FSU football: Noles must avoid complacency after back-to-back wins

FSU football could face their biggest test of the season this week. Yes, I know they have a bye-week, but the opponent they are playing is themselves.

We’ve heard Mike Norvell mention it’s not how you deal with failure, but how you deal with the success that will define someone. Here we are after back-to-back wins and Mike Norvell mentioned he was disappointed in Tuesday’s practice.

It’s human nature to let up when you feel you’ve accomplished something, and beating a team as 17-point underdogs will provide a sense of accomplishment.

However, FSU isn’t at a place where they can afford to rest on their laurels, and I thought Mike Norvell calling them out for a subpar practice told us a lot about where this program is at the moment.

This week and the upcoming game against UMASS will help define the mentality of this program. If they go out and play sloppy against UMASS, how much improvement have we seen from a cultural standpoint?

If that happens, it’ll be the same thing we’ve seen the past few years. We saw it last season after they upset North Carolina as they traveled to Louisville and got their doors blown off. How will they handle the success of back-to-back wins while facing a team they should beat by 3-4 touchdowns?

If they go out there and beat UMASS the way they should, I think that would tell us more about this team’s identity than beating UNC. We need to see the same intensity, focus, and willingness to dominate in a noon game against an opponent everyone expects FSU to destroy.

This next week and a half will be critical in getting into that mindset instead of dwelling on what they’ve done the past two weeks. If they can do that, I’ll feel much better about their chances of winning a couple more games on the back half of the schedule.