Mike Norvell and FSU had one of the most disappointing seasons in at least their 50 years of history. What was more glaring was a team that finished undefeated in the regular season in 2023, went with just a single win in the season after that. However, this story is no secret now and has been in the media for some time; what matters now is how Mike Norvell can bounce back. So, to do that, he brought in Thomas Castellanos and Gus Malzahn for his offense. But before the optimism runs high, there’s a harsh verdict Norvell must face.

One of the reasons why Florida State had a historically disappointing season in 2024 was its playoff snub by the CFP committee. Despite them finishing undefeated, Alabama was considered before them, who lost a game, too, in that season. Of course, there was a huge controversy after the snub happened, and FSU’s AD, Michael Alford, called it a “grave injustice.”

The snub also led to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis committing $1 million to offset the legal fees, as FSU explored legal options against the committee. The lawsuit didn’t do much, and FSU had to move on from the setback. Now, 2 years after that infamous snub, the situation that resulted from that could also make a comeback for them in 2025.

FSU Insider TJ Pittinger sat on the ‘Crain and Company’ podcast’s June 18th episode and discussed the whole offensive situation for Mike Norvell. Pittinger highlighted some issues in the Offense and speculated that FSU will likely not involve Castellanos in the ground game in various less important games. The insider highlighted the Offense to dominate against teams like Wake Forest and Stanford. But showed reservations about their performance against Miami, Florida, or Alabama. This makes things tricky for Castellanos, as Pittinger speculated.

“Thomas Castellanos’s mobility will be huge. Right now, you’ve got to keep him healthy. That is certainly the risk and the scary part. If you’re trying to run him for 1,100 yards? That could certainly turn out to be pretty detrimental to your team’s success. I think they’ll be choosy; I think they’ll be picky when they run him. I would expect him to run a lot against Bama and then almost none against, you know what, East Texas A&M and Kent State,” said Pittinger. But why the caution?

After suffering from DJ Uiagalelei’s mistakes in the 2024 season, Mike Norvell brought in Thomas Castellanos from Boston College. The QB last year produced 2,248 yards in the air game and showed his physicality by producing 1,113 yards in the ground game, which makes him one of the most exciting dual-threat QBs in CFB right now. However, his past injury concerns make things tricky, and so, FSU will have to be cautious about him.

For context, last year he missed a game against Western Kentucky due to an undisclosed injury and also got sidelined against Syracuse due to a lower-body injury. So, the concerns are real, as Pittinger said, “The next couple of weeks, right, just kind of play smart and don’t have a Jordan Travis 2.0 situation happen against a bad team.” But how did we get here? And why FSU’s learnings from the 2023 season should be crucial?

Why is learning from Jordan Travis’s 2023 situation important for Mike Norvell?

The reason why FSU was snubbed had to do with the injury to their QB. Jordan Travis suffered a career-ending injury against North Alabama, and the Seminoles were left with backup Tate Rodemaker. The injury, however, didn’t result in losses in their other games, as they won even against Florida and finally against the Louisville Cardinals, winning the ACC. But the playoff committee? It didn’t agree and factored in Travis’s injury as the biggest reason for picking Alabama over FSU.

“Florida State is a different team than it was in the first 11 weeks. As you look at who they are as a team right now, without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic he brings, they are a different team and the committee voted Alabama four and Florida State five,” said CFP selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan about their decision to include Alabama.

While this whole incident might have been relatively calm now, the concerns for Thomas Castellanos make things tricky. All in all, Castellanos is a great player with a higher upside, but protecting him will be paramount. They do have players like Luke Petibon, Adrian Medley, and Micah Pettus coming in on the O-line, which looks promising, but Mike Norvell can’t leave anything to ‘hope’, and thus, the situation is important.