Florida State was hanging with rival Miami toward the end of the first half when running back Ousmane Kromah sliced inside near midfield. Even a field goal would make it a one-possession game and give the Seminoles a jolt against a College Football Playoff contender.
As Kromah cut, the ball slipped out with a poke from Miami’s Zechariah Poyser. The Hurricanes recovered. FSU’s scoring chance was over. Kromah lay face down on FSU’s midfield logo for five full seconds, then shook his head as he rose to his knees.
Another bumbled opportunity in a season full of them.
This Florida State team is not the all-out debacle of 2024, when the Seminoles collapsed from the preseason top 10 to 2-10. The 2025 Seminoles have a quarterback, Tommy Castellanos, who ranks third nationally in yards per passing attempt (9.7) and is FSU’s No. 2 rusher. They have offenses and defenses that rank in the top 35 in yards per play. They were good enough to beat one of the nation’s best teams, Alabama, by two touchdowns in the first game, putting them in the top 10 of the polls in September.
But they’re also flawed enough to lose to one of the worst teams in the Power 4, Stanford, in their last game for their fourth consecutive defeat. And now a program that started 13-0 two years ago under Mike Norvell enters Saturday’s game against Wake Forest with nine consecutive ACC losses dating back to last year and wins in just five of its past 20 games overall.
The continued struggles have put Norvell’s job in jeopardy and left former players in disbelief.
“There’s something not connecting,” said Karlos Williams, one of the key figures of FSU’s 2013 national championship run.
But what? And why?
After conversations with almost a dozen people connected to the program, some of whom were granted anonymity to provide candid responses, the answer comes back to the fatal flaw that doomed last year’s team.
“It has everything to do with recruiting,” said a person involved with FSU’s roster management.
The recruiting department has turned over at least 11 staffers since the 2023 blowout Orange Bowl loss to Georgia after the Seminoles were left out of the final four-team Playoff. The results remain rough for a program with national championship aspirations:
• Norvell has signed five of Florida State’s six worst recruiting classes of the modern era, according to the 247Sports Composite. None have finished higher than 12th.
• His six classes have included only 10 players ranked among that year’s top 100 national recruits. In the six classes before his arrival, Willie Taggart and Jimbo Fisher combined to sign 32.
• FSU has signed only one linebacker (Blake Nichelson) who was ranked among the top 50 at his position. Linebacker remains arguably the defense’s weakest spot.
• Norvell has lost his top-ranked commit in five consecutive classes, including Georgia starting defensive back KJ Bolden. Projected first-round pick Keldric Faulk got away, too, flipping to Auburn, and Norvell earned a late visit from superstar receiver Jeremiah Smith but couldn’t keep him from signing with Ohio State.
“We lose out on every single big recruit,” said Jacobbi McDaniel, a defensive lineman on the 2013 title team. “How is that possible? You’re in Year (6). This is your prime.”
Tommy Castellanos and FSU beat Alabama on Aug. 30, but now the Seminoles are 3-4 and the Crimson Tide are ranked No. 4. (Butch Dill / Getty Images)
Fallow recruiting classes forced the Seminoles to lean into the transfer portal; three-fourths of their starts (115 of 154) are from transfers. Given Norvell’s previous success in the portal — his 2023 ACC champions had transfer stars like Jared Verse and Trey Benson — that’s not inherently bad. But the ’23 team was full of multiyear portal pickups (like Verse, Benson and Jordan Travis). This one isn’t.
In the 2023 game against Miami, the Seminoles’ starters combined for 40 previous seasons of FSU experience. Only seven were new to the program. In FSU’s loss to Miami earlier this month, the Seminoles’ starters had only 16 seasons of FSU experience. Thirteen were newcomers, including four on the offensive line.
The lack of continuity on the roster and on the staff (Norvell replaced both coordinators this offseason with Gus Malzahn on offense and Tony White on defense) can have on-field effects. Norvell and White both said players were hesitant at times in the loss to Pittsburgh.
“The guys they brought in were for a scheme they’re not running now,” said a second person involved with FSU’s roster management.
The turnover has also led to questions about the program’s intangibles. Two former Norvell starters, Kalen DeLoach and Robert Cooper, wondered aloud on their recent podcast why more teammates didn’t rush to Castellanos’ defense after he was knocked out of the Stanford game on a hit that drew a targeting penalty.
McDaniel said a program’s foundation shows up in moments like last month’s Friday night road game against a good but less talented Virginia team. FSU fell behind 14-0 and lost in double overtime. Two people involved with FSU’s roster management said Norvell’s messaging has stopped resonating with players as confidence wanes and losses mount.
Williams said he sees a team devoid of pride.
“I feel like we’re the place where people get paid,” said Williams, whose fake punt helped spark FSU’s comeback win over Auburn for the 2013 title. “I don’t see it. I don’t see the product of what we’re paying.”
Although player compensation figures are hard to track and verify, most agents say Florida State’s budget is competitive. Its roster ranks 19th in 247Sports’ Team Talent Composite, which is based on players’ recruiting ratings. Even if that’s not good enough to compete for a College Football Playoff appearance, it can’t justify losses to Pitt (No. 56) led by freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel in his first road start or Stanford (No. 46) as a three-score favorite.
FSU’s problems have differed every defeat, making a fatal flaw hard to pin down: unfortunate turnover luck and shaky defense at Virginia, inferior talent against Miami, piled-up injuries and an inability to stop Heintschel against Pitt, disastrous penalties at Stanford. Regardless of the causes, the trend is concerning. From 1976-2019, FSU never lost four consecutive games; Norvell has now done so three times since taking over in 2020.
A program that had 41 consecutive winning records is now trying to avoid a sixth losing record in eight seasons.
“One loss shouldn’t turn into two losses or three,” one NIL agent said. “But that’s what’s happened here.”
The Stanford defeat — Norvell called it “beyond disappointing” afterward and “unexcusable” last week — changed the discussion around the coach’s future. Florida State had as many penalties (13) as points while losing to an interim coach in a half-empty stadium. One of those penalties, an offside call, helped Stanford turn a field goal into a touchdown and left Norvell fuming at third-year defensive back Edwin Joseph.
The result was discouraging enough that athletic director Michael Alford had to put out a statement in its aftermath promising a “comprehensive assessment of the football program” at season’s end.
Please win some games and don’t make us fire you. pic.twitter.com/FKwhQw2Lfo
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoATH) October 20, 2025
A current assessment is complicated, beyond the finances of Norvell’s buyout (about $55 million, or 85 percent of what’s left on his contract).
Recruiting still isn’t elite, but if Norvell keeps its No. 13 class this cycle, it’ll be his second-best ranking. A winning record remains on the table. That would have seemed respectable enough in August, given last year’s performance, but that was before Florida State beat Alabama and the coaching carousel went haywire with the firings of James Franklin and Brian Kelly.
Although a 3-4 start is discouraging, all four losses were by one score. The details show a team that has not given up. After trailing Miami 28-3 entering the fourth quarter, the Seminoles scored 19 consecutive points to make it interesting. FSU trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter at Stanford and rallied behind backup quarterback Kevin Sperry before getting stuffed at the goal line on the final play of a seven-point loss.
“I know on the outside people may be questioning or panicking, but I’m not panicking because I’ve seen it, and I’ve been in it,” said DeCalon Brooks, a former FSU linebacker under Fisher, Taggart and Norvell.
Norvell isn’t publicly panicking, either. Despite his dejection after the Pitt and Stanford losses, he said last week that he continues to believe in himself, his players and his staff. The schedule sets up for a potential turnaround, starting with Saturday’s homecoming game against 5-2 Wake Forest before a visit to fellow 3-4 disappointment Clemson.
“The results are not where anybody wants them to be,” Norvell said. “But I do feel and I do believe that this team will rise up and overcome.”
— The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman contributed to this report.