Early Look: Florida State Seminoles

With the football season less than two weeks from opening, today we take an early look at each of the Tigers' 11 opponents for the 2020 season with the Florida State Seminoles.

Head Coach: Mike Norvell was named Florida State’s 11th full-time head football coach on Dec. 8, 2019. Norvell spent the previous four seasons as the head coach at Memphis, compiling a record of 38-15, including the 2019 American Athletic Conference championship and a spot in the New Year’s Six Cotton Bowl. 

His 71.7 winning percentage is the highest in Memphis history and ranks ninth among active coaches with at least four years of experience at the FBS level. Memphis was the first school to appear in three straight American Athletic Conference Championship Games, and Norvell is one of 12 head coaches in any conference to appear in three straight conference championship games. He is also one of only seven to make three conference championship game appearances in their first four years as a head coach.

Seminoles on Offense: Kenny Dillingham was named Florida State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach on Dec. 11, 2019. Dillingham came to Tallahassee after serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Auburn in 2019, helping the Tigers to a 9-3 record and an invitation to the Outback Bowl. 

In his final game coordinating Auburn’s offense the Tigers scored 48 points in a win over No. 5 Alabama, the most points allowed by the Crimson Tide under head coach Nick Saban. The points total was the highest against any Alabama team since a five-overtime game in 2003 and the most allowed by the Crimson Tide in regulation since 1970. Under Dillingham’s direction, Auburn ranked 15th in the country with an average of 1.33 sacks allowed per game and only threw six interceptions, the lowest total in the SEC. 

The Tigers converted 90 percent of their red zone possessions to rank third in the SEC, an improvement from 12th the year before, and also ranked third in the conference with an average of 34.0 points per game one year after finishing eighth at 30.9 points per game. Auburn’s total offense average of 421.1 yards per game was fourth-best in the conference, bettering the 2018 average of 389.9 that ranked 11th.

Seminoles on Defense: Adam Fuller was named Florida State’s defensive coordinator on Dec. 12, 2019. 

Fuller spent the 2019 season as FSU head coach Mike Norvell’s defensive coordinator at Memphis, helping lead the Tigers to a program-record 12 wins, including the school’s first outright conference championship since 1969, and a berth in the New Year’s Six Cotton Bowl. His defense, which featured five all-conference performers, ranked 20th in FBS with a team passing efficiency defense rating of 115.36 and ranked 25th in the nation with an average of 7.0 tackles for loss per game. The Tigers forced 18 takeaways and returned two for touchdowns as Memphis became one of only six teams in the country with multiple defensive touchdowns each season from 2016-19.