By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The 2024 football season is underway and some teams have left us with more questions.

Florida State is one of those programs. I think we have to start with head coach Mike Norvell to see what the problem is with this program.

Norvell coached at Memphis from 2016-19 and his record was 38-15. He led the Tigers to a 12-1 record in his final season, which is why he was hired at FSU.

In his first two seasons, the Seminoles were 3-6 and 5-7. Things turned around in 2022 and they went 10-3. Last season they won their first thirteen games, which included the ACC Championship. They were snubbed from the College Football Playoff.

This is where problems with Florida State’s culture started to show. Over a dozen starters left the team after the ACC championship.

The #5 Seminoles playing the #6 Georgia Bulldogs sounded like a great Orange Bowl matchup on paper. UGA was also disappointed to not play in the CFP but their players chose to play in this bowl game.

We know what happened next, Georgia beat FSU 63-3.

“Well, the game mattered because we’re playing a game,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart, whose team set a couple of Orange Bowl records, including for point differential (60) and total yardage (673).

“As long as winning matters, we’re going to compete like hell at Georgia, it doesn’t matter what it is.”

That is an interesting statement by Smart; it seems like a jab at FSU because it is. Georgia has a winning culture so their players still played in the Orange Bowl, unlike Florida State.

Coming into the 2024 season the expectations were high at Florida State. They had the #4 transfer portal recruiting class in 2024. The class was headlined by former five-star QB DJ Uiagalelei. Uiagalelei played at Clemson and Oregon State.

Last season at Oregon State, he passed for 2,638 yards, 21 touchdowns, 7 interceptions and he completed 57% of his passes. He has not lived up to his recruiting ranking and he hoped to reach his potential in Tallahassee.

They had five players transfer in from Alabama: linebacker Shawn Murphy, running back Roydell Williams, corner Earl Little II, offensive lineman Terrence Ferguson and receiver Malik Benson.

The other notable transfers are edge rusher Marvin Jones Jr. (Georgia), wide receiver Jalen Brown (LSU), defensive lineman Sione Lolohea (Oregon State) and defensive lineman Tomiwa Durojaiye (West Virginia).

As you know, FSU lost their first two games to Georgia Tech and Boston College.

Both of those teams were unranked. This is Norvell’s third 0-2 start in his five seasons at Florida State.

They are coming off a bye week and will play Memphis this week. The question we have to wonder is, will this team implode or will they drastically improve the rest of the season?

I don’t think it’s possible to get much better. This should be Norvell’s last season at FSU if they lose any more games.