Florida State's once-promising season is slipping away

Florida State gave its fans some real reason for optimism when it opened the 2025 season with a stunning upset win over then-No. 8-ranked Alabama. On the heels of an astonishingly bad 2-10 2024 season, it was a huge boost for the program and perhaps a sign that the season would be different.

After blowing out East Texas A&M and Kent State to improve to 3-0, the Seminoles also found themselves ranked as high as No. 7 in the country.

It has taken three games for all of those positive vibes to be washed away. After Saturday's 34-31 loss at home to Pitt, the season might already be slipping away from them. Especially as it relates to their ACC conference chances.

Florida State has not won an ACC game in over a year

There were a lot of concerning things about Saturday's game against Pitt for Florida State. Not only did the Seminoles lose at home, they did so against an unranked opponent that was starting a true freshman quarterback in only his second collegiate game and first road start. And Pitt's Mason Heintschel mostly dominated them to the tune of 321 yards passing on 21-of-29 passing with two touchdowns, while also rushing for 64 yards on 16 attempts. They had no answer for him when needed. 

Even worse than all of that is the fact that it is already Florida State's third ACC loss of the season, dropping it to 0-3 in conference play.

It also extended Florida State's ACC losing streak to eight consecutive games going back to the 2024 season.

Florida State's most recent ACC win was a 14-9 win against California all the way back on September 21, 2024. That is more than a calendar year without a conference win. 

After losing their final five ACC games a year ago, Florida State has opened this season with conference losses to Virginia (currently the top team in the conference), Miami and now Pitt. The Seminoles have allowed 91 points in those three games. 

Florida State HC Mike Norvell back on hot seat?

It's not an unfair question to ask at this point. While a lot of it might depend on how the rest of this season goes, the bottom line is this is Mike Norvell's sixth season at Florida State. He's taken the team to only two bowl games and has three losing seasons in his previous five full seasons. If this season keeps on this current trajectory and they stumble down the stretch in the ACC, it's hard to imagine how he would not be on the hot seat. 

The remaining schedule looks pretty manageable on paper without a single ranked opponent on the schedule. But if the Seminoles had any hopes of playing for an ACC championship this season, they might be erased with a 0-3 conference record to open ACC play.