FSU football: Lack of talent or development keeping Noles from 8 wins?

FSU football will look to have its first winning season since 2017. Mike Norvell has the task of returning the Noles to prominence.

Luckily, he’s at the program that’s proven it can be elite, fall off, and regain elite status in recent memory.

Florida and Miami last reached the pinnacle in the early to mid-2000s. However, they have wallowed in mediocrity ever since.

Miami has only made the ACC Championship game once since joining the league(and got wrecked), and Florida’s best team in a decade still loses four games with a supposed Heisman candidate.

Showing improvement on the field is a must for Mike Norvell, in what’s really year one after dealing with a year of unknowns and limited practice time.

No question, the Noles have a tough schedule with little room for error. FSU football recruiting hasn’t been at FSU’s level in the past four recruiting cycles.

The problem is the ceiling has always been so high that the floor looks like an abyss. However, similar to the lost decade, FSU’s floor is still better than some team’s best.

The 2021 schedule is a beast with five teams who ranked in the final top 25 in 2020. Two of those teams made the College Football Playoff.

I think most FSU fans would be thrilled with 7-8 wins with how the 2021 schedule shapes up. If the Noles win eight games, they’re going to have to defeat all of the remaining teams that didn’t finish the 2020 season ranked AND one of those five teams that did.

I hear people talk about the FSU football team not having a lot of talent. Indeed, they don’t have as much as when they were elite. However, they still have more talent than the other seven teams on the schedule that didn’t finish the 2020 season ranked.

Does this begs the question? Is it a lack of talent or lack of development that would keep the team from 7-8 wins?