Florida State’s weekend brought a little of everything: a football win, a pair of volleyball setbacks, a women’s basketball blowout, ACC honors for two Seminoles, and the arrival of a new athletic director.
The football team finally got back in the win column with a victory over Boston College, giving interim coach Rick Stockstill a 1-0 start in charge. He still has three games left to steer before the coaching search really takes center stage, but for now the Seminoles at least have some momentum again.
That same sense of momentum hasn’t carried over to volleyball. Florida State dropped a five-set match to California on Senior Day after stringing together wins over Virginia and Georgia Tech, then ran into No.
23 Stanford two days later. The Cardinal handled the Seminoles 3-0 in Tallahassee, marking the sixth time this season Florida State failed to win a set.
On the women’s basketball side, Florida State had a much easier time. The Seminoles rolled past Florida A&M, 101-42, to move to 3-0 on the young season and set up a November 15 matchup with Florida. Junior guard Tatum Greene led the way with 17 points and nine rebounds, continuing a strong start that has already included double-digit scoring in two of the team’s three games and an average of 7.7 rebounds per game.
Florida State got balanced production across the board, with Savannah Henderson, Sole Williams, Morgan Stewart, and Timaya Lewis-Eutsey all finishing in double figures. The Seminoles shot 51% from the field, and Stewart kept building her case as the team’s most reliable scorer, averaging 15.7 points per game after putting up 13 points off the bench against Florida A&M.
The women’s team is back on the floor November 11 against West Florida in the Tucker Center on ACC Network Extra.
The football win also brought individual recognition. Offensive tackle Xavier Chaplin and running back Amari Thomas were both named ACC Players of the Week at their positions after helping Florida State beat Boston College.
Chaplin, who has also spent time at Virginia Tech and Auburn, has been trending upward each week at a position that has been a concern for the Seminoles. He has become a steady presence as a starter and a clear positive for the line.
Thomas’ rise has been one of the more unusual storylines in recent Florida State football. He went from fifth-string running back to starter in nine games, with injuries to Ousmane Kromah and Samuel Singleton Jr. opening the door early in his college career. Against Boston College, he made the most of it, carrying 19 times for 98 yards and two touchdowns in Florida State’s fourth win of the season.
Florida State also made a major move off the field, naming Jeff Purinton as its next athletic director and vice president of athletics after a brief search. Purinton spent the last year with LEARFIELD, working primarily on the business side of college athletics, and he’s a familiar name around Tallahassee after graduating from Florida State and starting his career in the Seminoles’ athletic department.
He later spent 15 years at Alabama and then time at Arkansas State before moving into his most recent role. Florida State parted ways with Michael Alford in September, days after a power outage at Doak Campbell Stadium delayed the kickoff against SMU, and officially opened the search for his long-term replacement at the end of October.
In Other News...
Florida State Just Lost A Tradition To College Football's New Playoff Era
A major shift is coming to college football, and with it one of the sports most familiar December traditions is on the way out. A new five-year, $1.7 billion media rights deal with ESPN will expand the College Football Playoff to 24 teams starting next year, while also eliminating the Power Four conference championship games that have long helped shape the postseason path for programs like Florida State.
ESPN will remain the exclusive broadcast partner of the playoff and will pay an additional $345 million annually for the expanded format, which now includes on-site hosts for the first two rounds and neutral-site New Years Six bowl sites for the quarterfinals. For Florida State, the change is another reminder that the old road to the playoff is being rewritten, and one of the sports most recognizable checkpoints is disappearing with it. [Read more 🡒]
FSU Splatoon Is Starting To Look Like A Real Esports Threat
Florida States esports presence got a noticeable boost at GatorLAN in Gainesville, where the Seminoles sent two Splatoon teams into a large in-person field. Duck Duck Gorse turned in a strong run and finished as the runner-up in the Silver Bracket, while Go my FSU held its own against tougher opposition and reached the Top 8 of the Gold Bracket.
For a program still building its reputation in the collegiate scene, those results matter because they show FSU can compete on more than one level at the same event. Just as important, the players came away with a positive experience representing the school, a sign that the foundation is there for this group to keep growing into something bigger. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State Gets Its First Real Test Against No. 1 Florida
Florida State has spent the early part of the season showing how quickly a roster can take shape when transfers and freshmen click, and Tuesday night will bring the Seminoles their first real measuring stick. No. 1 Florida comes to Tallahassee unbeaten, with a frontcourt that has carried the Gators through their first two games and given them the kind of size and physical presence that tends to test every weakness.
For the Seminoles, this is the kind of matchup that can validate the early returns on a new-look group, especially with multiple players already scoring in double figures. It also gives Florida State a chance to see how its depth and balance hold up against the top-ranked team in the country, with tipoff set for 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2. [Read more 🡒]