Florida State’s season took a sharp turn the wrong way Friday night in Louisville.
After riding the momentum of a 38-7 win over Virginia, the Seminoles walked into a 44-20 loss that felt like a complete reversal. FSU jumped out to a 14-0 lead and was threatening to add another score before Louisville stuffed a fourth-down attempt at the goal line and seized control. From there, the night unraveled.
The defeat pushed Mike Norvell deeper into the pressure cooker. It was FSU’s 11th straight road loss, and the Seminoles are now 24-28 in ACC play since Norvell arrived in 2020.
“There were too many times we were pressing, didn’t show the detail, the discipline, the mental toughness that’s necessary on the road,” Norvell said. “It starts with me.
At the end of the day, what we put out there - obviously guys were not prepared for those moments like they needed to be. We all need to take ownership in it - coaches, players, everybody involved.”
Now Florida State turns right back into the fire with a trip to No. 4 Miami on Saturday.
A big-picture problem is hard to miss: this is a 3-3 team with a nearly $30 million roster. The Seminoles’ player acquisition budget for the 2026 team was approximately $30 million, and the results so far have not matched that level of investment.
FSU is 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the ACC, and the schedule ahead offers little relief. Miami comes first, then Clemson on Halloween and Florida on Black Friday.
The Tigers and Gators are both at home, but Norvell has not beaten a rival in 2024 or ’25, and five of those six losses came by double digits.
The defense also had no answer once Louisville got rolling on the ground. The Cardinals piled up 397 rushing yards, good for 9.2 yards per carry, before kneel downs at the end. The last time FSU allowed 400 rushing yards was in 2009, when Georgia Tech finished with 401 in Bobby Bowden’s final season.
That was a stark contrast from the Virginia game, when the Seminoles gave up only 37 rushing yards and made Beau Pribula look shaky in the passing game. But Louisville brought a different challenge.
Lincoln Kienholz ran for two of the Cardinals’ six rushing touchdowns and also completed 11 of 15 passes for 140 yards. His deep throw to FSU transfer Lawayne McCoy for 35 yards helped set up a touchdown.
One of the few steady positives for Florida State was Ousmane Kromah. He ran for 88 yards, with 62 coming after initial contact, according to Pro Football Focus.
PFF also credited him with forcing 10 missed tackles. Kromah has now topped 80 rushing yards in all six games this season, and his 565 rushing yards put him on pace for a 1,000-yard year.
The Seminoles are averaging 187 rushing yards per game.
The passing game, though, remains a mess. Ashton Daniels was 21 of 37 for 209 yards, threw two touchdown passes to Micahi Danzy and also had a fourth-quarter interception. He is not the kind of quarterback who can be counted on to drag FSU back from a hole, and much of his value comes when he can extend plays and find receivers on the move.
Duce Robinson’s night summed up the issues in the air. He was targeted nine times but finished with only two catches for 14 yards. Robinson came into the season off a 1,000-yard campaign, yet he has only 17 receptions for 294 yards and two touchdowns.
As the losses pile up, the list of possible fixes is shrinking. President Richard McCullough and Board of Trustees chair Peter Collins dismissed athletics director Michael Alford on Sept. 14, and they also have the power to move on from Norvell or defensive coordinator Tony White.
Norvell could also make personnel changes, including a possible switch at quarterback. Whatever direction he chooses, the next two weeks will say plenty, with Miami ahead and Clemson waiting after the bye.
In Other News...
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Virginias afternoon at Scott Stadium had all the makings of a flat home disappointment before the Cavaliers steadied themselves and found a way to beat Syracuse 28-25. Tony Elliotts team spent much of the game chasing, and the offense did not fully come to life until after halftime, when the Cavaliers finally started to look more like the group that could finish the job in front of its own crowd.
The turning point came when Beau Pribula connected with DaShawn Martin on a 43-yard touchdown pass, a play that helped flip the momentum and open the door for the late push. Jekail Middlebrook added two rushing touchdowns as Virginia clawed back in the second half, a rally that left Elliott praising the teams resilience after a win that could have easily slipped away. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Finally Got The Win It Desperately Needed
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Jekail Middlebrook gave Virginia the kind of running game presence it had been searching for, helping the Cavaliers finish the job when the margin was tight. The result offers a measure of relief and a chance to reset, but it also leaves the bigger question hanging over the next stretch of the season: whether this was a true turning point or just a much-needed survival act. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Women's Soccer Sends A Strong ACC Message On The Road
Virginias womens soccer team kept its strong early-season form rolling with a lopsided road win over SMU, a result that should travel well as ACC play gets tighter and the margin for error shrinks. The No. 14 Cavaliers spread the scoring around and showed the kind of balance that can make a team dangerous over the long haul, with Olivia Rademaker, Sophia Bradley, Jordyn Hardeman, Aniyah Collier and Mackenzie Mize all finding the net in the victory.
For a Virginia group trying to make a statement beyond just one result, the bigger takeaway is how complete it looked away from home. Multiple scorers, steady pressure and a comfortable finish all point in the same direction, even if the full measure of what this performance means in the conference race will become clearer as the schedule moves on. [Read more 🡒]