Florida State Beat Writer Answers 5 Questions About the Seminoles

What is the fans' reaction to FSU's 0-3 start? Will DJ Uiagalelei remain the Seminoles' starting quarterback?

Florida State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei / Melina Myers-Imagn Images

Each week we ask someone who covers Cal’s next opponent five questions about that opponent.

This week we asked Peter Holland Jr. of the Tallahassee Democrat five questions about Florida State, which is 0-3 and hosts Cal (3-0) at 4 p.m. (Pacific time) Saturday night.

We provide snippets of his response after each question, but watch the videos to hear Holland’s entire response:

---1. What has been the reaction of FSU fans to the 0-3 start?

“They’re impatient,” Holland said. “You’re coming off a 13-1 season, close to making the playoffs, and the last thing you want to do is start 0-3, losing to two ACC teams back-to-back, then losing to Memphis and how you perform.”

“They came into the season as the 10th-ranked team, and you had those level of expectations, and right now FSU has underperformed that expectation. So I don’t blame the Seminoles fans and how they’re feeling, but they’re definitely growing impatient where something needs to be done quickly.”

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---2. Is Mike Norvell’s job in danger one year after the Seminoles had an undefeated, ACC championship regular season?

“I don’t think so,” Holland said. “I think Mike Norvell’s job is safe for now. I could probably give you 65 million reasons why his job is safe. They recently gave him a long-term extension, I believe it was an eight-year extension. If you choose to part ways with him one season after that you have to buy him out for 65 million dollars. Florida State is in no position to be doing that. I think they still believe in Mike Norvell.”

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---3. What are the chief causes of Florida State’s disappointing start?

“Their offense is bad,” Holland said. “Any offensive category you can think of they’re right in the bottom. There’s 134 teams in the FBS teams, Florida State averages 15.3 points a game, they’re ranked 124th.  Two hundred seventy-four total yards per game, 128th. This is probably the worst one of them all: averaging 52 rushing yards per game, that puts them at 133rd.”

“Obviously people want to look at the quarterback, DJ Uiagalelei. He hasn’t really been good. I think for him he’s still trying to figure out his offense in terms of connection and building his confidence, and having Mike Norvell be confident in him to run the offense that suits best for him.”

“[But] it’s not his fault that they can’t run the football. It’s not his fault that the offensive line has been bad, and it gets worse because it’s banged up right now.”

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---4. Will DJ Uiagalelei remain the Seminoles’ starting quarterback against Cal?

“Mike Norvell still believes in DJ,” Holland said. “There really has not been any signs that show that DJ will be benched.”

“[Uiagalelei] is going to be the starter against Cal.  DJ is going to have to do something very egregious, like throwing three interceptions or four or five turnovers to force him to be benched. FSU fans don’t want to hear this, but he has not done anything to be benched.”

“This offense goes beyond the issue with the quarterback. So I think Mike Norvell is likely going to have to ride this wave and see this through with this quarterback, knowing that he’s only here for one year.”

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---5. Which FSU players have played well in the first three games?

“The kicker,” Holland said. “Special teams have been really great for Florida State, especially kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, who’s 6-for-6 [in field goals], 3-for-3 in 50-plus yards. I don’t know if you saw that Georgia Tech game where he hit that 59-yarder.”

“Their punter has also been great too. His name is Alex Mastromanno, who’s Australian, who’s projected to be All-American. He does a good job of flipping the field.”

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