Florida State football is preparing itself to have a better year than it has had in the past two seasons. The Seminoles thought it was going to be promising after beating Alabama in the opener, but the program crumbled under the pressure and lost seven of its last nine games.
Head coach Mike Norvell is on several different hot seat lists, as some even feel that he should have been fired after the Stanford loss, but the administration elected to retain him for the 2025 season despite having four losing seasons in six years.
In a world where college football programs are firing their coaches left and right, Florida State has expressed at least a small level of confidence that Coach Norvell can turn it around, but the high buyout probably factors into it, too.
FanDuel Sportsbook has a 6.5 over/under win total for the Florida State Seminoles in 2026
Head coach Mike Norvell is on everyone's radar for the hot seat, and if he starts on the wrong side of a couple of contests, he might not make it to the midway point. This isn't me expressing that I hope Coach Norvell gets fired or anything because I want him to be successful.
FanDuel Sportsbook released its over/under win total for a variety of college football teams, and Florida State is at 6.5 for the 2026 season.
Given the Seminoles' schedule, it is understandable why FanDuel thought that 6.5 would be a good baseline. Florida State has to play SMU on Labor Day Night, on the road at Alabama, on the road at Louisville on a Friday, Miami in Coral Gables, Clemson at home, and Florida at home.
That is not an easy walk-in-the-park, especially for a program that has not won a road game since the 2023 meeting against the Florida Gators. However, with the unexpected retirement of Gus Malzahn, Mike Norvell is in charge of the offensive play-calling duties in 2026, so the fate of his job is in his hands, and he can control his destiny.