players unblocked. Tim may have an inkling that the team is ruining Glenn or Luke because things are so bad.

Perry: Even if this loss somehow doesn't fall squarely on his shoulders, you just can't. I know that listening to the fans is always a recipe for disaster, but the toxic atmosphere created by staying loyal to a quarterback who gave no reason on game day to continue playing against him is approaching that approaching the point of no return.

What tiny shred of hope could you take from this game?

Evenflow58: Why would you do that? If you squint, you could probably say that Brock Glenn was in the mix and that the TEs got younger at some point, but that's so miniscule that it's largely irrelevant.

Matt Minnick: Hope for what?

Jon Lösche: So much else has gone wrong that people aren't complaining about the White Helmets on social media?

Perry: Jalen Brown made a nice catch, Ja'Khi Douglas also had an explosive shot, Landen Thomas gave #freethemyyoungins even more energy, and the defense, whenever it's not completely negating every good thing it does, is at least occasionally forced , stringing together punts.

Did this game affect your perception of how bad this team is, or was it exactly what you expected?

Evenflow58: I don't bet on FSU because there is an emotional connection both positive and negative. For the same reason, I don't bet on Miami and Florida. As soon as the Cal game was over, I took SMU -5.5 because it was the easiest way I had ever thought of to make money. This game went as expected except DJ had a better game than I thought possible.

Jon Lösche: I have seriously considered selling my tickets to the UF game. The money spent on a weekend in Tallahassee would be better spent paying for the second line at my wedding. Considering it's the only chance I get to get to a home game, that should show how bad I'm feeling about the season at this point.

Matt Minnick: Nothing changed. I had this game as a loss for weeks. FSU wins two more games, Charleston Southern and one of Duke, UNC or UF.

Perry: I have to be honest – I didn't think it would look worse than it did against Boston College, against teams other than Miami or Clemson, but in a game where the opposing team hits a ball over their punter for a safety, kinda Florida State looked even more ridiculous.