FSU football has lost four consecutive games, and those four losses can be attributed to two main issues. Turnovers and penalties. Turnovers plagued FSU on the road against Virginia. The Noles turned it over three times in Charlottesville and three more times against Miami. FSU lost both games by one possession.
FSU only had 10 combined penalties in those games for 94 yards.
FSU cleaned up the turnover issues over the last two games, turning the ball over only once against Pittsburgh and finally avoiding turnovers altogether against Stanford. However, the costly penalties were apparent.
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The Noles had eight penalties for 72 yards against the Pittsburgh Panthers and 13 penalties for 79 yards against the Stanford Cardinals. FSU had an offensive penalty that took a touchdown off the board and a defensive penalty that helped give Stanford another shot to score a touchdown after missing a field goal.
FSU lost the game by a touchdown. These penalties were not apparent in the Alabama game. FSU only had four penalties for 40 yards in the season opener. They had three for 35 yards against East Texas A&M and five for 59 yards against Kent St.
They had fewer penalties in the first three games than they had in the last one against Stanford combined. That’s a reflection on Mike Norvell and the coaching staff because teams usually don’t get worse as the season progresses. It also shows you how bad FSU has looked in recent weeks; they haven’t been far away from getting a win.
This isn’t some slick way to suggest that FSU should keep Mike Norvell. It’s just a fact of the matter when the margins are narrow because they keep beating themselves, and that’s not something well-coached teams do.