Florida State’s Resurgence A Bright Spot During Largely Dismal 2022 College Football Season In Sunshine State

Thanks to Florida State, the Sunshine State avoided another entirely cloudy season on the college gridiron. The Seminoles’ breakthrough prevented a mess like that of 2021 when six of the state’s seven Football Bowl Subdivision programs failed to win more than seven games.

FSU entered its entertaining Cheez-It Bowl win over Oklahoma at No.13 in the polls and the final College Football Playoff rankings. Depending on how things shake out with what little remains of the bowl season, they could finish as high as No. 10 in at least one poll. The state’s other six FBS programs combined for one winning season.

The story in Tallahassee, though, will not be the Seminoles’ final ranking in a 10-3 season. Rather, it is the larger picture of what Mike Norvell is constructing with a program he was brought on board to rescue.

“I told the team that this team will not be remembered just because of a number,” he said following the bowl victory, in referring to the nice round figure in the win column. “It is going to be remembered by the way that they played, by the passion, by the character, by just the love that they have for each other. It meant a lot for this team, and it meant a lot for our program.”

Prior to Norvell’s arrival at Florida State three years ago, the Seminoles endured two straight losing seasons under Willie Taggart. That had not happened at FSU since the mid-1970s when three coaches — Larry Jones, Darrell Mudra and Bobby Bowden — combined to post four consecutive sub-.500 seasons.

Bowden, whose first year at Florida State was the last in that forgettable stretch, built the ‘Noles into a national power and what ultimately amounted to four decades of sustained success that included three national championships and an astounding streak of 36 consecutive seasons ending with a bowl appearance.

Norvell’s first two seasons with the garnet and gold were, at least record wise, no better than Taggart’s two years as the run of consecutive losing seasons grew to four. Things began to turn around, though, at least with respect to culture if not the win column, when the 41-year-old Norvell arrived from Memphis.

Wins matter, though, and Norvell’s diligence was evident on the scoreboard in 2022. Though a 4-0 start, which included a win over LSU decided by a blocked extra point with no time on the clock, was followed by three straight losses by a combined 18 points, it was the response to the tough times that indicated the Seminoles were headed in the right direction. That response resonated in the form of six straight wins capped by the hard-fought bowl victory.

No wonder Norvell, who has made much progress on the recruiting trail as well as with the transfer portal, spoke with pride in the bowels of Orlando’s Camping World Stadium following his Cheez-It shower.

“All that they have had to work through, all that they have been through,” he said, trying to find the right words to match his level of pride. “Not only throughout the course of this season, but for every young man that has been a part of the journey. The ones that have chosen to become a part of this family. The ones that have kind of been through it all.”

Overall, fans of the seven FBS programs in the state the past couple of years have been through the ringer. While the Seminoles clearly reside atop the heap in 2022, UCF had a chance to make some serious noise once again only to struggle at the worst time. Still, the Knights were the only other team in the state to boast a winning record.

In order by win total, here is a glimpse at how teams in Florida fared this season.

Florida State (10-3/5-3 ACC)

What Norvell has built has the look and feel of something more than a blip on the screen. The aforementioned success with recruiting and the portal would seem to support that. The next step would be bumping off Clemson to win the ACC Atlantic and play for their first conference title since 2014.

UCF (9-5/6-2 American)

Gus Malzahn’s Knights entered a November 19 game against Navy 8-2, No. 17 in the AP and, at No. 20, the highest ranked Group of Five team in the CFP. The Bounce House was, well, bouncing in anticipation of UCF hosting a conference championship game followed by a potential appearance in a New Year’s Six bowl. While a 17-14 loss to the Midshipmen did not entirely derail what was still ahead, it commenced a stretch of three defeats in four games to end the season, including a championship game loss at Tulane. UCF will be in the Big 12 next season.

Florida (6-7/3-5 SEC)

An odd first season for Billy Napier included an opening win over visiting Utah, a near loss to USF and a thorough pounding of South Carolina that was followed by losing at Vandy for the first time since 1988. It concluded with a 30-3 bowl loss to Oregon State for a second straight 6-7 season. The bowl game ended a strange 10-year stretch at UF in which four coaches combined for four losing seasons and three 10-win seasons. As with Norvell after taking over in Tallahassee, the feeling in Gainesville is that Napier has things going in the right direction.

Miami (5-7/3-5 ACC)

Expectations were high in Coral Gables when Mario Cristobal left Oregon to take over at his alma mater, where a 7-5 season in 2021 was highlighted by the emergence of quarterback Tyler Van Dyke. The injury bug biting Van Dyke proved to be the least of the offense’s problem during a season in which the unit went 10 quarters without finding the end zone at one point. The defense had its own issues during a season that included home embarrassments to Middle Tennessee and Florida State, the latter a 45-3 disgrace. Cristobal should get it straightened out, but what a rough start it was.

FAU (5-7/4-4 CUSA)

A program that had a pair of 11-win seasons and conference titles under Lane Kiffin went 5-7 each of the past two years under Willie Taggart, costing the coach his job. (Taggart had losing marks in both of his seasons at FSU and both of his full seasons at FAU.) The Owls move to the American with Tom Herman taking over the program. Herman’s success in the American with Houston led to his most recent head coaching gig at Texas, which came to an end following the 2020 season and after going 32-18 in four years.

FIU (4-8/2-6 CUSA)

Following a 1-11 mess in Butch Davis’ final season, which followed an 0-5 virus-disrupted 2020, Mike MacIntyre took over and the Panthers put a few wins on the board. FIU’s losing streak against FBS opponents reached 19 before winning three such games in a five-week stretch that put the Panthers at 4-4 heading into the season’s final month. Alas, four straight defeats, the first three by a combined 117 points, showed how much work is ahead for MacIntyre.

USF (1-11/0-8 American)

Things seemingly cannot get any worse for the Bulls. Jeff Scott was dismissed after going 4-26, including just one win in 27 games against FBS opponents. New coach Alex Golesh, who was Josh Heupel’s offensive coordinator at Tennessee, takes over a program that teased at times in 2022 with losses to Florida, Cincinnati and UCF by a combined 14 points, but was remarkably inept defensively. What might help Golesh and the program find some footing in 2023 is that the American will be a watered-down conference with UCF, Cincinnati and Houston leaving for the Big 12 and a half dozen teams arriving from Conference USA.