Mike Norvell Ignores FSU Norms After Blowout Win as Gus Malzahn Breaches 25-Year Milestone

Florida State turned Week 2 into a statement, piling up 729 yards and scoring on its first 10 possessions in a 77–3 rout of East Texas A&M that tied a program record with 11 touchdowns and marked the most points of the Mike Norvell era. Tommy Castellanos threw for 237 yards and three scores, Duce Robinson posted 173 yards and two touchdowns, and the defense fed the avalanche with first‑half interceptions by Earl Little Jr. and Jerry Wilson. It read like clean execution from kickoff to kneel, the kind of afternoon that lets a team exhale and gather itself for whatever comes next.

Everything about the game day wrapped itself around Ethan Pritchard and his family, and that was by design from the first step out of the tunnel. Teammates and staff wore No. 35 bands and shirts, while Earl Little Jr. carried Pritchard’s jersey to midfield and led the team out with it as the crowd rose in support, a visible signal that the win was for someone who could not be on the sideline yet. Pritchard was shot in the back of the head while driving a family member home after a gathering and remains in stable condition at Tallahassee Memorial as doctors monitor swelling, according to his father and the program’s updates this week. The rituals were connection points between a locker room and a hospital room 15 minutes away.

Then came the moment that will live longer than the score. Addressing the team after the win, Mike Norvell said, “Ethan’s dad came to spend today with us. He told me other day he goes, this is where his boy wants to be. We got it done for him. We appreciate your strength, we appreciate your family, we appreciate your son. And we are gonna continue praying for him as a football family. And we thank you.” Mike Norvell said it with his voice catching, and then he handed the sledgehammer to Earl Pritchard to break the rock, the program’s ritual reserved for nights that mean more than a number on a board. The video shows the team ring tight, the swing clean, and the cheer immediate, an act that turned postgame into a promise to keep showing up for the Pritchards beyond a single Saturday.

Norvell had already put the week’s weight in public, visiting the hospital and keeping daily contact with Earl while telling his players exactly where things stood: “It’s a lot, not going to say it’s not… I try to give the players a daily update… He’s still in stable condition,” he said, noting limited visitation and the need to carry both hope and honesty in front of a young roster that cares deeply for its brother. That transparency set the tone for how Florida State moved through the week, from quiet moments in meetings to the pregame jersey and the wristbands that said more than any speech ever could. When a coach names the burden, a team can lift it together.

The rock broke, the room roared, and the night closed with something sturdier than momentum. There was a shared plan to keep praying, to keep visiting, and to keep a seat open until No. 35 can take it again. The scoreboard will fade into the season, but the family circle will not, and that is a better measure of who Florida State chose to be when it had the choice. There’s a bye to catch breath, then work resumes, but the most important part of the week will travel with them, hand to hand and day to day, until the updates get brighter.

A 25-year-old record broken

Under new coordinator Gus Malzahn, Florida State annihilated East Texas A&M 77–3 and hit a 25‑year benchmark by surpassing 700 total yards for the first time since 2000 before finishing with 729 yards of offense. The Seminoles scored on their first 10 possessions as Tommy Castellanos went 8‑of‑11 for 237 yards and three touchdowns, while Duce Robinson piled up 173 receiving yards with two scores in a one‑sided afternoon at Doak. Florida State crossed the 700‑yard mark in the late stages and ultimately closed at 729, turning a fast start into a historic finish in front of a home crowd that never needed to sweat the fourth quarter.

Field Level Media reported it was the first time since the 2000 Clemson game that the Seminoles eclipsed 700 total yards, putting a clean 25‑year frame around Saturday’s outburst under Malzahn’s direction of the offense. The production was strikingly balanced at 368 passing yards and 361 rushing yards, marking the program’s first game with 300‑plus in both categories since 2016 and underscoring how comfortably the attack operated at all levels of the field. Florida State also tied a program record with 11 touchdowns and notched the most points of the Mike Norvell era, stacking multiple historical notes on a day that was already about volume, tempo, and execution from the opening kick.

Malzahn’s spacing and tempo meshed quickly with a deep quarterback rotation, with true freshman Kevin Sperry and Brock Glenn adding three combined touchdown passes after Castellanos exited, a luxury that kept the pace intact as the lead ballooned. The Seminoles now hit a bye before hosting Kent State on September 20, carrying a 2–0 start and an offense that just put its name alongside a 2000‑era yardage milestone into the next phase of September. Whether through the drive chart or the record book, a 729‑yard day after 25 years without a 700‑plus game stamped this Florida State offense as both explosive and ruthlessly efficient.