Outside of those within the Florida State football program, very few people have been in Mike Norvell’s corner of late.
Just about everyone was when he won 19 straight games and led the Seminoles to their first ACC championship since 2014.
But after losing nine straight ACC games over the last two seasons — a truly unfathomable thing to happen at FSU — just about everyone understandably hopped off the bandwagon.
His players showed on Saturday that they didn’t, even if they haven’t always been playing in a way to make their coach look good lately.
They proved their belief on the field, running away with a 42-7 beatdown of Wake Forest to snap their four-game skid that felt like it was never going to end.
They also proved their belief in the postgame press conference, when all four players who spoke advocated for their head coach.
“The way he pours into us, the way he pushes us, after those losses with all the critics and stuff going on. … He’s blocking out the noise and continuing to push us. With everything that’s going on, we see it, and you don’t think we go through stuff. He’s the one that’s there picking us up and making us thrive,” quarterback Tommy Castellanos said.
“I hate all this stuff, all the, ‘Fire coach Norvell.’ Nah, nah, nah. Coach Norvell has been absolutely awesome and everything and more for us. I know you guys don’t see that. I know they don’t see that, but everybody blames the coaches, but that’s on us. Those four games have been on us. We have been put in positions to execute and win those games, and we didn’t. It’s not on him, that’s on us, tonight we showed, and I’m glad we got that done for him.”
Defensive back Earl Little Jr., who secured his fourth interception of the season in Saturday’s win, made an unprompted statement to defend Norvell before answering his first question, which was totally unrelated to the head coach.
“I want to give a big shoutout to Coach Norvell right now,” Little said. “I know a lot of people are against him right now, but that’s our coach. We’re going to continue to keep fighting for him. We’re going to continue to keep playing for him. We’re going to continue to keep pushing for him.”
Despite all the disappointment of the last four games with the Virginia setback, the Miami rivalry loss, the Pitt mess and the Stanford embarrassment, FSU announced a crowd of 63,677 fans inside Doak Campbell Stadium for Saturday’s win.
It may not have actually been that many — teams always announce tickets distributed — but it was certainly close and far more people than many expected.
Those who came largely seemed supportive of Norvell and the Seminoles.
The head coach expressed gratitude towards his players for delivering the performance they did in that moment.
“You just look up in the stands, and just seeing an excited, fun celebratory Florida State crowd, I know it’s been a
rough month leading up to this game, and obviously have had to face some disappointments, but like I said, our
players, they’ve been putting in the work,“ Norvell said. ”They’ve really poured into each other, poured into the staff. Our staff is continuing to pour into them. Just to see that show up tonight and to have a dominant performance, one that all three phases had an opportunity to make great impact, I just loved the joy that they had.”
Asked what those relationships with players and staff members have meant over the recent struggles and how much it meant to see his team deliver on this day, Norvell was visibly emotional.
“When you come up short in games, when your record is not what you want it to be, the identity is going to be put on display. I don’t just say it because it sounds good; (my players are) my heart. They’re family to me, and they said yes to being a part of this program, and we said yes to them,” Norvell said. “I think it’s a team that is very capable, and just to see them continue to try to grow and to be better and to go and showcase what they’re able to do, even with a lot of challenges and probably a lot of things on the outside that make it difficult in today’s age of college athletics. I think you see that across all of college football.
“That doesn’t change how I feel about them, and it definitely is never going to change what I’m going to pour into them to help them go and allow their identity to be put on display like it was tonight.”
Finally off the schneid and sitting at 4-4, an interesting November lies ahead for the Seminoles. They need two wins in the final four games to return to a bowl. Next week’s Clemson game, once thought to be potentially the single-hardest on the 2025 schedule, now looks far more attainable with the Tigers at 3-5. Then is a matchup with Virginia Tech, which is 2-3 in ACC. After that, if FSU needs another win, it’ll have to come in road games at NC State and/or Florida.
If the team is able to build off Saturday’s showing and finish strong, it could be incredibly beneficial in saving the athletic department from a Norvell buyout of over $50 million in a chaotic coaching carousel where FSU won’t be the best (or probably second/third-best) on the market.
The team is embracing the opportunity.
“It’s new November. Fresh start, I told the guys today, it’s a new November, 1-0. Fresh start of the season. We are going week in and week out. Continue to play great football and continue to keep fighting for the community, for the logo, for the fans, and coach.”