Florida State shouldn't surprise us anymore
Florida State lost to an FCS opponent for the first time in school history on Saturday night, when
Jacksonville State quarterback
Zerrick Cooper delivered a stunning 59-yard game-winning touchdown pass on the final play of the game. But watching the Seminoles lose like that should no longer be a surprise to anyone. Because here is the sad, honest truth about Florida State right now: This is a losing program.
Forget about all the history, tradition and national championships. Florida State entered this season off three straight losing seasons. Willie Taggart was run out of town after less than two of them, but Mike Norvell went 3-6 last year in Year 1, and now the Seminoles are at a new rock bottom on his watch. It is hard to win by playing losing football -- penalties, blown assignments and undisciplined play have become a hallmark in recent years -- and Norvell has not been able to fix any of that. Florida State made plays to lose the game on Saturday night (myriad drops, over 100 yards in penalties), and the coaching staff called plays to lose the game, too. It remains inexplicable that the Seminoles were not in a prevent defense on the final play, no matter what Norvell says.
Now, they head on the road to play a
Wake Forest team that always gives Florida State a challenge in Winston-Salem. But beyond that, Florida State still has games left against Clemson,
North Carolina,
Miami and Florida. Norvell had no answers afterward, saying the Seminoles would go back to work to fix the mistakes. But Taggart said all that before him, too. So did Jimbo Fisher in his final season (he left with Florida State at 5-6 in 2017). Until Norvell and his players can figure out how to play winning football, nothing is going to change. --
Andrea Adelson