Pre-Thanksgiving snapshot thoughts on Noles/Bucs/Magic/Bolts

 


     Thanksgiving feels like as good a time as any to take the temperature on these 4. The Seminoles are 1 game away from completing their regular season, the Buccaneers are entering the final third of theirs, and the Bolts and Magic are about a quarter of the way through each of theirs.

     Same format as the NFL-snapshot article. No fancy intro, just want to get into the meat of these 4 and where things stand (spoiler: cautious optimism for 3 of them, pure frustration and apathy for the other).

     Let's get the unpleasant part out of the way first....

Florida State Seminoles

Time for a Change

     After the NC State game went final, one thought kept living rent free in my head: "I just want this to be over". I was ready after Stanford, and then Clemson and NC State just further enhanced that feeling.

     I really like Mike and still supported him after the abysmal 2024 season, but more and more I'm feeling that he just doesn't have the answers and is in over his head. I think he really did try like hell this offseason and that his care for the players, university, and community is genuine, but ultimately it's the results that matter and they just haven't been good enough. We went a full year in between ACC wins and it's been 2 full years since their last road win (and will be closer to 3 if they don't win the finale in Gainesville). Those statistics would get you fired even at bottom-tier ACC schools, let alone a program with FSU's pedigree.

     Mike can't assume all the blame. There were times the players didn't execute, or made bad mistakes. And there were times FSU simply had the worst luck. But end of the day the majority of the culpability rests with Norvell. Mike handpicked the players, Mike handpicked the staff, Mike's responsibility is to prepare them to be successful on a weekly basis. When a company goes bankrupt who gets blamed? The CEO or the junior-level staff?

Different problems have plagued them every week

     NC State it was special teams (muffed punts, missed field goals). Clemson it was dropped passes. Virginia and Pitt it was defense (bad tackling, getting bullied in the tranches, guys running wide open across the middle of the field). Miami everything was bad until the 4th quarter, and Stanford is just beyond inexplicable. 































































































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