How Florida State rose to the top of college football again

 

How Florida State rose to the top of college football again

The program he inherited in 2020 was not the college football behemoth of decades past. It had slipped in the final years under coach Jimbo Fisher and during the Willie Taggart era. The Seminoles were coming off consecutive losing seasons for the first time since the 1970s, were underfunded and had disarray in the locker room.

During his very first game as head coach, Florida State led Georgia Tech 10-0 at halftime. But at the first sign of adversity in the second half, the way it did the year before and the year before that, the team folded. Heads sagged, fingers pointed. Florida State lost.

In his 11th game as head coach, Florida State lost for the first time in its history to an FCS opponent, falling at home to Jacksonville State. Negativity swirled outside the program. Pundits wondered whether Norvell was on the hot seat in his first season.

Now, in his 38th game as head coach, he had finally beaten Clemson and put the Seminoles in position to chase championships again. It took a village: from Norvell and his staff, from the administration, from the guys who stayed and the guys who transferred in, from a quarterback who nearly walked away from it all.

"We've been through it," Norvell said. "We've been challenged. We've been knocked down, we've had to get up but they've continued to push. Those are the types of games where you've got to show what you can do in those moments."

Florida State -- 6-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country ahead of Saturday's game against No. 16 Duke (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) -- looks like a playoff contender for the first time in nine seasons. Here are six stories that explain why.

One player remains from the 2018 class: defensive tackle Briggs Jr., who could have walked away after 2022, but opted for a sixth season because he said he wanted to, "Come win it all." He did so after enduring seasons that ended in 5-7, 6-7, 3-6 and 5-7 again before going 10-3 last year.

"I respect the guys that stayed so much because they could have easily left and went to another school like the rest of them," DeLoach said. "I know it wasn't easy."

That is what makes their success in 2023 all the more gratifying for the players who chose to stay.

"I can't give out the sauce of what we do here," cornerback Renardo Green said. "We know this program isn't for everybody. The amount of work we put in, the things we did, the approach, we knew it was going to change. We didn't know when, but we knew. We were waiting on it to flip."