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Florida State’s recovery from last season’s playoff snub and historic Orange Bowl beatdown to Georgia is off to just as bad of a start.
Just one year after an undefeated season and being in contention for the playoffs, the Seminoles are off to an 0-3 start after a 20-12 loss to FBS Memphis on Saturday. Florida State paid Memphis $1.3 million to appear on their schedule this year as a buy game, and then lost anyway.
Then, after the game Florida State head coach Mike Norvell had to cut his postgame press conference off early after a fire alarm went off at the team facility.
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The fire alarm spared the head coach from having to explain any more of the grueling details behind his team’s catastrophic loss.
“We all have to do a better job,” Norvell said during his postgame press conference. “…We can’t continue to come into games and see things that are absolutely not a part of who we are show up. So we all have to prepare better… These guys have not stopped working.”
Florida State is now winless since it was infamously left out of the College Football Playoffs last year, with four straight losses.
Florida State Seminoles fans with bags over their heads during the game against the Memphis Tigers at Doak Campbell Stadium on Bobby Bowden Field on Sept. 14, 2024 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)
Florida State started the season with a heartbreaking 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech in Dublin Ireland a week before the rest of the College Football schedule started. Things got worse on Sept. 2 when they fell to 0-2 with a 28-13 loss to the Boston College.
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“I’m just sick to how the season’s started,” Norvell said after the Boston College loss. “In all phases, we were not able to execute. I obviously didn’t put them in a position to showcase what I believe this football team is, and it’s extremely disappointing. I apologize to our fans, I apologize to everybody associated with the program – I mean, that was extremely disappointing that we were not better.”
But both of the Seminoles’ first two losses came against more justifiable opponents.
But Saturday’s loss, which came off the heels of the team’s bye week, was more unexpected as it was a 6.5-point favorite.
Head coach Mike Norvell of the Florida State Seminoles huddles with his team during their game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Truist Field on Oct. 28, 2023, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Florida State won 41-16. (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
The Seminoles won’t have the luxury of playing any more opponents that they paid to be on the schedule any time soon either.
Their next three games will all be against ACC rivals, beginning with next Saturday against Cal, then a trip to new conference foe SMU, both are newcomers in the conference. The game after that Florida State will face longtime conference rival Clemson, which is looking to overcome its own struggles to start the season after a blowout loss to Georgia in Week 1.
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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
