Florida State (1-4, 1-3 ACC) saw a 14-9 halftime deficit against the SMU Mustangs turn into a 42-16 loss on Saturday night, turning the ball over three times and giving up more than 400 yards in a blowout loss .

As has been the case all season for the Seminoles, an inefficient offense and multiple turnovers combined with a defense that ranks among the worst in the country when it comes to breaking down the field led to a perfect recipe for the Mustangs as second to break loose completely. wore half.

Below the Tomahawk Nation the staff tries to cope with the latest disappointing display with five answers to five questions.

Is this the worst you’ve felt about Florida State football?

Matt Minnick: No, 30-0 Wake up. Which, not so coincidentally, was also a team that had to fire its OC.

Evenflow58: No. I think the beginning of the Willie Taggart era was worse because it was one rake after another. There’s still the afterglow of last year, stupidity and all.

Jon Loesche: I stood there in the rain for 30-0 against Wake Forest. But damn does this feel close.

Perry: I could be a prisoner of the moment, and also someone whose freshman year and first season at FSU was 2012, but the helplessness combined with the disappointment of what was expected of this team before the season makes me lean toward yes. The Seminoles are now 1-4 for the second time in Mike Norvell’s tenure, but the difference in those two seasons couldn’t be greater. In 2021, that 1-4 mark cut through FSU and finally broke through, while in 2024 it seems like every bit of progress the program made under Norvell has completely evaporated. Flipping a previous coach’s culture is one thing; reinventing your own culture before September even ends a year after an undefeated season is downright unfathomable.

Who is most to blame for tonight’s result?

Matt Minnick: Mike Norvell. He made two terrible decisions this season: 1) keeping Alex Atkins, Randy Shannon, Adam Fuller and several other assistant coaches; 2) not playing modern football and refusing to sign a QB with any semblance of mobility.

Tim: Mike Norvell. This team looks terrible in every facet of the game except kicking. QB, bad. OL, bad. TOO, bad. RB, incomplete due to OL. WR, blinks but incomplete due to QB. DL, bad. LB, bad. Secondary, bad. It’s just a very bad team start and finish and that’s on him…. And Kyle Morlock.

Evenflow58: Norvell. There is no excuse for this type of game. The team is quitting on him and he doesn’t seem willing to do much about it. There’s only so much you can do during the season, but he’s doing less. Ultimately, it all starts and stops with him and it never really started this year.

Jon Loesche: Like everyone said, this all falls on Norvell. The Orange Bowl should have been more of a wake-up call to this team’s lack of talent. This was a year to take some lumps and give young guys experience. Instead, he doubled down on the portal to try to make a playoff run. Now that it has blown up, he has continued to double down on those mistakes.

Perry: Clear on Mike Norvell – from DJ Uiagalelei continuing to play even after it looked like he had injured his finger, to mind-boggling gambles, to an overall lack of execution that falls squarely on the shoulders of the coaching staff at this point in the season , its apparent unwillingness or inability to make significant changes or repairs (staff and personnel) is mind-numbing for the man who preaches attention to detail in all aspects.

Assuming he’s healthy, is there a reason to stick with DJ Uiagalelei in any capacity going forward?

Evenflow58: There was no reason to do this after the Boston College game, but here we are. You could say the same for pretty much any upperclassman who doesn’t give you good effort and production. I’m okay with playing someone like Farmer because he has a design to think about. Why is Morlock of Cypress actually playing?

Matt Minnick: No. Honestly, DJ made some nice throws tonight. His receivers gave him no help whatsoever and Morlock’s fall in a 14-9 game probably changed the entire second half. So it’s not like DJ was the main or even top 3 issue. BUT, that’s not really relevant here. Relevantly, DJ will no longer play meaningful games at FSU. You have to see what you have at QB before opening 2025 as a 28-point underdog to Bama.

Tim: only if you think this sentence will destroy your young boys. That’s it. Furthermore, you have to see if Brock is the future. And if not, try Luke. No reason to continue the DJ Fairwell tour.

Jon Loesche: The whole team is broken. Brock made the sweetest pass he had ever thrown in an FSU uniform to drop it and it was followed by the OL unblocking two SMU players. Tim might be on to something about the team screwing up Glenn or Luke because of how bad things are.

Perry: Even if this loss somehow doesn’t fall entirely on his shoulders, you just can’t. I know listening to the fans is always a recipe for disaster, but the toxic environment created by hanging on to a quarterback who hasn’t given any reason to keep playing against him on game day is approaching a point of no return .

What is the little hope you can fool yourself into taking away from this game?

Evenflow58: Why would you do that? If you squint, you think you could say that Brock Glenn came into the game and the TEs ended up getting younger, but that’s so minuscule as to be largely irrelevant.

Matt Minnick: Hope for what?

Jon Loesche: So much else has gone wrong that people won’t complain about the white helmets on social media anymore?

Perry: Jalen Brown made a nice catch, Ja’Khi Douglas also had an explosive, Landen Thomas gave even more energy to #freethemyoungins and the defense – whenever it doesn’t completely wipe out all the good it does – is at least occasionally forced punts strung together.

Did this game lower your perception of how bad this team is, or was it exactly what you expected?

Evenflow58: I’m not betting on FSU because there is an emotional connection, both positive and negative. I don’t bet on Miami and Florida for the same reason. As soon as the Cal game ended, I took SMU -5.5 because it was the easiest way I ever thought to make money. This game went about as expected, except DJ had a better game than I thought possible.

Jon Loesche: I’m seriously considering selling my tickets for the UF game. The money that a weekend in Tallahassee will cost would be better spent on the second line at my wedding. Considering this is the only chance I get to make it to a home game, it should tell you how low I feel about the season right now.

Matt Minnick: Nothing changed. I’ve been losing this game for weeks. FSU wins two more games, Charleston Southern and one against Duke, UNC or UF.

Perry: I have to be honest, I didn’t think it would look worse than it did against Boston College against teams other than Miami or Clemson, but in a game where the other team somehow got a ball over their punter for safety beat Florida State looked even more ridiculous.