Florida State is finally back in the win column, and the 12-game road losing streak has finally been snapped days after firing coach Mike Norvell.
The major firing of Norvell came just a day after Clemson traveled to Tallahassee and pulled off the 36-24 win, despite originally being considered pretty serious underdogs. The loss was an ugly one for Norvell and continues to look worse after Clemson barely survived Syracuse this week. A change was needed, but with the change, the expectations did not shift; the team still needed to win.
The Seminoles quickly got a new coach after offensive analyst Rick Stockstill was elevated to the interim coach of the program. Stockstill spent his college days as a quarterback for Florida State under legendary coach Bobby Bowden. After building his way up through the ranks, Stockstill spent nearly 20 years as the coach of Middle Tennessee before being fired in 2023.
Stockstill joined Florida State's staff ahead of the 2024 season, and the coach certainly never thought he would be running the show when he joined as an analyst. However, Stockstill hit the ground running and snapped the 12-game road losing streak in dramatic fashion with a back-and-forth win over Boston College.
Rick Stockstill won, and that is all that Florida State can ask for right now
Stockstill certainly pulled out all of the stops for Florida State's first road win in nearly three seasons, and there is no reason to complain. Stockstill was given a very challenging task as Florida State chose him to find some sort of positive end to the season after a 3-5 start, multiple staff changes, and the massive firing of Norvell.
Those are not exactly circumstances that breed winning results, but Stockstill was able to find a way against Boston College. Yes, Florida State was expected to win this game, but given the inconsistency this season, odds truly mean nothing for the Seminoles and have not been the most accurate gauge of how the team will play against a given opponent.
Stockstill deserves a lot of credit for being able to take what was essentially a broken team and produce a winning result in less than a week at the helm. Most importantly, the team fought hard and rarely led mistakes snowball into further mistakes or scoring opportunities for Boston College, which was often an issue for Florida State this season when Norvell was still the coach.
It may not have been the prettiest win over a team like Boston College, who have had its own share of struggles this season, but at this point, Florida State just needs to win, and Stockstill gets that. You cannot turn everything around in a week or even by the end of the 2026 season, but winning games is something that could directly impact roster retention and recruiting moving forward.
Stockstill is very likely going to be moving in a different direction at the end of the season, as the next coach will hire and build his own staff. However, Stockstill appears prepared to go out with a bang this season, and that is exactly what Florida State needs after a very difficult two and a half seasons.
This fanbase is hungry for wins, and nobody cares how the win happens at this point; they just want to see the team break the losing mold.
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