The road for the Florida State Seminoles has been anything but smooth in 2024. The Noles are currently sitting at 1-8 and have massively struggled this season. Their only victory was back on September 21st against California. Since then, the Seminoles have been blown out in most of their contests, showing very little signs of improvement or direction. Last week they were defeated by 24 points to a mediocre North Carolina team, but that wasn’t even their lowest point this year. For the first time in school history, the Seminoles lost to Duke. You might think that Duke beating Florida State happened only on the basketball court, but this time, for the first time ever, it happened on the football field. It took Duke 23 tries to finally beat Florida State in football after the Noles dominated in their previous contests. This is just another example of how historically bad the Seminoles have been this year. The loss of players like Jordan Travis and Keon Coleman has played a role in the Seminoles downfall, but their laundry list of issues continue to stretch for miles. Their next game is against a hot Notre Dame team, so there’s no time for Florida State to stop and figure out what is going on.
Also Read: Keon Coleman tells recruits not to attend his old school.
Two Teams On Different Paths
If there were two teams that were headed on two very different paths it would be Notre Dame and Florida State. Florida State has been downright awful in 2024 after starting the season ranked in the top 10. Expectations were certainly high, maybe a little too high, based off the results of the previous year. In 2023, the Seminoles won the ACC Championship and finished 13-0 before being blown out by Georgia in the Orange Bowl. Florida State has lost quite a bit of their roster since then, but their 2024 recruiting class was ranked just outside of the top 10. Is Mike Norvell the issue in Tallahassee? Florida State fans obviously seem to think so. Norvell has been bashed constantly this season for the demise of the program. Fans have been screaming for the FSU leadership to buy out Norvell’s contract since their struggles began, and have continued throughout the season. Notre Dame, on the other hand, has been cruising since their upset loss to Northern Illinois earlier in the year.
The Fighting Irish are currently sitting at 7-1 and ranked 6th in the College Football Playoff rankings. Their current standing seemed unlikely following their stunning loss to the Huskies earlier this season. Notre Dame looked completely lost and average at times in the early part of 2024, but those struggles are now ancient history. Head coach Marcus Freeman has been the catalyst in this turnaround for the Irish. Things could have gone south very quickly for this team if it wasn’t for Freeman’s leadership. He used that terrible loss to Northern Illinois as a motivator for the rest of the season. His message was clear, do you really want to experience losing again? His team sure isn’t playing like it wants to lose again. Currently on a six game winning streak, the Fighting Irish are looking to make the Seminoles number seven. Notre Dame is currently 25.5 point favorites, which seems reasonable considering how poor FSU has been. The game being played at Notre Dame Stadium doesn’t bode well for the Seminoles’ chances either.
Finding That Husky Magic
Can the Seminoles find a way to duplicate what Northern Illinois did? First and foremost, the Seminoles will have to stop Riley Leonard. Leonard, who’s been on fire since the Northern Illinois debacle, could pose a major problem for Florida State’s defense, a unit that has uncharacteristically struggled this season. The Seminoles must also control the time of possession if they expect to have any chance of beating the Irish. The Huskies controlled the ball for almost 35 minutes in their upset victory of Notre Dame, so FSU knows time of possession is crucial. Brock Glenn has struggled this season at quarterback for FSU after taking over for injured DJ Uiagalelei. Uiagalelei was highly criticized by Seminole fans after he failed to live up to high expectations prior to the 2024 season. Obviously replacing Jordan Travis was not going to be an easy task, but Uiagalelei’s performance this year has been beyond poor. It seems unfathomable to think the Florida State Seminoles would be 1-8 after finishing 13-0 last season, but here we are. Perhaps, based off of how this season has gone, the Seminoles should follow Northern Illinois’ example if they plan on beating Notre Dame.
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