Florida State left Miami with a 43-35 overtime loss, but Mike Norvell was most fired up about how the game ended.
Shortly after the defeat, Norvell addressed the sequence that wiped out the Seminoles’ late push. Florida State was backed up after several incompletions and facing 21 yards to the sticks when Ashton Daniels launched a deep ball that appeared to produce a touchdown. Instead, the play came off the board because of a holding penalty on left tackle Xavier Chaplin.
Norvell said this was the second straight year Florida State had lost a game on a late call involving this officiating crew. He also believed the Duce pass should have counted as a touchdown because of simultaneous possession.
Said he thought the Duce pass should have been a TD because of simultaneous possession.
Also didn’t like the holding call on play before:
“Go watch the film.”
- Warchant.com (@Warchant) October 18, 2026
The Seminoles still had another shot after the 10-yard penalty, and that sequence brought even more frustration. Norvell again took issue with the holding call, telling people to "go watch the film". But the bigger flashpoint for him came on Daniels’ second touchdown throw, which was ultimately ruled an interception.
The most dramatic moment came on Micahi Danzy’s fourth-down touchdown grab off a desperate Daniels heave. It looked like Florida State might have pulled off the impossible, only for the holding flag to erase the score and end the comeback hope right there. The play was remarkable on its own, and the Seminoles had no realistic chance of repeating it on the next snap, even from a worse spot.
Video of the play showed Chaplin with both hands extended in front of him as the defender went down. Chaplin was not actively engaged at that point, and the defender appeared to slip rather than be pulled down by the tackle.
What made the ending sting even more was the way Florida State had played. Norvell’s team turned in one of its best performances of the season, only to have a shot at the upset disappear because of penalties.
The call that seemed to bother Norvell most, though, was the ruling on the potential touchdown to Robinson. Duce Robinson had the better position on Bryce Fitzgerald and appeared to have both hands on the ball before the pair hit the ground. Officials ruled Fitzgerald had primary possession and had tucked the ball into his stomach as he went down.
Norvell’s view was that the catch should have been treated as simultaneous possession, which would have given Florida State the touchdown. Instead, the Seminoles were left with a controversial loss that will linger because of how good the performance was and how it ended.
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