Mike Norvell on FSU Football's Historically Bad Season: 'I Am Shocked'

The Seminoles are headed to South Bend this weekend with a 1-8 record.

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The Florida State Seminoles seemingly stepped off of a cliff in 2024 after winning the ACC a year ago. The 'Noles are now 1-8 after last week's loss to North Carolina and are now set to go on the road to face another top-10 team in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

There are many questions about the future of FSU, as this season has been one of the worst in the last 50 years. Under Norvell's tenure, there have been a lot of records broken, most of them not being favorable. Florida State's first loss in program history against an FCS team came in 2021 against Jacksonville State. The largest margin of victory (or defeat in Florida State's case) in modern bowl game history came against Georgia last season, although there were some factors playing into the outcome due to yet another historic College Football Playoff snub.

Last week's loss to UNC was the first time Mack Brown had beaten FSU in any of his stops as a coach, and the list could go on and on. While the intention isn't to point out every flaw or misstep that has happened over the past five years, many fans are calling for a change, and staring at a possible 1-11 season has people in Tallahassee questioning where the program is headed.

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"It's been a really tough season, and, like I said, for our fan base, I understand the frustration. There's no fan more frustrated than I am," Norvell said to the media on Monday. "There's nobody pouring more into these players and this program than our staff. I watch the work, and has it been good enough? No, it hasn't."

Norvell and the Seminoles will need to take a serious look at themselves in the mirror to address some of the issues that have surfaced this year. Whether it is recruiting, evaluation, or off-the-field issues that have started to come to light, complacency, whatever the issue is, will need to be ironed out because the 'Noles have three tough opponents ahead with a very bleak outlook on whether they will be able to come home with a win at any one of them.

Norvell said that he was well aware of how this year's team has performed and that he is most certainly evaluating all aspects of the team. While not specifically saying that staff changes were imminent, one could only wonder what could be fixed to take the 'monumental' step needed to turn the program back around.

"I am aware of where we are and the things that have happened. Some of the things I have been evaluating throughout the course of the season and over the last few years of one, why did this happen? Why have we come up short? And what the issues are, and what can be changed or addressed that is going to allow us to take a monumental step this next year and the future of the program?" Norvell continued. "But what I can tell you is that there is going to be a change in what we've seen from this year to this next year."

Norvell went on to say that he was shocked at the outcome of 2024 and that he envisioned a different team than one with a losing record that takes two hands to count.

"I am shocked in where we are, and it was not expected. You look at some of the results we have faced and the circumstances that have shown up. When you go into a season, you have a picture in your mind of what things are going to look like. I'm not blind to it. Like I said, I'm optimistic but also aware of the challenges, and I knew there would be some," Norvell said. "I don't think we've handled the negative or defeat well or been able to bounce back from them."

Whatever the case may be, Florida State has opened up as a 26-point underdog against the Fighting Irish and will likely be headed into another bloodbath in South Bend this Saturday.

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