Like the last time the Florida State football team was on the road, the game came down to the final play.
Only this time it wasn’t Tommy Castellanos launching a desperate heave to Squirrel White in the end zone in Charlottesville. It was true freshman quarterback Kevin Sperry with a shovel pass to Gavin Sawchuk that looked – on replay – like it might have been a touchdown. The side judge ruled him short, though. The three-minute replay review did not overturn it, and the Seminoles lost to underdog Stanford 20-13 on Saturday night (Sunday morning on the east coast) in Palo Alto.
It was the fourth straight loss for Florida State, who remains dead last in the ACC standings heading into the bye week. And with that fourth straight loss, there’s a good chance the administration and the powers that be might be saying bye to FSU head coach Mike Norvell very soon.
The Cardinal (3-4, 2-2) were a 17.5 point underdog on Saturday night against the Seminoles, but led virtually the entire game. They lost their starting quarterback in the first half on a sack by FSU’s K.J. Kirkland, but still pulled off a 94-yard touchdown drive – aided by two massive FSU penalties – to take a 20-10 lead in the third quarter.
The Seminoles cut it to 20-13 later in the quarter and had plenty of chances to tie the game in the fourth, but kept coming up short. First, Castellanos was ruled short on a fourth-down run with five minutes to go. The same side judge that said Sawchuck was down on the final play of the game overruled the other side judge on this play and said Castellanos was short on his dive.
Then, on the Seminoles’ next drive, Castellanos was knocked out of the game on a personal-foul targeting hit by the Stanford safety and Sperry was forced to enter the action with just over two minutes left and the Seminoles with the ball at the Cardinal 40.
He dropped back four straight times, none with any success, and his fourth-down heave to Duce Robinson was incomplete with 1:10 left. But the Seminoles had all three timeouts and still got the ball back at their own 20 with a chance to tie the game or win it.
Sperry had a 15-yard run and found Lawayne McCoy for another first down. He took a critical sack on the next play and then was forced to heave a Hail Mary with nine seconds left. It was caught by Micahi Danzy at the 9-yard line with two seconds remaining. Robinson was then interfered with in the end zone, giving the Seminoles one untimed down from the Stanford 2.
That’s when Sawchuck was ruled down before the goal line, ending the game and possibly the tenure of Mike Norvell at Florida State.
His team not only lost for the fourth straight time this season overall, but it was also the ninth straight conference loss.
Florida State outgained Stanford 444-293. Robinson had four catches for 98 yards and Danzy had three catches for 106 yards. Castellanos, before he left the game, completed 14 of 28 passes for 242 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. He also rushed for 33 yards and the team’s lone touchdown on a diving leap late in the second quarter.
But even before being knocked out of the game he clearly wasn’t 100 percent and he struggled to find any real rhtyhm running the ball or throwing it.
Stanford managed just one first down after its marathon 94-yard TD march in the third quarter, but the Cardinal’s offense was still enough to get the win. Thanks mainly to FSU mistakes. The Seminoles were penalized a season-high 13 times for 87 yards in the loss. One of those penalties was a critical offsides on Edwin Joseph on a field goal attempt that wound up being wide right. Stanford scored on a TD pass — against Joseph — three plays later.
The Seminoles also got a delay of game on the first play of the game. And a delay of game on a 51-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter. They also had a false start on a punt and an illegal block on a nice return by White that backed them up to the 3-yard line.
It was mistake after mistake after mistake on Saturday night/Sunday morning for the Seminoles. And it made for another devastating loss for Mike Norvell.
Warchant.com provides just what passionate FSU fans expect: Market-leading coverage of Seminole athletics and recruiting.
Join the largest Florida State fan community and receive all the benefits that come with it:
Elite team and recruiting coverage of the program you love.
Exclusive video and board Q&A’s with Warchant staff.
Interaction with the most passionate Seminole fans across multiple board forums.
10% off all Garnet & Gold purchases while holding an active membership. Member exclusive discounts once a month at even higher savings.
Access to Warchant member benefits and giveaways at site events.
So much more!
SIGN UP: Join Warchant’s FSU Community for $1 today
Talk about this story with other die-hard Florida State football fans on the Tribal Council.