Calling it quits: Folding in second half in blowout loss to SMU, Florida State somehow finds new low in 2024

One reason SMU never made sense in the ACC is that its facilities and history pale compared to what a major conference technically has to offer.

Those fears became realized as the Mustangs opened their first-ever conference matchup in a less-than-capacity crowd that only seats 32,000 people. For an entrance, Eric Dickerson rode in on the back of a Mustang sports car as a pony, which looked like a stuffed animal, sprinted onto the field in front. It was little league and tacky, but it made sense for a desperate team that came into the conference for free.

Yet, somehow, Florida State took pathetic to a new level. They played like a team with no business at the top end of college football. Instead of bullying the new conference member, the Seminoles reached a new low Saturday night for their worst loss of a season already in the gutter.

Winning is contagious, but so is losing, and the rot within the locker room runs strong.

Some forget that FSU only trailed by half and received the kick to begin the third quarter. The pieces of a comeback, or at least a game, were in place.

Fans should have known better.

On the second play of the quarter, Kyle Morlock dropped a wide-open pass that deflected right into an SMU player’s hands for the second DJ Uiagalelei interception of the game. Three plays later, the Mustangs found the end zone.

In response, on the next drive, the offense committed two drops and two holding penalties in five plays for a virtual three-and-out.

The defense continued to melt down, somehow giving up a touchdown in six plays when SMU committed 20 yards in penalties. Everything they did well last week went backward on Saturday. If that didn’t sum up the quit from Adam Fuller’s unit, on the next drive, SMU scored a touchdown with yards gained only on the ground or from penalties. For the fourth time in five games, a team lined up, punched FSU in the mouth, and the Seminoles did nothing about it.

The stat lines paint an even bleaker picture of the horrid execution: 10 penalties, three interceptions, three fumbles, 3-of-12 on third down, and only 25 minutes of possession. While Uiagalelei threw for multiple touchdown passes for the first time this year, he went an inefficient 12-of-30 for just 222 yards.

Should I continue?

The worst part is that veterans made the mistakes, not the young players who need to be freed. Kyle Morlock created the second-half interception. Lawrance Toafili missed the block on third and goal. Darion Williamson committed the 15-yard face-mask penalty, taking over Byron Turner’s place for the dumbest foul of the season. Tonight proved what many did not want to believe: the problems are not just Uiagalelei. While Mike Norvell seems broken by the snub, the rest of the older players are, too.

Speaking of Norvell, what is going on?

His play-calling stinks. He used two timeouts because his team wasn’t set, he lacks creativity, and he lacks answers. At his post-game press conference, he seemed teary-eyed from my vantage point, yet instead of expressing emotion, he reverted to his usual coach-speak answers.

“It’s extremely disappointing. It’s embarrassing. Ultimately, we have to make a choice as a football program of what we’re going to look like when we get out there.”

Isn’t he the one who runs the football program?

“This program means a lot to the guys in that locker room. Unfortunately, we are not representing that very well, but we are going to fight to get better.”

Could he point to a specific example?

He came off dazed and confused for the second consecutive loss, somehow surprised at his team’s struggles. For those outside of the program, those would be understandable feelings, except he oversees the team. He gets paid $10 million now to find solutions, not to sound like the boy who cried wolf. His sayings are growing old, and his messages fall on deaf ears. Nine months ago, every fan boarded the Norvell bandwagon, believing he would be the answer to stick it to the CFP committee and be the next great FSU ball coach. While he is only 42 and will be around long enough to turn this around, he made an undeniable mess.

Norvell could trademark the word “response” with how often he has used it throughout his tenure, yet when his team needed it, nobody packed it with them. He built a roster with zero leaders that, when adversity strikes, redshirt freshmen are thrust into the role. His team quit on Saturday, a sign of a broken locker room, and as they jogged off the field, no one had any visible emotion except for some of the younger players being good sports, giving their appeal to the few remaining Seminole kids in the stands. It has been the same on-field issues (turnovers, third downs, and penalties) and off-field issues (leadership and emotion) for five weeks, yet he acts like these are new concepts.

The only thing new about Saturday was FSU finding different ways to embarrass, ruin, and quit on the program.

Three Thoughts:

1. Turning the ball over like it was going out of style

What makes this season so dumbfounding is that the issues did not come up during Norvell’s tenure before 2024. Each season, Jordan Travis steadily improved his ball security and only threw three interceptions in 2023.

On Saturday, Uiagalelei ran his interception total to six, just one behind the seven he threw all last year at Oregon State, and his fourth consecutive game throwing the ball to the other team. His pick-six sealed the fate of one of the worst nights in recent FSU history as his internal clock refused to go off in a timely manner. Of course, some of those are not on him; the fumble he miraculously recovered undoubtedly is. Two other Seminoles put the ball on the turf tonight, displaying a lack of care for it, just like their disdain for everything else. Along with three fumbles, the penalty by Williamson will not go down in the stat sheet as a turnover, but it should. Half of SMU’s points came off giveaways tonight as the Seminoles worked in tandem with the Mustangs to secure their victory.

Fuller’s defense took a step back in every category tonight, including their sudden-change defense, which allowed SMU to score a touchdown twice on separate occasions in under two minutes after a Uiagalelei interception. The lack of ball security ultimately circles back to Norvell in the increasingly long laundry list of faults he racked up this season. Florida State does everything that bad teams do, not surprisingly, and the issue of turnovers is only getting worse as the year wears on.

2. Young player report

As the veterans made mistakes left and right, the underclassmen tried to pick up the slack as best they could. While Edwin Joseph did not play his best, Norvell allowed him to carry the sledgehammer into the stadium. After Morlock one-upped himself for the worst drop of the season, Norvell gave more playing time to Landen Thomas. While Thomas did get called for a hold on his first play in the second half, he responded later with the second FSU touchdown of the game, making a nice grab on a back-shoulder throw in the end zone.

Brock Glenn also made his 2024 debut, and while it did not go as planned with an 0-for-4 showing, he may get more practice reps this week after Uiagalelei suffered a finger injury, which Norvell reported post-game. Most of these young guys are better than the veterans ahead of them, and with the team needing to turn the page to 2025, Norvell should do whatever he can to make them happy so they return next season.

3. Defensive disaster

Because of how poorly the offense started the season, their first-half execution, primarily through the air, looked more streamlined than at any point during the year.

But what happened to the defense?

On the game’s first drive, SMU marched down the field in 11 plays for 75 yards and a touchdown while converting 3-of-3 on third downs. Later in the first half, Shyheim Brown bit hard on a flea-flicker, leading to the second Mustang touchdown of the half. The defense continued to turn players loose as Jake Bailey hauled in a 39-yard pass with no one around him before Brown atoned for his earlier mistake with a blocked field goal.

For the second week in a row, the Seminoles allowed over 400 yards of total offense, but this time, Florida State did not produce explosive defensive plays to counterbalance. The defensive line recorded just two sacks in the first three quarters, as last week feels more and more like a fluke. The Mustangs rushed for over 200 yards on 51 attempts as Brashard Smith ripped them to pieces, which Jadyn Ott surprisingly could not do. Smith produced runs of 20, 17, 13, and 16 yards as SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee masterfully found ways to create chunk plays against this defense.

At least during practice during the week, these guys get into it with each other, but on Saturday, they flatlined. They attempted to play defense with no effort or energy, constantly letting ball carriers get to the outside or win contested catches, and paid the price.

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