Florida State’s 2024 season has been a steep and painful decline from its championship-winning form in 2023.
The Seminoles, once ranked in the preseason top 10, fell to 1-9 after a staggering 52-3 loss to Notre Dame. Coach Mike Norvell voiced his disappointment, acknowledging how far the team had fallen from expectations: “This is not the result we expected… it’s a season full of results that make us sick.” With only two games left, the best they can achieve is a three-win season—a low they haven’t reached since 1975 in a full season.
ESPN’s Paul Finebaum called this fall “the biggest falloff in college football history,” noting how extraordinary it is for a top-10 team to spiral this dramatically. Florida State’s downturn contrasts even more sharply given that Michigan, the defending national champion, has struggled too but is managing a 5-5 record despite losing head coach Jim Harbaugh to the NFL. Finebaum stressed that Norvell’s performance fell far below expectations: “There’s no excuse for that… he’s lost all the goodwill he had from a year ago.”
In a bid to turn things around, Norvell took drastic measures, firing three key staff members: offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller, and wide receivers coach Ron Dugans. This shake-up underscores his intent to reconfigure the program for the future. Following a bye week, Florida State faces Charleston Southern and then hosts rival Florida in hopes of salvaging something positive to close out an otherwise bitter season.