Game Preview: Florida State Seminoles at No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Can the Seminoles avoid embarrassment on Saturday night?

Austin Veazey | Nov 7, 2024

Nov 2, 2024; Tallahassee, Florida, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback Luke Kromenhoek (14) warms up before a game against the North Carolina Tarheels at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Myers-Imagn Images / Robert Myers-Imagn Images

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Florida State Seminoles

Somehow, there are still three more games of torture from this Florida State football team. It won't get any better on Saturday night as they travel to play the tenth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame has rebounded from an embarrassing early loss to Northern Illinois to average over 42 PPG since then. Florida State has still yet to score more than 16 points on American soil, so this could get ugly once again.

This will be a 7:30 kickoff on NBC at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

Seminole Headlines

FSU Facing a Healthy Riley Leonard

Florida State played Notre Dame's Riley Leonard last season when he was playing for Duke, but he was dealing with an ankle injury, coming into the game nowhere close to 100% and it got worse throughout the game. Now that he's healthy, FSU will have an interesting challenge to go against.

Leonard has had a solid season: 1360 passing yards, eight TDs, three INTs, 539 rushing yards, and 11 rushing TDs. This will be a run-based attack for most of the game for Notre Dame, and FSU hasn't done well against run-focused teams.

Norvell's Notre Dame History

Notre Dame has won the last three games against the Seminoles, two of which coming in Mike Norvell's tenure. The first game in 2020 was closer than I remembered at 42-26, and the second was a 41-38 overtime loss to start 2021. Norvell has been able to keep games competitive against the Fighting Irish, but that likely won't matter in this game.

An Ever-Evolving "Plan"

Coach Norvell swears he has a plan with this team and doesn't think the team has quit yet. But until he finds a way for this offense to get going, the defense isn't going to find much reason to keep trying. Notre Dame is going to be able to run right through FSU's defense, and with the lack of rhythm on offense, it'll be hard for them to score points against an elite defense.

Burning Questions

What Has Notre Dame Changed Since the Loss to NIU?

Notre Dame's 16-14 home loss to Northern Illinois in the first few weeks of the season is one of the strangest losses in college football so far. The Fighting Irish have dominated just about every other opponent, while NIU is 4-4 with losses to Buffalo and Ball State. So something has changed, and that's their defense.

They allowed 388 total yards and 190 rushing yards to Northern Illinois, both of which are the second-highest outings of the season against ND (Louisville had 395 total yards, Navy had 222 rushing yards). NIU's 6.0 yards per play remain the highest outing of the season, though. The defense has been much better at holding opposing offenses down, while the offense has started to run the ball more, averaging 31 rushes per game in the first two games and more than 38 rushes per game since. The yards per carry have improved, and it's just been a more efficient offense overall.

How Does Florida State Avoid Further Embarrassment?

It's unlikely FSU makes this even halfway competitive, but if they find some success on the ground, they could make things a little interesting. It's doubtful, but stranger things have happened.

The 'Noles were able to find some success on the ground against Duke and Miami, granted, a good percentage of those yards came on a fake punt against Duke and a broken QB sneak against Miami, but they also found some rushing lanes. They need to build on those small opportunities that they presented themselves.

Is This Season Worth Burning Luke Kromenhoek's Redshirt?

Luke Kromenhoek has played in three games this season and can play in one more before Coach Norvell and his staff decide on redshirting him. Given that FSU is 1-8 and will maybe win one more game, is it really worth an extra year of his development to play behind this horrific offensive line, with these receivers, and this playcalling?

Norvell is using these games as an early look into the quarterback competition for 2025, but it's hard to properly evaluate the quarterbacks with all of these issues surrounding them. I'd be in favor of letting Brock Glenn play all of this and the Florida game, then throw Kromenhoek in against a weaker Charleston Southern team.

Game Forecast

Notre Dame is favored by 25.5 points with an over/under of 42.5 on FanDuel Sportsbook.

This game will not be close. Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman have won their games by an average of 31 PPG since that embarrassing Northern Illinois loss. So they're winning their games by twice as many points as FSU scores. So... yeah. Bold prediction: the Seminoles will never enter the red zone. I'll be watching the FSU Basketball game against Rice instead, and I'd encourage others to join.

Notre Dame 45, Florida State 6

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