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.