By Rock Westfall
The Florida State Seminoles have a very high opinion of themselves. For several years, they have made it clear that they KNOW they are too good for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Since getting snubbed for the 2023 College Football Playoff in favor of Alabama, Florida State brass, fans, and donors have spent nine months bitching and complaining about how much more valuable they are than what the ACC is paying them on the current TV contract, a contract they knowingly and willingly signed in 2016.
Florida State desperately wants to leave the ACC and enter the SEC or the Big Ten, where it is not wanted. The SEC already has the Florida Gators from the Sunshine State market, and the Big Ten still has a fetish for the Association of American Universities (AAU). Additionally, Florida State is not close to being a culture fit in a league comprised mostly of Midwest and Rust Belt schools that put on a façade over the importance of great academics.
On Saturday, the Seminoles were a 10.5-point favorite against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in their Week Zero matchup from Ireland. Florida State learned, in humiliating fashion, that they were too good for the ACC until they weren’t.
GEORGIA TECH UPSETS NO. 10 FSU IN CFB OPENER 👀🔥 https://t.co/N3UOfgZcvb
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 24, 2024
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The Wrong Team was Favored
Last year, head coach Brent Key led his alma mater, Georgia Tech, to a 7-6 record and a win in the Gasparilla Bowl. It was the Yellow Jackets’ first bowl game and winning season since 2018. Yes, the Ramblin Wreck got some help along the way, mainly from Mario Cristobal and the Miami Hurricanes, but they were improved enough to take advantage.
Despite that improvement last season, Georgia Tech has the justifiable reputation of being an ACC bottom-feeder. Thus, not many folks were giving them a chance against a Florida State team that went 13-0 and won the 2023 ACC championship. Certainly, the 2024 Seminoles are an entirely different team and lost most of their key contributors from last year’s epic campaign, but they are still Florida State, at least by brand and reputation.
Georgia Tech did not flinch against the graffiti-smeared FSU marquee and won the game 24-21 on a 44-yard field goal by Aidan Birr at the gun. The Ramblin Wreck outgained the Seminoles 336-291, chewing up and spitting out Florida State for 190 yards rushing and 5.3 yards per carry.
After FSU transfer QB DJ Uiagalelei led an impressive clutch drive, including two fourth down conversions, to tie the game with 6:33 remaining in regulation, the Yellow Jackets showed unflappable courage in setting up Birr for his walk-off game-winning FG.
Georgia Tech QB Haynes King is not fast nor a great natural athlete, but he is smart, cool under pressure, relentless, and steady. He ran for 54 yards and threw for 146 more.
On the game-winning drive, a botched snap caused a 9-yard loss for Tech, putting the ball on the FSU 43-yard line. But King hit Malik Rutherford for a 15-yard gain on the next play to set up Birr’s kick.
After the game, Florida State head coach Mike Norvell looked like he swallowed a grenade, which, in essence, he did.
https://twitter.com/ojhodgkinson/status/1827431090598113437
Not Good Enough to Win the ACC, Let Alone Leave
Florida State lost ten players to the 2024 NFL Draft, and the missing star power was noticeable. So, too, was a defense rendered helpless by the Yellow Jacket ground attack, crafted by Key himself, the former Ramblin Wreck offensive lineman.
"Run the ball." – Georgia Tech head coach Brent Keypic.twitter.com/yFuipSdv3a
— Action Network Colleges (@ActionColleges) August 24, 2024
Not that long ago, Norvell was on an increasingly warm seat but delivered the goods last year. The problem is that Florida State fans have no more and perhaps less patience than Florida Gator Fans.
Of course, the elephant in the room is Deion Sanders a former Nole great and school legend who will likely leave his current gig at Colorado by the end of the year, if not sooner. The media and many fans will be screaming for Coach Prime if the Noles go through a lost season, absurd and utterly illogical as that is. Also, working against Norvell is the ACC angle, which has made normally sane FSU people utterly wacko.
If Florida State invested the time and money into its program that it is instead wasting on lawyers and schemes to get out of the ACC despite having nowhere to go (perhaps the Big 12 is a lifeline?), it would be far better off than it was against Georgia Tech.
Florida State got a well-deserved heaping helping of bitter tasting humble pie and was reminded that karma is a witch in 12-inch heels.
This could be a miserable year for the garnet and gold, its fans and players, and especially Norvell.
FSU would be wise to focus on salvaging its brand instead of ACC’s exit strategies.
Perhaps the Big Ten would be interested in an excellent AAU engineering school who plays quality football and is located in the Atlanta megamarket?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Florida State, it’s that it will rationally process this loss instead of filling a lawsuit against the country of Ireland.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) August 24, 2024
