Expecting to make the College Football Playoff after a perfect 13-0 season, Florida State instead was the first team out. Cameras captured a team watch party that seemed incapable of processing what had just happened. Head coach Mike Norvell dropped his head in disbelief.
Less than three years later, Mike Norvell is out of a job. Following a 36-24 home loss to Clemson, FSU finally decided to swallow a nearly $50 million buyout to dump Norvell and try to recapture the magic that has been missing since 2023. From a 19-game winning streak to a midseason firing?
It is a mix of money woes, bad evaluations and an indignity the program could never get over. Mike Norvell's career trajectory and the Florida State football program drastically changed when star quarterback Jordan Travis broke his leg against North Alabama. Travis would never be the same after he fractured and dislocated his left ankle, retiring in 2025 after never playing another down in a game.
Florida State was undefeated at the time and well positioned to make the playoff if it kept winning. Yet there was a growing sentiment that the Seminoles didn't look the same without Travis in their regular-season finale and the ACC Championship Game. It opened the door for two one-loss teams, Texas and Alabama, to jump FSU in the final CFP Rankings.
Despite never losing a game, FSU was on the outside looking in. Norvell and the entire Seminoles program were crushed. "I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee's decision today to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided they knew better than the results of the games," Norvell said at the time.
"What is the point of playing games?" Next came a decision that some program insiders deeply regret in hindsight: FSU agreed to play Georgia in the Orange Bowl. The Bulldogs (12-1) were also mad about the final rankings, dropping from No. 1 to No. 6 after losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. The pain of the exclusion was too much for FSU to handle.
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