Mike Norvell seems to still hold a vendetta against Alabama for stealing his program’s College Football Playoff bid in 2023. Norvell’s offense came out swinging against the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, jumping out to a 21-6 lead before Alabama scored 20 unanswered points to end the first half up 26-21.
The Seminoles punched back, but clearly didn’t have the firepower to hang with former five-star QB Keelon Russell, who carved up their defense. Just before the start of the fourth quarter, his 57-yard touchdown run put the Tide up 40-28, and judging from the team’s energy, or lack thereof, during Norvell's pre-fourth-quarter speech on Nick Saban Field, it was the knockout blow.
Mike Norvell takes his pre-fourth quarter huddle up with the team. pic.twitter.com/M1nReVATcH
— Logan B. Robinson (@LogansTwitty) September 20, 2026
Now, it’s hard to judge much of anything from a video like this. Maybe the guys were more locked in than it appears. But right now, this is a perfect depiction of where Norvell has the program and why his tenure is finished, whether the administration wants to admit it or not.
Players often quit on a coach before an administration does
Especially with the transactional nature of the NIL era, players are much less tied to a coaching staff than the school is. That’s not true of every program in the country. There are still coaches building up a healthy culture with buy-in from the entire roster. But at Florida State, which foolishly gave Norvell a massive extension based on one good season and forewent high school recruiting for the transfer portal, where players tend to go to the highest bidder, it’s clearly the case.
You can easily argue that each of Norvell’s last two teams quit on him. In 2025, the team went 2-7 after a 3-0 start and lost to a truly bad Stanford team. With how much talent was on that FSU roster, it’s hard to argue that the team didn’t quit. And to be clear, that’s a criticism of the coach above all.
Florida State football is in a death-spiral and Norvell has no way out
This year’s team is at unique risk of throwing in the towel early in the season. Every player who joined this team or stayed in Tallahassee knows that Norvell is on the hottest seat in college football. So, outside of a few exceptions, they weren’t taking hometown discounts to play for their dream school. They were signing with the highest bidder, presumably content to do the same next offseason.
There’s almost no way to go from that point to a healthy culture, which is why Florida State needs to rip off the band-aid, no matter how cumbersome Norvell’s buyout may seem. Eventually, programs reach a death spiral, and Florida State has been in it for two years now. If the players don’t believe, there’s no coming back, no matter how much the administration likes the coach or hates the idea of paying $50 million to make him go away.
Yes, Alabama put its foot down in the third quarter, but FSU was scoring largely at will for much of the game. That team still could have had some fight in the fourth quarter, and to their credit, didn’t completely lie down. But the energy in that clip is alarming and also the least surprising thing, knowing where Norvell has this program.
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