After tonight’s performance, it is hard to argue that Mike Norvell has not mentally checked out of Florida State football. The Seminoles are sitting at 4-5, and it somehow feels even worse than when they bottomed out at 2-10 because this time they spent millions on the portal, opened the season beating Alabama like this was going to be their 2023 redemption arc. Now fast forward to Week 11, and Mike Norvell looks defeated.

“I was excited for what I expected to see tonight,” the head coach confessed in the post-match conference room following their third straight road loss. “There was nothing that came out of the practice that gave me pause of what would show up. I felt that the guys were going to go out there and showcase us, and like I said, there were opportunities, but we weren’t good enough tonight.”

From the moment the Seminoles stepped onto the field, the game seemed to follow a familiar and frustrating script. They started with a short drive, got the ball around midfield after a shanked punt, but when they reached the red zone, disaster struck: Tommy Castellanos fumbled the hand-off to Sam Singleton near the goal line. The ball went the other way, and instead of momentum, FSU got nothing. Then came the drops.

Early in the game, Ousmane Kromah had a pass hit his hands and go down. Later, Randy Pittman Jr. dropped one on fourth down deep in Clemson territory, one of many moments where the Seminoles were “so close” but just couldn’t finish.

Castellanos had his share of rough spots, too. He missed a wide open Squirrel White downfield, what should have been a splash-play busted. The Seminoles finally scored late in the first half with a 10-play, 75-yard drive, ending with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Lawayne McCoy, helped by a big fourth-down run by Castellanos. In the second half, Florida State could not keep up. And when the offensive rhythm could have built, it didn’t. Penalties, breakdowns in protection, and miscommunication all piled up.

On the defensive side, it wasn’t completely hopeless. The Seminoles held Clemson to six points in the second half and gave up fewer big plays than expected, but that alone doesn’t win games. They still allowed too many “others”: missed tackles, too-many yards after contact, busted fits that turned manageable drives into scoring drives for the Tigers. The kind of mistakes you can’t ignore when your offense is sputtering.

What’s galling is how little separation there was between what they should be and what they were. On paper, FSU had a chance: they’d recently put up a big win vs. Wake Forest Demon Deacons, they’d made the portal moves, and the expectation was renewed. But none of that translated when it counted. 

Finally, the stadium environment told the story. You had the Clemson crowd singing the Seminole war chant. That kind of reversal in your own stadium says a lot about morale. And then, there’s Norvell,  standing there after the game, visibly drained, probably even having thoughts of getting fired. 

Mike Norvell’s buyout

Several major college football coaches have recently been fired after tough losses, including James Franklin at Penn State, Brian Kelly at LSU, and Hugh Freeze at Auburn. Even Florida let go of Billy Napier after a win. Now all the attention has turned to Florida State’s Mike Norvell.

If FSU were to fire Norvell now, the school would owe him close to $59 million, according to his contract. The agreement says he must receive 85% of his base salary and bonuses for the rest of the contract. This year his base salary is $5.4 million, though he took a one-year pay cut before the season. FSU would also owe him part of that reduction if they terminate his deal. His buyout would be the second-largest in college football history, behind only Jimbo Fisher’s $76.8 million payout from Texas A&M in 2023.

However, FSU likely would not have to pay the full amount. Norvell’s contract requires him to look for another coaching job right away, and any new salary he earns would reduce what FSU owes. ESPN’s Andrea Adelson also reported that firing Norvell and his staff, including coordinators Gus Malzahn and Tony White, could cost the school about $72 million total. Norvell’s contract runs through 2031, and if FSU does part ways with him, the buyout can be paid either in a lump sum or through monthly payments until the contract ends.

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