Florida State heads into its Labor Day matchup with No. 19 SMU carrying momentum from a strong showing on the ground, and Mike Norvell is scheduled to put the finishing touches on the week at his final media availability before kickoff.
The Seminoles opened with a 34-17 win over New Mexico State in Week 0, and the run game drove the night. Florida State piled up 220 rushing yards, with sophomore Ousmane Kromah going for 115 yards and a touchdown. Junior Samuel Singleton Jr. added 164 total yards and two touchdowns, giving the Seminoles a backfield performance that set the tone.
That same group will be asked to shoulder plenty again when SMU comes to Tallahassee and Doak Campbell Stadium for the first time. It’s only the second meeting between the programs, and the Mustangs took the first one in 2024, winning 42-16.
Norvell is set to speak at approximately 11:30 a.m. to break down SMU and close out Florida State’s week of preparation. He’ll be followed by a pair of FSU players.
Florida State’s 2026 schedule lists the New Mexico State win, the upcoming SMU game on Sept. 7, and then a bye before the Seminoles head to Alabama on Sept. 19.
The rest of the slate includes Central Arkansas on Sept. 26, Virginia on Oct.
3, Louisville on Oct. 9, Miami on Oct. 17, another bye, Clemson on Oct.
31, Boston College on Nov. 7, Pittsburgh on Nov.
13, NC State on Nov. 21, and Florida on Nov. 27.
In Other News...
FSU Football Is About To Wear Something Fans Never Had To See
Florida State is set to take another visible step into the new era of college sports sponsorship, with Florida State Athletics and Kin Insurance announcing a four-year partnership beginning with the 2026-27 season. The deal will make Kin the preferred insurance partner of FSU Athletics and extend well beyond football, reaching 17 additional Seminole teams as the athletic department keeps broadening its commercial reach under the NCAAs updated rules.
The most noticeable change for fans will come on the football side, where the Kin logo is scheduled to appear as a jersey patch during the ACC opener against SMU. It is the kind of uniform addition that would have felt unthinkable not long ago, but now it is part of the evolving business of major college athletics, and Florida State is moving early in a space that is likely to keep growing. [Read more 🡒]
USC Fans May Not Love This Name In The Next Coaching Cycle
The early weeks of a college football season tend to sharpen the talk around the next coaching cycle, and once again a familiar set of names is starting to surface. Kliff Kingsbury, Mike Norvell and Kalani Sitake are all being viewed as potential fits if major jobs open, a reminder that the carousel is never far away when programs start thinking about the future.
For Florida State, Norvells presence in that conversation is the part worth watching. He has built enough of a recent track record to stay in the mix for bigger opportunities, even if nothing concrete is on the table right now, and that kind of attention usually follows a coach only until the next move in the market brings a clearer picture. For USC fans, the broader point is simple: if the next round of openings develops the way it could, this cycle may not stay comfortable for long. [Read more 🡒]
FSU Just Made A Branding Move Fans Will Definitely Debate
Florida States athletic department is stepping into a new era of visible sponsorship, announcing a multi-year partnership with Kin Insurance that will put the companys logo on uniforms across 18 sports programs. The deal makes Kin the first brand to show up as a jersey patch sponsor for the Seminoles, with the placement set to begin Sept. 7 and extend beyond football to the rest of FSUs athletic department.
For a school with one of the more recognizable brands in college sports, the move is bound to spark some conversation among fans who have long associated Florida State uniforms with tradition first. Kin, a Florida-based company best known for home and auto insurance, brings a local angle to the partnership, and its biggest market is already the state where the Seminoles compete for attention. The broader question now is how the patch will look, feel and be received once its on game uniforms across so many different sports. [Read more 🡒]