Robert Craft
Who’s Next?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
So how good is the UCF Head Coaching job? What names could get in the mix? Here is a breakdown of the job and the potential names to watch.
Jamey Chadwell (Liberty) is 57-17 as a full-time head coach, including a 21-4 run with the Flames.
The 47-year-old Tennessee native ran one of the most entertaining offenses in the country at Coastal Carolina, which seems like a good fit for UCF’s modern, up-tempo brand. Chadwell has never worked at a Power 4 program.
Scott Frost is beloved at UCF after going 13-0 in his second season. But he never had a winning record, with his 16-31 stint at Nebraska, and history suggests that these coaching sequels never live up to the standard of the original, and rarely go well.
G.J. Kinne (Texas State) was Malzahn’s co-offensive coordinator at UCF in 2021. The 36-year-old Texas native also fits the Knights’ identity.
Kinne led Incarnate Word to the FCS semifinals in 2021, and his 15-10 record with the Bobcats earned him a contract extension in November. Is changing jobs a viable option?
Joey Halzle (Tennessee OC) is another former UCF assistant; he spent two seasons under Heupel and followed him to the Vols.
The 38-year-old California native has had success as a quarterbacks coach, tutoring Hendon Hooker and Nico Iamaleava, among others.
Ryan Silverfield (Memphis) overcame a bumpy start to his tenure and is 20-5 over the past two seasons.
The former Mike Norvell assistant has Florida ties. The 44-year-old is from Jacksonville and spent two years with UCF as a graduate assistant. His offense has ranked in the top 25 in scoring in each of the past three years.
Barry Odom(UNLV) was in consideration the last time and had the Rebels in the Mountain West title game. But the former Missouri head coach has a defensive background, and UCF has a much stronger offensive identity.
Will Stein(Oregon OC) leads a top-20 offense for a national championship contender. He’s also the position coach for former UCF star Dillon Gabriel, a potential Heisman Trophy finalist.
A deep Playoff run could complicate the timing for the 35-year-old Kentucky native.
Charlie Weis Jr. (Ole Miss OC) is a future head coach, but is he ready for a Power 4 job at age 31? He has familiarity in the state with stints at South Florida and Florida Atlantic and briefly overlapped with Mohajir at Kansas (when Mohajir was an administrator and Weis Jr. was a manager on the football team coached by Weis Sr.).
JON SUMRALL (TULANE) will be one of the hottest coaching names on the carousel. In two seasons at Troy he won 23 games and led the Trojans to two straight Sun Belt titles.
At Tulane this season he led the Green Wave to the American Athletic Conference title game.
Sumrall is expected to be choosy if he decides to leave the Green Wave (he was once a defensive assistant there and wanted to return to New Orleans).
An opportunity to coach in a power conference with a team building to win might be hard to pass up.
In Conclusion: UCF is the fourth major program sitting in the center of one of the most talent-laden states in the country.
The Knights have a clear identity (modern, fast) to sell to recruits. They are new to the Power 4, and it’s fair to wonder if fans’ enormous expectations (buoyed by the undefeated season/national title from 2017) are attainable immediately.
Regardless, there’s great potential for eventual success in a Big 12 that lacks heavyweight, championship bound programs.
Gus Bus Leaves
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Gus Malzahn is resigning after four seasons as the head coach at UCF.
He will become the offensive coordinator at Florida State University, multiple sources with knowledge of the hiring have confirmed.
Malzahn, 59, went 28-24 with the Knights. After two nine-win seasons in the AAC, UCF fell to 10-15 in its first two years in the Big 12.
UCF finished 4-8 in 2024, ending the season with a 28-14 loss at home to Utah.
Malzahn and Florida State coach Mike Norvell have known each other for almost 20 years. Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Tulsa when he heard about Norvell through a friend.
Malzahn hired Norvell (then a graduate assistant at Central Arkansas) as a GA with the Golden Hurricanes before the 2007 season. Norvell rose the ranks after Malzahn left to become an assistant at Auburn.
Malzahn will be taking over a Florida State offense that heads into its season-finale against Florida, and they are ranked 131st nationally in both yards per game and points per game.
Malzahn is 105-62 in 13 seasons as an FBS head coach with one season at Arkansas State and eight at Auburn.
The Arkansas native went 68-35 at Auburn, with a BCS championship game appearance in 2013, his first season as head coach.
He never had a losing record there and went 3-5 against Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide teams in the Iron Bowl, but he was let go after the 2020 season, with the school paying a then-record $21.5 million buyout to get rid of him.
Malzahn was also a successful offensive coordinator in the SEC, first at Arkansas and then at Auburn, helping Cam Newton and the Tigers win a national title in 2010.
UCF athletic director Terry Mohajir rushed in as soon after Malzahn was let go by Auburn, a splashy move to replace Josh Heupel after he left for Tennessee.
Malzahn seemed invigorated by the new challenge. He bought into the branding and underlying idea that UCF was the future of college football as a growing program in the center of one of the nation’s biggest football states.
Malzahn’s 2024 recruiting class was the best in program history, finishing 39th in the 247Sports Composite.
His staff fended off one of Florida to sign defensive lineman John Walker, the nation’s No. 95 overall prospect and the top recruit in program history.
Even during two seasons in the AAC, UCF failed to meet the elevated expectations of a program that went to back-to-back New Year’s Six Bowls in 2017 and 2018 under Scott Frost and Heupel.
The Knights went 18-9 his first two seasons, losing the American title game in 2021 before beating Florida in the Gasparilla Bowl.
All three former AAC schools, including Houston and Cincinnati, have struggled to win since entering the Big 12.
UCF had the best first season by reaching a bowl game. But the Knights had one of the season’s biggest collapses when they blew a 28-point second-half lead to Baylor in their first Big 12 home game.
Year 2 was expected to bring solid results with Arkansas transfer KJ Jefferson, a promising match for Gus’s offense.
Instead, it brought a quarterback carousel ,a midseason firing of Defensive Coordinator Ted Roof, Malzahn handing off play-calling to offensive coordinator Tim Harris, and several close losses that could have flipped the season.
UCF issued the following statement: “We would like to thank coach Malzahn for his contributions to our football program over the past four seasons, including our transition into the Big 12 Conference. We appreciate his professionalism and dedication to our student-athletes throughout his tenure at UCF and wish he and his wife, Kristi, the very best in their future endeavors.”
Malzahn had three years left on a contract that would have paid him about $5.5 million annually.
Staying Alive
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Which teams control their destiny to make the Playoff?
Right now, it feels there are about 20 of them, and it’s making for some great angst and drama.
Everyone from No. 1 Oregon (which is already in at this point) through No. 8 Miami (which would win the ACC) is safely in if they don’t lose another game.
Ditto these teams that will win their conference and an automatic berth if they win out: No. 13 SMU (ACC), No. 14 BYU (Big 12), No. 15 Texas A&M (SEC), No. 16 Colorado (Big 12) and No. 21 Arizona State (Big 12).
So, that’s 13. But let me address some of the ones I left out.
No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 10 Georgia , the final two at-large teams, are seemingly close but could get caught up in some weird SEC tiebreaker math.
If nothing else, Texas A&M winning the SEC and supplanting Texas as the highest-ranked SEC team would bump everyone else down a rung. Or either Ole Miss or Georgia makes the title game, loses and then drops too far to remain an at-large team. (This would be painfully dumb, but I wouldn’t rule it out.) But hey, at least No. 7 Alabama has some breathing room in that scenario.
I initially planned to put No. 12 Boise State in the group above but realized No. 19 Army could well pass the Broncos for the Group of 5 berth if the Black Knights beat Notre Dame, Tulane and remain undefeated.
And I don’t think it’s possible both would finish above an 11-2 Big 12 champ. Probably neither will. That’s why I’m comfortable including Arizona State in that pool.
So, it’s 13 that control their destiny and, by my count, 23 that still hold at least a glimmer of hope the 17 I mentioned- plus No. 11 Tennessee, No. 17 Clemson (can win the ACC), No. 18 a South Carolina (slim at-large hopes), No. 20 Tulane (G5), No. 22 Iowa State (can win the Big 12) and No. 24 UNLV (G5).
Twenty-three teams with a shot with three weeks to go. Last year at this same point, there were eight.
My question is should head-to-head play a factor?
Because head-to-head is not as simple as Team A beat Team B. Was the game close or a blowout? The latter is harder to overlook. Did Team B lose at home or on the road? Losing at home is less excusable.
And most importantly, in the context of their larger seasons, did this result fit with what the teams did the rest of the year, or was it wildly out of character? One game shouldn’t automatically void the other 11.
I was mildly surprised the committee held Texas’ Week 2 road win over Alabama last season so sacrosanct given it happened so early in the season, but it felt it couldn’t include the Tide in the final four without having the Horns one spot above them.
And now this season, you’re seeing it with the way it carefully ordered Alabama-Ole Miss-Georgia. (BYU/SMU, not so much.)
But I can think of one possibility that would be an absolute nightmare for the committee.
Say Notre Dame beats Army this week but loses to USC to finish 10-2. The Irish are out, right?
Except, what if Texas A&M beats Texas to advance to the SEC Championship Game, loses that game on a last-second field goal and finishes 10-3? Greg Sankey will lose his mind if the committee keeps the Aggies out because they played a 13th game but surely they cannot put 10-win A&M in and leave out 10-win Notre Dame that won in College Station, right? It’s the same scenario as Texas-Alabama last year.
Either both would be in or neither would be in.
Buckle up it’s gonna be an exciting last two weeks of college football. Let’s see what happens!
All Bark?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
If anyone’s wondering how important Georgia’s showdown against Tennessee is on Saturday, let me tell you.
Win, and all is OK, full steam ahead to the College Football Playoffs and perhaps even a National Championship.
Lose, this season is set, but not in a good way.
It’s not ideal for any team to lose football games, but it happens. It’s much less ideal to try to clean up two viral messes from that loss. It’s even less ideal to field a question about whether to change quarterbacks.
The first viral moment: Carson Beck, starting and beleaguered quarterback, was spotted smiling on the bench as he spoke with backup quarterback Jaden Rashada during the fourth quarter of Georgia’s 28-10 loss to Ole Miss (UGA’s largest point margin loss in five years).
The visual was seized as a symbol of what’s wrong with Beck and perhaps the entire Bulldog football team.
The optics were poor and out of context: Harlen Rashada, Jaden’s father, posted, showing the moment before, Beck not smiling, Jaden Rashada telling him something that made him laugh.
Here the internet had birthed yet another out-of-context viral moment.
Beck’s on-field play has noticeably regressed. The easy excuse is he wasn’t focused during the offseason, between his Lambo and his personal life. Beck told me in the spring he wasn’t working any less, he was taking time to enjoy life after four years of hard work, which he certainly had earned.
We have seen many young athletes enjoy their life as a college student, and still thrive on the field.
It also feels invalid to attribute the offensive troubles to Beck’s leadership. He’s never been a rah-rah quarterback, and Stetson Bennett wasn’t either.
The difference might be the leaders around Beck. Nobody appears to have filled the void left by center Sedrick Van Pran. There isn’t an obvious alpha personality on the other side of the ball the way this year’s defense has Jalen Walker.
But the defense shouldn’t be absolved of blame, either. It came up huge in the wins over Texas and Clemson but also gave up big plays at Ole Miss, started soft against Alabama and has earned a reputation of inconsistency, ranking eighth in the SEC in defensive yards per play.
It’s not like a great defense is being wasted. A ton of world-class athletes on defense aren’t playing to their potential. Luckily for them, there’s still time. There’s still time for the whole team.
In the wide scope of this season, going 10-2 with this schedule is perfectly acceptable.
The focus then moves to how Georgia performs in the Playoff, where pressure still waits, but the minimum threshold of making the dance has been hit.
Missing the Playoff, meanwhile, would in the kindest interpretation mean that Georgia was a flawed team undone by a brutal schedule.
The harsher takeaway would be that the schedule exposed a team that isn’t very good and the program has work to do this offseason to get back to status.
Even then, perspective is needed. This is a program that has won two of the past three national championships, then fell short but still went 13-1. If anyone has earned leeway to slip its Georgia.
If any coach has shown he can adapt and make needed changes, it’s Smart. Panicky fans need to touch grass.
Georgia may feel a lot better after Saturday. Through these years of winning Smart has loved to say that “humility is a week away.” Well, humility is here, and so is the chance for redemption.
SEC Dominance
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Kirby Smart wrapped up practice Tuesday at The University of Georgia. The College Football Playoff rankings just released, naturally interviewers asked Smart if the expanding field to 12 this year changed his curiosity.
“I could care less,” Smart said. “Because what is a quality win and a quality loss right now; they’ve been known to change their mind before it comes.”
The format may be different and the field may be bigger, but Georgia has experienced this before. Texas did last year. Tennessee did two years ago. Alabama and LSU have plenty of experience with it. At this point, everyone knows the deal by now.
Smart and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey may not love Georgia’s rank at third, behind two Big Ten teams, while the Bulldogs are second in the AP and coaches polls.
There are seven SEC teams in the top 25, by far the most of any conference (in second place: the Big Ten. With four). That’s an important note for a couple of reasons:
With four in the top 12 (Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama) and a few in striking distance (No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 15 LSU, No. 16 Ole Miss), this sets up more SEC teams to make the playoffs in the future.
Second, more SEC teams will have more chances for ranked wins, or their ranked losses might not seem as bad to the rankings.
Georgia bought itself a lot of room with its win at Texas, giving it a second ranked win, and its only loss came at Alabama. It would seem the Bulldogs need only get a split of the next two games at Ole Miss and Tennessee and they would be in. Even if UGA lost both games, they would have an argument.
Texas and Tennessee also have one loss but a little less leeway.
Texas is clearly in if they win out, although losing at Texas A&M in the regular-season finale would make things dicey.
The Longhorns don’t have a win over any team in the Top 25. Vanderbilt, ranked in the AP, didn’t make the CFP rankings.
Tennessee is all set if they win out because an 11-1 record with a win at Georgia is a strong argument.
If The Vols are competitive at Georgia and lose, 10-2 with two road losses but a win against Alabama may be enough to get it done. Of course, the regular-season finale at Vanderbilt isn’t a sure win.
Texas A&M, meanwhile, is not in the field right now — 14th — but the assignment seems straightforward: Win out, including the Texas game, and the Aggies are close enough to feel good about their chances.
Important caveat: winning out is no guarantee; it depends heavily on what happens elsewhere. As Smart pointed out, the committee is known to change their mind.
Alabama at LSU this week: The loser has a third loss, which puts its Playoff hopes to sleep, while the winner is in great shape. But is the loser truly done and the winner truly in?
Alabama would have three losses to ranked teams LSU, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, if it could sneak into the CFP Top 25 with one ranked win (Georgia) and some others that might check off as good.
LSU may need this win more. It has a loss to unranked USC and the other to Texas A&M. Their best win right now is against Ole Miss.
Then there’s Ole Miss, which is almost certainly done if it loses to Georgia this week. But if Ole Miss wins, that would give it something a ranked win and winning out would mean a 10-2 record.
Still, it has a home loss to Kentucky, and other than the Georgia game, there isn’t much impressive on the resume. So, Lane Kiffin’s team would seem at the mercy of the committee and things falling its way elsewhere.
There are so many important games left and too many data points left to draw any grand conclusions. Nobody from the SEC is definitely in yet, and seven teams still have a realistic shot.
That number figures to go down after this weekend. The question is whether it continues going down over the coming weeks or the SEC ends up with a half-dozen candidates for only so many spots.
Stars To Align?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Florida head coach Billy Napier probably didn’t save his job by drubbing Kentucky.
But maybe he did enough in a must-not-lose game to think maybe, just maybe, there’s maybe a path to a fourth season for Billy.
The beatdown provided a dose of optimism that Napier can coach a high caliber team in the future, if not this season.
Injuries to veteran starters Graham Mertz and Montrell Johnson meant Florida had to start true freshmen at quarterback (DJ Lagway) and running back (Jadan Baugh) for the first time in program history. That duo sparked the Gators’ best offensive performance in years.
Beating Kentucky is a baseline expectation at Florida. It used to be, at least; the Gators won 31 in a row before Mark Stoops snapped the streak in 2018.
Stoops won his first two against Napier. No Florida coach has lost three in a row to Kentucky in more than 70 years (Bob Woodruff, 1948-51). Napier, compared to his expectations, merely avoided ignominy with a win Saturday.
Besides, the real tests are still ahead. The 4-3 Gators were off last week before the daunting, season-ending stretch fans have been dreading for months: No. 2 Georgia in Jacksonville, at No. 5 Texas, home against No. 8 LSU and No. 18 Ole Miss and at rival FSU.
In Austin, TX, in front of a stadium-record 105,215 fans, Kirby Smart’s Dawgs (6-1, 4-1 SEC) unleashed the most havoc-wreaking defensive performance of the season in a 30-15 win.
It got so bad, so fast for Texas (6-1, 2-1 SEC), trailing 20-0 in the second quarter, that Steve Sarkisian briefly benched starting QB Quinn Ewers for, only to go back to Ewers after two series.
Neither QB had a chance, given the Horns offensive line had no answers for Georgia pass rushers Jason Walker (three sacks, four QB hurries), Mykel Williams(two sacks) and Damon Wilson (one strip-sack).
Georgia may well turn around and lay an egg against Florida, but they can afford it. Kirby Smart will not allow the Dawgs to be flat in Jacksonville.
The Dawgs open up as a 17 1/2 point Favorite against the Gators.
Florida hasn’t played a team as talented on the roster as Georgia. The Gators will need the stars to align to have a chance at the cocktail party.
If Billy Napier can pull off a miraculous victory over the heavily favored Dawgs, he may be able to save his job for one more season.
Georgia just has way way way too much talent for this game to even be close. Also, this game is personal for Kirby and Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck.
To quote Clubber Lane from Rocky III my prediction is PAIN!
Georgia 47
Florida 20
Hall Of Fame
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The city of Jacksonville announced on Tuesday that Bill Goldberg, the former University of Georgia defensive tackle who helped the Bulldogs win three of four games against the Gators, will be among the 2024 inductees into the game’s Hall of Fame.
Goldberg will be inducted with Florida cornerback Fred Weary, a Mandarin High graduate, former Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Mike Peterson, and UGA cornerback Mike Fischer of Jacksonville, a Bolles graduate.
Goldberg was a two-time All-SEC player and lettered four years for the Dawgs from 1986-1989. He’s still ninth in Georgia history with 348 tackles.
But when injuries curtailed his NFL career after stops with the Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons, Goldberg dropped his first name and became one of the dominant professional wrestlers with a career of more than two decades that culminated with his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018.
Using moves such as “The Spear” and “The Jackhammer,” Goldberg was a five-time world champion in World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment and at one point was reputed to have gone on a 173-0 streak.
He wrestled competitively off and on from 1997-2018 and also has dabbled in mixed martial arts and acting. He appeared in Adam Sandler’s remake of “The Longest Yard” and was a contestant on “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Fisher, who began his college career at Furman, transferred to Georgia as a walk-on and earned a scholarship in 1978. He played on three Georgia teams that went 3-0 against the Gators from 1978-1980 and had an interception against the Gators in the 1979 and two in 1980.
Fred Weary played for the Gators from 1994-1997 and was on three winning teams against Georgia, including the two games that were played on the campuses in 1994-1995 when UF won by combined scores of 104-31.
Weary had 15 career interceptions to lead Florida, six in his senior season. He was first-team All-SEC.
Weary played six years in the NFL, for New Orleans, Atlanta and the St. Louis Rams. He had seven interceptions as a pro.
Mike Peterson, a Gainesville native who played high school football at Alachua Santa Fe, stayed home to play for the Gators and was on three teams that beat the Bulldogs in four years from 1995-1998. Peterson had 249 tackles in four seasons and also was first-team All-SEC.
Weary and Peterson both started for the Gators’ first national championship team under Steve Spurrier in 1996.
Peterson played in the NFL for 14 years, with Indianapolis, the Jaguars and Atlanta. He had 883 tackles and 19 interceptions. He is currently on the Florida coaching staff.
Blowing Out The Buffs?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When you’re trailing 28-7 early in the third quarter, typically you don’t think running the ball is a recipe for a comeback win. Unless, of course, you’re RJ Harvey.
UCF’s star running back carried his team to a dramatic, 35-34 comeback victory over TCU two Saturdays ago, finishing with 180 rushing yards and two touchdowns on a career-high 29 carries, plus a 29-yard receiving touchdown.
The Knights erased a 21-point deficit in the second half to open their Big 12 play with a win, The Knights are now 3-0.
Harvey went into halftime with a respectable 66 yards on the ground before shredding TCU’s defense after the break, ripping 114 yards,6.3 yards per carry to flip the momentum and score in UCF’s favor.
With a home showdown against Colorado and coach Deion Sanders on Saturday, Harvey finished sixth in FBS with 1,416 rushing yards in 2023, averaging 149.3 yards per game in 2024 (fourth in the country).
What makes UCF particularly dangerous is that Harvey doesn’t have to do it alone. Toledo transfer Peny Boone, Cincinnati transfer Myles Montgomery, and speedy senior Johnny Richardson round out arguably the deepest running back group in college football, with all four averaging at least 6 yards per carry. Add in dual-threat quarterback KJ Jefferson, and the Knights have the top rushing attack in FBS at 375.7 yards per game.
UCF lost five in a row to open league play in 2023, their first season as a member of the Big 12. The challenges of upgrading from the AAC to the Big 12 manifested into several late-game collapses, including: Kansas State, Oklahoma, and a 29-point meltdown against the Baylor Bears. Those Knights didn’t have the horses or swords to keep up.
Coach Malzahn worked to rectify 2023’s roster through the portal, adding 24 transfers this offseason.
“There’s nothing like experience in college football,” Malzahn said. “The more experienced team you have, the better chance you have to be successful. We have a lot of older guys who have played a lot of football.”
That experience showed up on the road against TCU. UCF’s defense tightened up just enough, forcing two punts and three field goals, the last one a desperation 58-yard attempt that sailed wide right as time expired.
Jefferson is still finding his footing with the Knights through three games, but when the team needed him to step up late against TCU, the veteran delivered, including a pair of 20-plus-yard touchdown passes to senior wideout Kobe Hudson.
The bigger issue last season, however, was a defense that wilted against Big 12 competition, particularly against the ground game. UCF allowed 4.9 yards per carry in 2023.
The current three-game sample isn’t enough to get excited about. They were best in the Big 12 with 2.5 yards per carry allowed in 2024, and the additions of players like Pace, Arnold and defensive linemen Nyjalik Kelly and Dayan Dotson have strengthened the defense at all three levels.
Is it improved enough to contend in the newly crowded and chaotic Big 12 race?
UCF gets their next chance to prove something on Saturday against Colorado, fresh off the Buffs’ Hail Mary overtime win against Baylor.
It’s still up for debate how much better this Colorado team is compared to their last place finish in the Pac-12 in 2023, but it boasts two game-changing talents in Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, as well as the Coach Prime effect: Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show is headed to Orlando, Fla., and the game gets the network’s 3:30 p.m. ET national spotlight.
It’s probably the biggest showcase UCF has had since ESPN’s “College GameDay” in Orlando in 2018.
These Knights will face more challenging in-conference tests against Iowa State, BYU, Arizona and Utah later in the schedule, as well as a short trip to Gainesville on Oct. 5 for a non-conference game that could kill Billy Napier’s tenure at Florida.
If UCF truly is good enough to compete for a Big 12 title, it should take care of business at home against a Colorado team that needed a last-second miracle to beat Baylor. The uniqueness of Saturday is an opportunity to burnish those bona fides with plenty of eyeballs watching.
UCF is a young Power 4 team with a lot of growth. Saturday at 4 pm, The Bounce House will be rockin and a large national audience will see UCF. UCF 34 Colorado 23
Sound The Alarm
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
How does a college football team win 13 games one year and turn into an absolute train wreck the next?
Florida State’s Mike Norvell — who signed an $11 million yearly contract extension in January to —is facing that question.
His Seminoles, picked by the media to repeat as ACC champions, lost to Memphis 20-13, last Saturday to become the ninth preseason AP top-10 team since 1950 to lose its first three games.
If that isn’t embarrassing enough, Norvell left Memphis five years ago to coach for FSU. Now, for the second time, the Seminoles have started a season by losing their first three games.
“I know what it takes to win games,” Norvell said after Memphis outgained the Seminoles 337 yards to 228 inside of Doak Campbell Stadium.
“I know what it takes for a team to go out there and be able to execute and play at a high level. We all have to do a better job of what we’re doing throughout the course of the week and challenge the players, challenge the coaches. Because we can’t continue to come into games and see things that absolutely are not a part of what we are and who we are.”
On one hand, this might be how good Florida State is without Jordan Travis , Keon Coleman, Johnny Wilson, and Trey Benson. A collection of leaders on both sides of the ball for last year’s Florida State team are now NFL players.
It took Travis a couple of years after leaving Louisville to settle into FSU’s leading role at quarterback. He earned the respect of his teammates through the struggles of Norvell’s first two seasons (3-6 and 5-7) before their success in the last two. Those Seminoles, whether brought in through the portal or homegrown, developed into a championship team and enjoyed playing together.
This collection of transfers and homegrown players do not look like they’re having fun, and the culture does not look good.
The offense is just awful. The first half against Memphis was a comedy of errors, and a parody of the program Bobby Bowden built 5000 years ago.
It started with former Alabama running back Roydell Williams fumbling on the second play and ended with freshman Lawayne McCoy muffing a punt after his teammate Quindarrius Jones was blocked into him.
It was one of three turnovers in the half, which included only 67 yards of total offense and three first downs.
You cannot blame Adam Fuller’s defense. The Seminoles have given up 24, 28 and 20 points in three losses.
The majority of the issues are on offense. Is it evaluation? Development? Belief in the system? Things are clearly not trending in the right direction.
Recruiting has been good but never great under Norvell. The 2025 class took several hits in recent weeks when two blue-chip defensive linemen decommitted. There could be more defections if the results on the field don’t improve.
Norvell’s press conference last Saturday ended with a fire alarm going off in the building.
Nobody at FSU is going to fire Norvell anytime soon with the amount of money left on his contract, but it’s fair to sound the alarms about FSU’s future after smelling smoke early on.
Excessive Force?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Dade Police and their conduct was “overly aggressive and violent” during a traffic stop with wide receiver Tyreek Hill on Sunday.
The Miami Dolphins’ statement Monday followed the release of body-camera footage of Hill being forced out of his vehicle and on the ground by police officers. Police stopped Hill minutes away from Hard Rock Stadium.
Hill was en route to the Dolphins’ game against the Jacksonville Jaguars when police pulled him over and ticketed Hill for a traffic violation.
Following the stop, police approached Hill’s car and after a brief interaction, Hill rolled his window up. The police told Hill to keep his window down, and after he did not fully roll it back down, one of the four Miami-Dade police officers opened his car door and pulled him out of the vehicle by the back of his neck. One officer put Hill face-down on the street to handcuff him.
During the detainment, Dolphins defensive tackle Calais Campbell and tight end Jonny Smith drove by and pulled over to the side of the road. Campbell was detained and cited for disobeying a direct order. He saw Hill in handcuffs and said it was “excessive force.”
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said in a news conference Monday afternoon that he was “very happy a guy in a situation like that didn’t feel alone.”
“It’s what you hope your team is comprised of,” McDaniel said about Campbell and Smith’s attempt to help Hill. “I’m very proud that they see each other as teammates and hold that in regard the way they do.”
The Dolphins expressed support for their players in their statement Monday while also calling on the MDPD to take action.
Following Hill’s detainment, Miami-Dade Police Department director Stephanie Daniels said in separate statements Sunday that she had requested a review of the incident and that one of the officers involved had been placed on administrative duties amid an investigation.
Following the release of the bodycam footage Monday, Daniels said the police department “is committed to conducting a thorough, objective investigation into this matter, and we will continue to update the public on the outcome of that process.”
Monday, the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union for police officers, said it “(stands) with the actions of our officers” involved in the incident:
“We have worked hard across all communities to bridge the gap between what people believe law enforcement should and can do,” the association said in a statement. “While we wait for the investigation to run its course, based on what we know, we stand with the actions of our officers but look forward to further open communication moving forward.”
McDaniel, who spoke Monday before the public release of the bodycam footage, said of Hill’s detainment: “It’s been hard for me not to find myself more upset the more I think about it.Trying to put myself in that emotion or that situation that they described emotionally and then knowing more than that. The thing that f— me up, honestly, to be quite frank, is knowing that I don’t know what that feels like.”