5 Florida State Seminoles most to blame for apocalyptic 0-2 start

Didn't we see rock bottom only a few years ago at Florida State? After winning its first 13 games of the 2023 college football season, the then-undefeated Seminoles got annihilated by the Georgia Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl. Despite feeling like the got robbed by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee last December, the Seminoles have done a terrible job on the gridiron since.

Florida State finds itself at a completely desperate 0-2 record in ACC play. The Seminoles lost on a last-second field goal to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Week 0 across the pond in Ireland. In what was the final game of the Week 1 slate, Florida State threw up all over itself vs. Thomas Castellanos and the Boston College Eagles in Bill O'Brien's ultra-sweaty debut as their head coach.

If Florida State wins out, the Seminoles could still make the expanded College Football Playoff as an 11-2 (6-2) ACC Champion. However, there could be even more losses on the horizon for the 'Noles. Florida State is supposed to be propping up the ACC, not trying to leave it. All the while, the type of play they have demonstrated since losing Jordan Travis would render them dog food in the new SEC.

After being presented problems and offered no solutions, we must point the finger at some 'Noles!

5. Florida State Seminoles athletic director Michael Alford

I don't know if I am reaching here, but I am just going to go for it. All the talk of Florida State getting robbed by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee last season may have been justified in the moment, but the bitterest of Seminoles have let it define them. With talks of the university wanting to leave the ACC immediately, some of the blame here has to fall on their AD Michael Alford.

While I understand why ACC schools like Clemson and Florida State are disgusted by their league's Grant of Rights, neither are doing a great job of making the SEC want them. I don't think two schools had a worse weekend that Clemson and Florida State. Clemson got destroyed by regional rival Georgia because Dabo Swinney hates the transfer portal more than Al Michaels hates vegetables.

Florida State may have lost a tough one in Ireland to ascending Georgia Tech team, but the Seminoles completely mailed it in vs. Boston College. It was a home game, and Doak Campbell sounded like a funeral procession on primetime television. In a way, Alford play a hand in this by embodying some newfound philosophy known as Florida State exceptionalism. Nobody eventually remotely cares.

Alford had months to help cleanse the fan base's palate after a year gone awry, and he so did not.

4. Florida State Seminoles defensive coordinator Adam Fuller

I think a fair shame of blame-game pie should be served out to Adam Fuller as well. Florida State's defensive coordinator needed to be exceptional with his side of the ball for the Seminoles' first three weeks, and it was not. Fuller's defense was dreadful at stopping the run vs. both Georgia Tech and Boston College. Haynes King and Thomas Castellanos are mobile, so why were they so unprepared?

You are playing two conferences foes, ones that are ascending under their new head coaches, in standalone primetime spots. You are not only breaking in a new quarterback in the continually disappointing D.J. Uiagalelei, but head coach Mike Norvell did not have offensive coordinator Alex Atkins available. No, they won't have him available vs. Norvell's former team in Memphis on Sept. 14.

While I totally understand that star defenders like Jared Verse now play in the NFL, this is also Florida State. This is every bit the traditional power we so often see in the college football world. A better plan for run defense could have beaten Georgia Tech, and may have kept it closer vs. Boston College. The defense needed to show up these last two weeks, and that side of the ball failed them miserably.

Florida State may have been playing with a hand tied behind its back but the 'Noles knew this, man.

3. Florida State Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell

As expected, much of this falls on head coach Mike Norvell. The strong culture we thought he was building in Tallahassee is starting to disintegrate before our very eyes. All of last year's top players decided to sit out instead of playing in the Orange Bowl, and it shows. Georgia had just as much beef about not making the playoff and chose to go about it differently. The Dawgs handle adversity better.

Admittedly, I still like Norvell as a head coach and what he has done both at Florida State and Memphis previously. It is hard to blame him more than this, but it does feel like he has let his program slip through his fingers. He has done a great job in recent seasons of winning big in the portal, but when you live by the portal, you die by the portal. Is he still bringing in the right guys for this team?

I hate to say it, but if Florida State goes worse than 8-4 this season, people are going to want to run him out of town. Doing that would be beyond stupid for Florida State, but I do feel like we have been sold a bill of goods with this team. Nobody is a bigger face of the Florida State program than Norvell, so he needs to continue to own that, through good times, bad times and this unmitigated disaster.

Part of me thinks he might have left if Alabama was really all that interested in hiring him last winter.

2. Florida State Seminoles quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei

Without question, transfer quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei is going to receive the bulk of the blame for Florida State's atrocious start. Although he is still only a kid, this isn't his first rodeo as a Power Five starter either. The former five-star from Southern California started at Clemson for two years (2021-22), last season Oregon State (2023) and now gets to lead another program over at Florida State.

I don't know what it is, but the game never seems to slow down for him. He far too often fails to feel the pressure of the blitz. While he can run a bit, he often chooses not to. Even more frustrating, his powerful right arm is rendered useless more often than not because accuracy remains his biggest issue. And it is not like has played for bad coaches during his collegiate career, quite the contrary.

Admittedly, I was hopeful he would have a fifth-year senior season like Kenny Pickett did at Pitt back in 2021. Again, Uiagalelei is dripping with talent, but extracting said talent has been little more than a perpetual ice cream headache. Florida State swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker. If he looks bad vs. Memphis in two weeks, there is no reason he should be starting another game for the Seminoles.

We are now in year five of DJ U in college, and we still are waiting for him to play like a five-star once.

1. Florida State Seminoles offensive coordinator Alex Atkins

Are you watching closely? You do realize who was missing in action during Florida State's last two losses, right? That would be their highly-touted offensive coordinator Alex Atkins. The reason he was not available these last two games was because he was suspended. He will be out again vs. Memphis for his role in tampering with former Georgia star Amarius Mims in the transfer portal two years ago.

Atkins had been one of the best coordinators in college football. His ascension coincided with Florida State's rise to the top of the ACC. I think he would have made a world of difference had he been coaching in the game. Atkins would have taken pressure of Mike Norvell, Adam Fuller's defense and the Florida State administration. I think he would have made the offense idiot proof for D.J. Uiagalelei.

To add insult to injury, Atkins is only just beginning his first season of a two-year show cause for recruiting violations. This means he cannot be hired away from Florida State after this season. While this could work out of for Norvell and company in 2025, we have seen enough. Atkins is the secret sauce at Florida State, just like what Mike Bloomgren was for years at Stanford under David Shaw.

If you want to point the finger at anyone, how about Atkins getting caught and not being available?