Florida State’s running back room isn’t interested in easing into anything this week. Kam Martin said the message inside that group is simple: keep climbing, keep grinding, and don’t act like the job is finished after one strong outing.
“I don’t want guys thinking they’ve arrived. I always want to keep challenging them to be the best - and even me as a coach, I haven’t arrived.
We had the performance that we had on Saturday, [but] let’s be better this week, you know, and that’s the mentality here…the theme this week is be a hammer. We go be the hammer this week.“
That mindset comes as Sam Singleton Jr. has been waiting on his moment, and Ousmane Kromah is trying to turn one big game into something even bigger after his performance against New Mexico State. PFF graded Kromah as the second-highest player of Week 0, and he said his own family saw room for more.
”I’ll be real, I should’ve had like two [touchdowns]. My mom let me know about that after the game.
I was like, “Yeah, that big run it was if I would have just kept it a little bit to the left, I was going to be gone.” So, I wasn’t tripping.
But, it was it was exciting and it was great.”
On the soccer side, No. 15 Florida State gets a ranked test tonight against No.
25 Georgia in its first top-25 matchup of the season. The Seminoles enter at 3-1-0, with a 1-0-0 mark at home and 2-1-0 on the road, and they’re doing it after a 10-day break.
That pause won’t last long, either: FSU is set to play three times in the next nine days before another 15 days away from competition.
The Seminoles’ loss on August 23 ended a nine-game winning streak in all competitions that stretched back to last year’s national-title run. That run was tied for seventh-longest in school history, and it included five straight shutouts, which matched the fourth-longest streak in the record book. Even with that loss, Florida State’s non-conference record has stayed absurdly strong; the Seminoles are 32-1-4 in regular-season non-conference games since the middle of the 2019 non-conference slate.
Florida State has already spread the offense around. The team has scored 10 goals with eight assists, and seven different players have found the net, including four newcomers.
Five players have at least one assist, and all of them are first-year Seminoles. Tanner Strickland, a senior forward, leads the way with two goals and an assist for five points.
Wrianna Hudson has a team-high 10 shots, with nine of them on goal, while sophomore goalkeeper Kate Ockene has two shutouts, seven saves and a 2-1-0 record.
Georgia comes in at 3-1-2 after a 2-0 win at Mercer on Sunday night, a result that followed a 3-2 loss at TCU earlier in the week. The Bulldogs scored in the fifth minute against Mercer and added another in the 74th to secure the shutout. Their three wins have all come by clean sheet, with the first two at home.
This matchup has built up a little history over the years. Florida State is 3-2-1 all-time against Georgia, including 2-0-1 at home and 1-2-0 on the road.
The teams have met three times in the last five years, with the Seminoles winning 3-1 in Athens in 2022 and then playing to a 1-1 draw in Tallahassee in 2024. Georgia won the first two meetings, both in Georgia, taking a 5-4 game in Florida State’s inaugural 1995 season and a 2-0 result in 1998.
FSU answered with three straight wins starting in 1999, including a 2-0 home win and a 1-0 victory in 2004, before the series paused for 18 years.
That 2024 draw came with both teams ranked, as No. 1 Florida State and No.
24 Georgia battled to a 1-1 tie at the Seminole Soccer Complex. Georgia scored first in the 15th minute, FSU answered in the 64th, and the Seminoles controlled the shot chart 36-13, including a 15-6 edge in shots on goal.
Georgia’s goalkeeper made 14 saves, while Florida State’s keeper stopped five shots.
Florida State women’s basketball also got its conference roadmap on Wednesday, and the ACC slate starts quickly. The Seminoles open league play at Notre Dame on Dec. 6 in South Bend, where they beat the then-No. 3 Fighting Irish 86-81 in their last trip to Purcell Pavilion during the 2024-25 season.
From there, the schedule moves fast. NC State comes to Tallahassee on Dec. 17, then Florida State heads to Georgia Tech on Dec. 31 and Boston College on Jan.
- The Seminoles are 33-27 against Georgia Tech and have gone 17-11 at McCamish Pavilion.
They are 21-3 all-time against Boston College and have won the last three meetings.
FSU then hosts Louisville on Jan. 7 and Syracuse on Jan. 10.
The Seminoles are 9-7 in the Donald L. Tucker Center against Louisville, while the all-time series with Syracuse stands at 8-7, including a 5-1 edge at home.
The road keeps going after that, with Miami on Jan. 17, Pitt at home on Jan. 21, and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Jan.
- Florida State is 54-20 against Miami with a 7-3 edge under Wyckoff, has never lost to Pitt in 13 meetings, and owns a 32-13 all-time record against Virginia Tech, including 13-7 at Cassell Coliseum.
Duke visits Tallahassee on Jan. 28, Wake Forest follows on Jan. 31, and then comes the long trip to California for Cal on Feb. 4 and Stanford on Feb.
- Clemson and Miami are next at home on Feb. 11 and Feb.
- Florida State is 39-29 all-time against Clemson, with a 22-12 record at home.
The final stretch sends the Seminoles to Virginia on Feb. 18 and North Carolina on Feb. 21 before SMU comes to Tallahassee on Feb. 28 to close ACC play. Florida State is 2-0 all-time against the Mustangs over the last two years.
In Other News...
Florida State Already Faces Pressure To Hold Onto A Key Commit
Florida States 2027 class is already feeling the strain of an uncertain future, and ZaKari Johnson has become the latest reminder of how quickly a commitment can wobble. The 4-star athlete, originally pledged to the Seminoles, now appears to have reopened his recruitment, with Texas A&M bringing him in for a visit as it continues to push hard for one of the more versatile prospects on Florida States board.
Johnsons value goes beyond one position, since he projects as both a wide receiver and defensive back, the kind of athlete programs covet when they are trying to build around talent and flexibility. For Florida State, the concern is not just losing a recruit, but having to sell stability at a time when coaching questions and financial realities make it harder to stand toe-to-toe with a resource-heavy suitor like Texas A&M. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State Just Sent A Powerful Message About Its National Pull
Florida States Week 0 meeting with New Mexico State did more than open the season on a winning note. It also gave The CW a college football audience it had never seen before, with the broadcast pulling record-setting interest for the network and underscoring just how much the Seminoles still matter nationally, even after a stretch of uneven results on the field.
For Florida State, the numbers fed into a bigger conversation about the programs reach and relevance as it continues its legal fight with the ACC. The backdrop matters because the Seminoles are trying to prove they remain a major national draw, the kind of brand that travels beyond wins and losses and can command attention wherever it lands. [Read more 🡒]
Ousmane Kromah Just Gave FSU A New ACC Reason For Hope
Ousmane Kromahs breakthrough against New Mexico State gave Florida State something it has been looking for in the backfield: a young runner who can tilt a game and hint at more to come. Kromah rushed for a career-high 115 yards and scored his first collegiate touchdown, a sharp step forward from what he managed in his freshman season and a welcome sign for a Seminoles offense still trying to sort out its identity.
The performance also showed up in the numbers that often catch evaluators attention, as Kromah earned the highest Pro Football Focus grade among running backs that week. For Florida State, the bigger takeaway may be the long view, since running backs coach Kam Martin has already pointed to Kromahs significant potential, leaving the Seminoles with a fresh reason to think the room could be better than it looked not long ago. [Read more 🡒]