After Memphis drops FSU to 0-3, Mike Norvell is looking Willie Taggart-like
Ever since coach Mike Norvell showed up in Tallahassee to rebuild the Florida State program, he has talked about “The Climb” — that arduous process of scaling the mountain to get to the peak of college football.
The Climb has now officially become “The Fall” after Saturday’s 20-12 loss to Memphis dropped the sagging, sinking Seminoles to 0-3.
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How is this even possible? How can the long and demanding climb turn into such a quick and devastating plummet?
In fact, perhaps the Seminoles should tear a page from the rival Florida Gators’ tradition of playing a Tom Petty tune over the loudspeakers during the fourth quarter of their games.
Free Fallin’ would be my recommendation.
Sing along, everybody:
“I’m gonna free fall out into nothing.
I’m going to leave this world for a while.”
The Seminoles have certainly left the world we all thought they would be inhabiting this season. After winning 10 games two years ago and going 13-0 during the regular season last year, many of us believed Norvell’s Seminoles had reached elite-level status — that position in which programs don’t rebuild after losing 10 players to the NFL draft; they just reload.
Instead, the Seminoles have collapsed right before our very eyes. Chief Osceola’s flaming spear has turned into a soggy matchstick. It’s not just that they’re 0-3; it’s that they have lost to three teams — Georgia Tech, Boston College and now Memphis — that were at least a touchdown underdog. Moreover, the Seminoles have had a huge home-field advantage in all three games — two in Tallahassee and one in Ireland, where FSU fans significantly outnumbered Georgia Tech fans.
And to make matters even worse, the Seminoles are being laughed at across the country and even within their own conference.
Even though this is a completely different FSU team, the national pundits are portraying the Seminoles as a bunch of intolerable whiners and acting as if this season proves that the College Football Playoff committee was right to leave the Seminoles out of the playoff last season. Likewise, the ACC is snickering because Seminoles are suing to get out of a league they think they are too good to be in. Quite frankly, the Seminoles look more like an AAC (American Athletic Conference) team than an ACC team. Memphis was in complete control of this game from the get-go, out-gaining, out-coaching and out-executing FSU.
My buddy and everybody else are asking one question:
How in the hell did this happen?
How did the Seminoles get so bad so fast?
How did Mike Norvell go from the new Bobby Bowden to being the old Willie Taggart in three games?
How did the Seminoles reach a point where they had as many turnovers (three) in the first half on Saturday as they had first downs? How did they reach a point of ineptness that they fumbled a punt because the blocker ran into the returner? How did they reach a point where the ESPN TV analysts were using phrases such as “bad football … stupid football … confused football” to describe the Seminoles?
Norvell’s program was supposed to be beyond this point, but it just goes to show how hard it is to sustain excellence on an annual basis. There’s a reason that very few programs (see Alabama under Nick Saban, Georgia under Kirby Smart and Ohio State under Urban Meyer and Ryan Day) have been able to record double-digit wins year in, year out.
Maybe the College Football Playoff committee was right in one respect last season when they determined that FSU was just not the same team without star quarterback Jordan Travis. Maybe Travis was more important to the team — and the program — than anybody realized.
Travis was in Norvell’s program for four years and was not just a great player; he was a great leader. In the past, Norvell has had tremendous success building his roster through the transfer portal, but it appears he missed on his portal personnel evaluation this time around. You might be able to acquire talent out of the portal, but you can’t always recruit leadership, cohesion and camaraderie.
Of course, much of the blame for FSU’s 0-3 record has fallen on transfer quarterback DJ Uiagalelei even though it’s certainly not all his fault. He hasn’t gotten much help from his offensive line, his receivers or his defense. Yes, Uiagalelei has been erratic (16-of-30 for 201 yards with no touchdowns and one interception on Saturday), but his run game (24 carries for 37 yards against Memphis) has been non-existent and his offensive line is like a turnstile.
“The closer you get to the tip of the mountain, the steeper it gets,” Norvell told ESPN earlier this week. “You miss a step, and it can be a tumble.”
Sorry, Coach, but this is more than just a tumble.
This is a free fall. Out into nothing.
