There are enough similarities to see a ray of light.

Florida State was unranked before the 2022 season, knocking off Duquesne before defeating LSU in New Orleans. After two wins, three straight frustrating losses.

The Seminoles were unranked this season, stunning an SEC team, Alabama. But after two wins, now three straight losses.

“I’ve been in this situation before. It's a very similar track in '22,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said. “Probably wasn't a whole lot of big expectations for us in that year. I don't know how many big expectations we had in front of us this year coming in.

“You had a big win early. Beat LSU, all those things. Start off this season beating Alabama. We had a couple close losses that we had opportunities to win. This year same.”

FSU fans would like to forget the three-game stretch in October 2022, just the same as this three-game skid now. Three years ago, the Seminoles bounced back to defeat Georgia Tech, rout Miami, edge Florida and outlast Oklahoma in a bowl game.

We know how FSU’s 2025 season has begun — and it has been two wild seasons in one. But this is who the Seminoles (3-3, 0-3 ACC) are at the midpoint, a mixed bag of success and failure.

There has been enough efficiency and electricity on offense to fuel optimism, even with some significant injuries at receiver and tight end. And there has been enough frustration on defense to raise questions about personnel, assignments and understanding of the new 3-3-5 scheme.

While dejected postgame for three straight weeks, Norvell often chooses optimism in his weekly press conference. That was no different on Monday.

“I don't like it, it doesn't make me happy in any regards,” Norvell said. “When you play good people, which last three opponents are all very capable football teams, if we don't play to the level that we're capable of, you're going to get beat. We got beat. It's about us fixing it. It's about us getting better.

“But I believe in the potential of this team. We've shown what we can do. We've got to do that this Saturday. If we do that, then we'll build upon that for the rest of this year.”

FSU’s task is potentially far more of a mindset than anything else this week. The Seminoles will fly west from Tallahassee to San Francisco on Friday to face Stanford (2-4, 1-2 ACC), which saw an exodus in the spring as a result of coaching change (Troy Taylor was dismissed and Frank Reich was brought in as an interim for the season). 

The Cardinal have lost road games to Hawaii, BYU, Virginia and SMU. They have played their best football at home against two weak opponents, defeating Boston College and San Jose State.

Norvell was asked about some of Tony White’s comments from Sunday, where the defensive coordinator stated he wants to simplify the scheme. After a game in which the Seminoles were often hesitant on defense, Norvell said: “We need to be the aggressor.”

Injury report

Norvell confirmed that linebacker Stefon Thompson would miss the Stanford game due to injury. But he also inferred that Thompson would be back sooner rather than later, perhaps after the bye week prior to the Wake Forest game on Nov. 1.

When asked about wide receiver Duce Robinson, Norvell said: “I do think there is a good chance this week. We’ll see how it progresses.”

Depth question marks

Norvell did not offer updates on right tackle Micah Pettus, tight end Randy Pittman or receivers Squirrel White and Jayvan Boggs. None of them played in FSU’s loss to Pittsburgh. But without them, and Robinson, building drives in the second half on Saturday became a challenge.

Robinson and Pittman are not just Tommy Castellanos’ favorite targets, but they are FSU’s best downfield blockers to help in the run game and passing attack.

“When you get into the depth of that, it's going to change certain things,” Norvell said. “… There's no doubt, that was a difficult circumstance to have to work through there in the second half.”

Late start

This is FSU football’s latest kickoff time since games at San Diego State in 1973 and 1977. FSU is playing its first game against Stanford on Saturday.

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