Week 7 delivered a series of thrilling games, and Florida State certainly brought the fireworks to Miami for the rivalry matchup. The Seminoles played a gritty game from start to finish, but an unfortunate sequence of events in overtime led to the team being handed a fourth loss.
The 2026 season has not been an easy one up to this point for Florida State, between a collapse against Alabama and a disastrous loss to an injured Louisville team. Some are ready to forget the 2026 season entirely, but the Seminoles delivered perhaps their most exciting performance of the season against Miami, with plenty on the line.
Florida State was able to go punch-for-punch with Miami in Week 7, which is something that virtually nobody thought the team could do heading into the game. Despite taking on a loss, a number of players performed at a high level and helped push the team toward potentially pulling off the upset win.
Winners:
1. QB Ashton Daniels
Florida State did not get the win against Miami, but it is hard to ask for a better performance than what Daniels delivered. The quarterback finished the game with 298 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, an interception, 31 rushing yards, and a rushing touchdown. Daniels did a bit of everything for Florida State against the Hurricanes, including two heroic touchdown passes in overtime that were ultimately called back.
Early in the season, Florida State fans wanted to see a different quarterback because Daniels was not producing enough. When Daniels missed part of a drive after entering the medical tent, fans became tense when backup quarterback Kevin Sperry came into the game. Daniels may not be a perfect quarterback, but he has been making enough improvements each week that he is now a valuable part of the offense.
2. WR Duce Robinson
After a string of tough games for Robinson, the wide receiver put together another memorable performance in Week 7. Robinson had six receptions for 135 yards and a touchdown against Alabama, and then recorded six receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown in the three games that followed. Florida State's aerial attack has been inconsistent this season, but Robinson appears to come out and perform at his best when the team needs him the most.
Robinson recorded five receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns against Miami, which included a massive 75-yard connection. Robinson also hauled in what likely should have been a key overtime touchdown, but upon review, the ruling of an interception was upheld. Florida State needs this version of Robinson each week in hopes of pulling closer to the top of the ACC this season.
3. DL Rylan Kennedy
Another game, another sack for Kennedy, who has now brought the quarterback down in four straight games. Kennedy struggled at the start of the season to generate pressure and push the quarterback out of the pocket. The defensive lineman has looked far more aggressive and efficient on the field over the past four games for Florida State, with 14 total tackles and five sacks.
Kennedy served as a rotational lineman for Texas A&M before transferring to Florida State in the offseason. His six sacks this season are a new career high, and Kennedy also leads the Seminoles in sacks this season. Florida State needed a defensive lineman to emerge amid the struggles, and thus far, Kennedy has answered that call.
4. RB Tre Wisner
After stepping into the backup role at running back after Samuel Singleton Jr. suffered an injury, Wisner will now be tasked with taking over the starting role. Losing a powerful and talented player like Ousmane Kromah in the midst of a breakout season hurts, but with few options left at running back, Wisner is going to be the man that Florida State feeds the ball to.
Wisner finished the game against Miami with 63 rushing yards, 56 receiving yards, and a receiving touchdown against arguably the best defense in the country. Florida State needs a similar performance, and more, in the future in order to replicate some of what Kromah offered the offense.
Wisner also had a very costly fumble against Miami that wiped away a productive drive, but the reason Wisner is in the "winners" category is due to his ability to step into yet another new role.
Losers:
1. The offensive line
With the controversial holding call in overtime aside, Florida State has continued to struggle to get the same results each week out of the offensive line. Quarterback Ashton Daniels has been sacked 13 times in conference play this season, and while some of the issue might be due to him holding onto the football, there are many times when Daniels had no pocket to begin with.
The holding call is going to continue to be a major talking point for weeks to come, but the issue is the sequence of events that led to that play. Florida State allowed multiple defenders to run free on three plays in a row before Daniels was finally able to deliver a real throw, and he was hit while doing so.
This might be the best unit that Florida State is able to put together along the offensive line, but the group must be better moving forward. Daniels is starting to look more poised as a quarterback; the running back room is in disarray, and wide receivers are not able to complete their routes before Daniels is hit. Better offensive line play would certainly help the offense look more formidable moving forward, which is needed in order to qualify for a bowl game.
2. Coach Mike Norvell
When you lose by one score, the decisions you make throughout the game are put under a microscope. Norvell opted to go for it three times on fourth down, and all three times the Seminoles were stuffed. Norvell had the opportunity to take the easy three points twice, and both times he opted to run right up the middle against a defense that is known for being fearsome against the run.
It is hard to put all of the blame on Norvell, which is why the "losers" category has three entries this week, but the coach needs to be smarter. Both attempts could have been field goals instead, but more importantly, the stuffed attempts are complete momentum shifters. Norvell cannot give opposing teams opportunities to both shut his offense down and capitalize on them.
3. The secondary
Miami is a tough, physical team, and bringing any of the players down to the ground is not an easy task, but Florida State made things too easy at times. The secondary struggled to bring down players consistently, and at times it felt like broken tackles were to be expected.
The game was very close, and if Florida State had won, nobody would really be talking about the little things that went wrong. But when a game is lost in overtime, it is hard to ignore the small, unforced errors that occurred. The Seminoles need to become a more physical team when tackling, and the defense should be thankful the result was not worse given the number of low-effort tackles that were displayed.
This has been a trend all season for Florida State, but when the tackles are made up front, the issue is rarely exposed. Miami was able to consistently make its way into the secondary, and that is why the problems were magnified in Week 7.
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