Next For Cal: Florida State Has Fallen Down and Can't Get Up

The Bears will pit their 3-0 record against the 0-3 Seminoles in their first-ever ACC game

Florida State coach Mike Norvell / Melina Myers-Imagn Images

When the team you coach plays on Bobby Bowden Field, named after a man who won 315 games in 34 seasons at Florida State, there is pressure to win.

Fifth-year coach Mike Norvell probably never has felt it as he must be feeling it now.

One year removed from a 13-0 regular season and an Atlantic Coast Conference title, the Seminoles are 0-3 after a 20-12 loss to Memphis on Saturday. It's just the second time since 1976 the program has started a season with three losses, and Norvell now owns both of those seasons.

Ranked No. 10 in the preseason AP Top-25, they reside alone in last place in the ACC standings at 0-2. 

Cal, 3-0, will make its ACC debut against FSU on Saturday evening at Tallahassee. Kickoff is 4 p.m. on ESPN2. 

The Bears talked with excitement and optimism about the game after their 31-10 win over San Diego State. Linebacker Cade Uluave talks about the opportunity in the video above.

It’s hard to speculate what kind of mood the Seminoles will bring to the matchup. They are winless in four games since being left out of last year’s College Football Playoff and they never led in either of their two home games this season.

Norvell’s post-game news conference Saturday ended ominously when a fire alarm went off and a recorded voice came across the PA, announcing,  “You must leave the building.”

Fans and media have been rough on Norvell and his squad.

The Tallahassee Democrat ran a story with details on Norvell contract buyout. His 10-year contract, extended through Dec. 31 2031 after last season, is worth a total of $84 million, including $10 million this season, making him the sixth highest-paid coach in the country.

But even if FSU officials wanted to make a change, the cost would be prohibitive. Norvell’s buyout is $65 million.

The headline for a story on the website Yardbarker said, “Norvell can start packing at FSU.” The article went on to suggest “Norvell's days in Tallahassee are numbered,” and that the 0-3 start "certainly spells the beginning of the end for head coach Mike Norvell.”

The website Saturday Down South, alluding to Norvell’s significant buyout, said there are 65 million reasons FSU won’t be soon firing him.

But their story following Saturday’s loss began this way: 

“The grumbling at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday afternoon started as a murmur. But as the afternoon wore on and the home faithful continued to become disenchanted with the activity down on Bobby Bowden Field, the murmurs became words spoken out loud in public.

“Fire Mike Norvell.”

The New York Post opened its story by saying, “Florida State just might be the most disappointing team in all of college football.”

And USA Today ranked Florida State atop its Week 3 college football Misery Index.

All of what’s happened this season, USA Today suggested, is fallout from the angry reaction to being denied a spot in the CFP.

“It kicked and screamed and wouldn’t let it go for days, which turned into weeks, which became months.,” the story said of how players, coaches and fans responded to last season's disappointing news. "And the Florida State program never recovered.”

The CFP was a four-team event last season, and the Seminoles were left out after star quarterback Jordan Travis broke his leg in the team’s final regular-season game.

FSU had to settle for a berth in the Orange Bowl, where its 13-0 season went up in flames with a 63-3 loss to Georgia, a result which kind of proved the CFP committee's point.

The playoffs will include 12 teams this season, but Florida State has played its way out of that conversation the middle of September.