The 2024 college football season started off with a bang. In what turned out to be an absolute stunner that came down to the final moments, the No. 10 ranked Florida State Seminoles lost to Georgia Tech in an ACC showdown.
A ranked Florida State football team seemingly had all the hype and favoritism on their side, being the 10th ranked team and a 10.5 point favorite. They were also coming off a one-loss season, which they had not let anyone forget, given their snubbing from the College Football Playoff. So, how did an unranked Yellow Jackets team hand them a season-opening loss in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday?
Someone has to shoulder the blame for this loss, as there are certainly plenty of fingers pointing around for the Seminoles football team right now.
DJ Uiagalelei still doesn't look the part
It’s just one game for DJ Uiagalelei, but it’s one game in his third different uniform in five seasons. Uiagalelei was supposed to be the heir apparent to Trevor Lawrence at Clemson, but that didn’t pan out, so he moved on to Oregon State last season. In Corvallis, under then-coach Jonathan Smith, Uiagalelei showed signs of improvement, but he was protected by Smith’s scheming and a solid running game that boasted Damien Martinez. Those types of protections may not be there at Florida State this season.
Uiagalelei still fell well under a 60 percent completion percentage last season (57.1), while having the fewest passing attempts of his career since his freshman season.
In Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech, aside from a late fourth-quarter drive that tied the game, where Uiagalelei converted two fourth-down conversions, he didn’t do much to ease the worries of those who doubted him. For the day, he completed 19-of-27 passes for a meager 193 yards, with another seven yards rushing. But his ability to get the ball down the field was concerning. After the first half, Uiagalelei had -0.1 air yards.
Uiagalelei was one of the top quarterback transfers to enter the portal this offseason, yet he still looks nothing like the replacement Mike Norvell was hoping for in last year’s quarterback, Jordan Travis.
Mike Norvell has placed too much emphasis on the transfer portal
It’s definitely a different era in college football, where everyone from coaches to administrations is figuring things out seemingly on the fly. Determining the best usage of the transfer portal is still a work in progress.
Florida State football coach Mike Norvell has put it heavily to the test since joining the Seminoles. It looked to finally pay off last season until Travis went down with a late-season injury. Travis and nine other players from last season are now off to the NFL, leaving Norvell hitting the portal once again for this season.
Florida State brought in 17 transfers this season to fill big shoes from last year. They could still pan out, but many are wondering if Norvell has placed too much emphasis on rebuilding his team each season with top transfers instead of traditional recruiting. Norvell and his staff have been highly criticized for their development of homegrown talent.
Where was Florida State’s running game?
One of the strengths of this year’s Florida State football team was supposed to be their running game. The Seminoles compiled just 98 rushing yards for the evening, in comparison to Georgia Tech’s staggering 190 yards.
Florida State had six rushers for the day, with transfer Roydell Williams being the most productive. He ran for 38 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. Almost a quarter of that came on one run of 10 yards.
Where was the Florida State defense?
Last year’s Florida State defense was considered one of the major strengths of the team. Not only did they let the Yellow Jackets run all over them—36 carries for 190 yards and three touchdowns—but they also couldn’t get to Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King.
Not once did they take down King, as they had zero sacks for the day. Last year’s team was sixth in the country in team sacks, averaging 3.29 per game.
The question now is, can this year's Florida State team recover? Anything that happened last year definitely can't be heaped upon after this first game upset.
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