Janice R. Andrews
It’s important to remember how badly Florida State was beaten at the end of last season, even if it means ruining months of therapy and bringing up old wounds all over the Florida Panhandle. In just a few weeks, Florida State went from having no losses to being embarrassed and wiped out. The Seminoles are doing their best to forget about that heartbreaking loss as they start their 2024 season on Saturday against Georgia Tech in Dublin.
“I like this group.” This week, Florida State head coach Mike Norvell said, “I like how this team has come together.” “I admire these young men for what they stand for and who they are.” Like I told them, you do all the work and build it up. It’s only a few games, but now you can go show it off.
The Hurtful Reminders of Last Season
When the Seminoles played the Georgia Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl in January, they were a garnet-and-gold grease spot on their shoes. This is the first time anyone outside of Tallahassee has seen them. Both the 63-3 loss and the Seminoles’ embarrassing absence from the College Football Playoff made it much harder for Florida State to get back to the glory days of Bobby Bowden’s national title teams.
There are two ways for a team to move on after this kind of bad loss: they can either look to the future or accept what happened. Norvell knows he can’t keep lying about how “poor us” all the time. For starters, a huge and important part of his team, beginning with new quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, wasn’t even wearing a Florida State suit at the Orange Bowl. Additionally, thinking about the bad things makes you feel even worse, right?
At the ACC’s media day in July, Norvell said, “Our goal this year is to go get better.” “Having a 13-0 regular season and winning the championship game was a really fun time for everyone in our programme.” What this does is set the stage and gives us the chance to keep pushing this programme to where it needs to be. In the history of college football, that’s one of the best teams in the country.
How to Use the Snub as Fuel
Another idea is to use the snub and stomp as fuel. Accept the pain. Don’t be rude.
Remember what it was like to be thrown away. In the weight room, put up signs that say “63-3.” anger at the College Football Playoff committee’s hasty and, to be honest, creepy decision to use the fact that former quarterback Jordan Travis’ season ended because of an injury as an excuse for not including him. Don’t forget that the goal is to take charge of your own life, not let a group decide what will happen.
There were many good reasons why Florida State shouldn’t have been in the playoffs. For example, the team that beat them badly in Miami had a strong case on its own. Also, when five leagues are all trying to get the same four spots, someone is bound to be left out. It was lucky for the College Football Playoff that it took ten years for that to happen. But rebuttals aren’t part of motivating speeches, so let’s not talk about that right now.
A New Playoff Scene
There are a lot more ways for Florida State to get to the College Football Playoff this year, which is good news. If there had been a 12-team final last year, Oklahoma, the 12th seed, would have played their first game against fifth-seeded Florida State in Tallahassee.
The on-ramp is busy, which is bad news for Florida State because no one is going to let anyone join. The Noles are the slight favourite to win the conference, but only by a hair. Miami is still very much in the picture. There will not be three teams from the ACC in the playoffs. In fact, based on how strong the SEC and Big Ten are, the conference may not even get one more team than the guaranteed conference winner.
Changes to the roster and the transfer portal
The Orange Bowl mess and not making the playoffs caused a lot of people to leave Tallahassee, and it’s still not clear how that will work out. In April, the NFL picked up 10 guys from Florida State. Travis was one of them. Luckily, he’s used to being let down since he went to the Jets.
Norvell was very active in the transfer market, bringing in Uiagalelei from Oregon State and 16 other players. This was different from his main ACC foe, Clemson. Because Alabama was said to be interested in Norvell, he signed a new eight-year deal that will pay him more than $10 million a year. This gave him job stability.
The Way Ahead
Will all the change lead to the same level of success? Still to be decided. This year, Florida State will have to fight its way through the ACC. They have to go on the road to play Miami and SMU (yes, they’re now ACC teams), and they have to play Clemson at home. It won’t be easy to make the playoffs with games against Memphis (at home) and Notre Dame (on the road), both of which are 10-win teams from 2023.
After that, the way is clear: no breaks, no gas, only wins. Florida State knows what can happen when choices that should be made on the field are made by groups.
The Seminoles have a chance to change the ending of their story and make last year’s snub into this year’s story of forgiveness. When Norvell and his team turn the page, they don’t forget what was written on the last page. Before they play in Dublin, they want to make it clear that they belong back among the best college football teams. Their work is the 2024 season, and they have all the paint they need to make a painting.
