Florida State, reeling yet again, losing at lowly Stanford late Saturday night, West Coast time, as an 18.5-point road favorite, is nonetheless going to stick with head coach Mike Norvell through the end of the 2025 season.
And this woulda been the week to cut bait, with FSU on its second bye, ahead of hosting Wake Forest on Nov. 1.
“As we continue to move forward this season, our comprehensive assessment of the football program will be completed at season’s end. Meanwhile, we are fully committed to helping Coach Norvell and the 2025 Seminoles strongly rebound in the coming weeks,” was the word from the athletics director, Michael Alford, who no doubt has his folks thinking up ways to blame the ACC, because that’s what they do down there.
FSU lost 20-13 at Stanford, which had to go with freshman Elijah Brown at QB after losing starter Ben Gulbranson to injury in the second quarter.
The loss was the fourth straight for the ‘Noles, who started 3-0 with a 31-17 win over Alabama, now ranked fourth nationally, in their opener.
The losing skid started with the double-OT loss at UVA, now ranked 16th, in Week 5; all four of the losses have been by one score.
ICYMI
The last two, though, man – FSU was a 10.5-point home favorite with Pitt, which won 34-31, and then losing to Stanford, despite outgaining the Cardinal 444-293, with no turnovers.
“We rightfully have high expectations in everything we do to represent Florida State in the manner that built our reputation as one of college football’s best programs, cultivating an extraordinary group of supporters nationally and globally. We embrace those expectations while also sharing the deep disappointment when results on the field are short of that standard,” Alford said.
Norvell’s contract entitles him to a $54 million buyout.
I’ll never get giving guys with no leverage – and Mike Norvell is the living embodiment of lack of leverage; he’s 36-31 in six seasons at FSU, with to date two winning seasons and three losing seasons – that kind of protection.
That buyout is all due to the 13-0 regular season FSU had back in 2023, which, famously, still didn’t get the ‘Noles into the four-team CFP that year.
Norvell took a depleted roster into an Orange Bowl matchup with #6 Georgia after the snub, and lost 63-3 – ahead of FSU going 2-10 last year.
With this year’s 3-4 start, Norvell is 5-15 in his last 20, with (gulp!) 11 straight losses in the ACC.
It’s all the ACC’s fault, I’m sure – that Norvell got snubbed by the CFP in 2023, that everybody beat the living, you know, out of the ‘Noles in 2024, there was an overturned TD in the Virginia game, not enough cameras at Stanford.
It’s even more hilarious now that FSU – and Clemson, which is also off to a 3-4 start this season – sued the ACC for more money.
How about, I dunno, not losing so much?
ICYMI
- Poor Jim Phillips: ACC Commish reduced to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic
- ACC Commish Jim Phillips: ‘Settle down,’ we’ve got a good four, five years left
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Chris Graham
