Florida State football has struggled for the better part of head coach Mike Norvell's tenure there. However, the administration has displayed that they still have hope that Coach Norvell can turn it around (or at least don't have the money to relieve him, so they are banking on it working out).
The Seminoles finished with a 5-7 record with losses to arch-rivals Miami and Florida. The expectation is to compete for championships and beat the rivals, and Florida State did neither of those things.
To make it even more frustrating, the Hurricanes make it to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game against the Indiana Hoosiers. Florida State's fan base was happy to see Miami lose, but it made individuals hesitant about the direction of the Seminoles.
Florida State wants improvement, while Miami is looking to build on 2025's success
The nature of the college football landscape can change in an instant. We saw that with Indiana, where they were one of the worst programs all-time in the sport. This gives hope that Florida State can make it back to where it was in 2022 and 2023 under Norvell.
In the meantime, Miami is trying to build on its success from last year, where it added Duke quarterback transfer Darian Mensah (*cough* tampering *cough*) to the offense. This is now the third straight year that Mario Cristobal has grabbed a signal-caller from the portal.
The Hurricanes are losing quite a bit, especially in the trenches, but Miami has recruiting heavily in that department. With that said, the Hurricanes always find a way to lose two regular-season contests to knock them out of ACC Championship Game contention.
CBS Sports analyst Cody Nagel drops his bold predictions for each team in the 2026 way-too-early top 25 (read full article here). Nagel makes a claim that Seminole fans could get behind, and that is Miami not making the ACC Championship Game again.
The Hurricanes have Stanford (road), Wake Forest (road), Clemson (road), Florida State (home), Pittsburgh (home), North Carolina (road), Duke (home), Virginia Tech (home), and Boston College (home) in conference play. Plus, they play Notre Dame on the road in the non-conference in November, which could affect their conference slate.
It might look easier on paper, but Nagel could be right. Hopefully, Florida State is a team that crushes their hopes and dreams early in October.