Florida State coach Mike Norwell apologized for his team's 20-17 loss to Jacksonville State on an untimely touchdown pass late Saturday. It was the first defeat by an FCS opponent in the program's history.
In his second year as head coach of Florida State, Norwell took full responsibility for the loss, which he described as "completely unacceptable". Speaking of Saturday, Florida State had a 26-0 lead against teams that were FCS members at the time of the game since the FBS/FCS split in 1978.
The last time Florida State lost to a non-dominant opponent was 1961 versus Southern Miss. At the time, Southern Miss was in the College Division (the precursor to Division II/III).
"I apologize to our fan base, to our university, to all the Seminoles for our performance," Norwell said. "I take ownership of it, but we go in and do things, fix things that have to be improved to play to the level we are capable of playing. This team has talent, they have Dil hai, they really believe we can accomplish what we do, but we have to execute. It may not be something we talk about at the moment. I have been a part of challenging times before Tonight is a challenging time for our university and our football team. We will get it fixed."
With six seconds remaining, Florida State took a 17–14 lead, but Jacksonville State was in a state of desperation, knowing it needed a point. Quarterback Jerich Cooper threw a pass to Damond Philo-Johnson, who got behind the defense and ended time for two tacklers to run into the end zone for a 59-yard score, as well as Florida State coaches, players and fans. was shocking.
Norwell reported that his team did not line up in defense, but tried to put pressure on the quarterback as Jacksonville State had a timeout remaining. Defensive end Jermaine Johnson II said the Seminoles "didn't perform how we were supposed to" on the final play.
Jacksonville State raised its flag in midfield in celebration of victory.
"It's embarrassing," said Florida State quarterback Mackenzie Milton. "We have to own it. We are the ones. We lost to Jacksonville State. We are 0-2, so we can only look forward."
Florida State has made the same mistakes that plagued the team in its most recent four-year slump: too many penalties, too many passes dropped, too many missed acts, too many missed tackles. The Seminoles had 11 penalties for 114 yards, many of them blocking drives or making it hard for the offense to gain any momentum.
"If we put ourselves in a similar position, we'll probably lose every game," Milton said.
Florida State has finished with a record loss in three straight seasons – including 3–6 in Year 1 under Norwell. But he and his players spoke optimistically about this season, believing that this team would show improvement. After taking Notre Dame down the wire in an overtime loss on Sunday night, it seemed easy to believe that progress had been made. The state of Florida showed a grit and resilience that had been missing for quite some time.
But their performance against Jacksonville State showed that even the lowest moments for the Seminoles were still not far behind them. If anything, losing to an FCS school for the first time in the school's history shows that the state of Florida still has a long way to go before it can actually fix all of the issues inside the program.
"Our focus should be on us," Norwell said. "We have to go out there and make sure we're doing the necessary things to represent this program the way it's supposed to be represented. That needs to be our only focus. People are extremely upset. They are Everyone is disappointed, because we are as an employee."
The problem is that coaches and players send the same message about correcting mistakes and making the team more disciplined during game days. But when the same problems continue and spread to different coaching staff, how are they ultimately fixed?
"We're still all bought in," Johnson said. "Next week, we'll have to flush it. You've got to give a great response. That's what we're building on. If not, we're just fake. We can only lead by example, everyone on the team. Yours. Put the best foot forward and attack him in the right way. We have to do that and we will do that."