Florida State tabbed as key 2025 rebound candidate, per ESPN analyst
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Florida State is coming off its worst season this century, and the Seminoles are certainly hoping Mike Norvell has the right recipe to turn things around.
After an undefeated regular season in 2023 that saw Florida State left out of the College Football Playoff entirely, the Seminoles went a horrific 2-10 in 2024. That performance included a 6-game losing streak and just 1 win against an FBS team (Cal).
The offense was among the worst in the country at 15.4 points per game, and the defense did not rank much better. Add it all up, and Norvell and his staff got to work in the offseason to try and turn things around.
The good news is that ESPN’s Bill Connelly believes FSU can turn things around. The creator of the SP+, Connelly has been compiling his list of the teams best poised for a rebound this fall, and he believes the Seminoles will be greatly improved.
Connelly admitted it is some “low-hanging fruit” to grab the Seminoles as a rebound candidate, but he does have the program back around bowl eligibility. Whether or not that’s enough to get Norvell another season remains to be seen, but expect FSU to at least be competitive.
Here’s Connelly’s full comments:
This is some pretty low-hanging fruit — if the Seminoles are average in 2025, that will qualify as solid improvement after last season’s disintegration. I’m not sure what to expect from a remodeled offense; new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn has an awfully Malzahn-friendly QB in the speedy transfer Tommy Castellanos (Boston College) and new potential big-play receivers in Duce Robinson (USC), Squirrel White (Tennessee) and Randy Pittman Jr. (UCF), but it might be hard to get a rebuilt offensive line up to speed. Regardless, the defensive front six has some new playmakers, and again, the bar for improvement is incredibly low. I’m not sure how many games Norvell needs to win to save his job, but the Noles will almost certainly not go 2-10 again.
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Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
