South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Turnaround season has Seminoles excited for 2023
The garnet and gold pieces of confetti that dotted Jared Verse’s face and arms were colorful reminders of Florida State’s recent success, an impressive 35-32 win over Oklahoma to claim the Cheez-It Bowl late Thursday night.
With the Seminole War Chant still echoing throughout cavernous Camping World Stadium, Verse and the Seminoles could celebrate the program’s first 10-win season since 2016.
It wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination, with the undermanned Sooners (6-7, 3-6 Big 12) jumping out to an early doubledigit advantage before No. 13 FSU (10-3, 5-3 ACC) fought back to retake the lead midway through the third quarter. The game quickly turned into a back-and-forth affair that saw the Seminoles needing a late fumble recovery and a 32-yard field goal to seal the win with 55 seconds left.
The win earned Florida State coach Mike Norvell a Cheez-It bath as confetti showered the team in celebration.
“I will put no limits to what we can accomplish as a team,” Norvell said after the game. “I was disappointed in some of the setbacks that we faced earlier in the season, but these guys never stopped working and never stopped believing.”
The Seminoles enter offseason conditioning riding a wave of momentum, particularly with the return of several influential starters such as quarterback Jordan Travis, running back Trey Benson, receiver Mycah Pittman, offensive linemen Maurice Smith and Robert Scott and linebackers Kalen DeLoach and Tatum Bethune.
Travis finished with a career-high 3,631 yards of total offense and 32 total touchdowns. The redshirt junior became the 11th quarterback in school history to pass for 3,000 yards in a season.
“We’re not done yet. This is just the beginning,” Travis said Thursday. “We have another chapter. This is the end of the chapter of this year, but we still have a lot, a lot to do. I have a lot of plans for next year and a lot of goals, and I can’t wait.”
“A lot of work,” Norvell said with a smile. “A lot of work, too — 100 percent,” Travis said.
This has been a wonderful statistical season, with FSU averaging 36 points and 484 yards per game for the first time since 2013. The offensive line, which had been a nightmare between 2016-19, saw a tremendous turnaround, allowing just 20 sacks — the lowest total since 2009.
The defense put together one of its best seasons since 2016, allowing 20.6 points and 321 yards per game while totaling 40 sacks.
“We’re getting better and our objective is that every day we go out on that field or in the classroom or whatever we are doing, we want improvement,” Norvell said.
Along with the returning starters, Florida State signed the No. 16 recruiting class with 24 prospects. Eighteen of those players are early enrollees, including transfers Jeremiah Bell (South Carolina), Jeremiah Byers (UTEP), Darrell Jackson (Miami), Keiondre Jones (Auburn), Kyle Morlock (Shorter), Casey Roddick (Colorado) and Braden Fiske (Western Michigan).
FSU signed the No. 2 overall transfer class, according to 247Sports’ composite ranking.
It’s a blueprint that Norvell and his staff have followed since arriving, signing 43 transfers, many of whom have played a successful role in Florida State’s turnaround.
“For where we are going, I can promise you, there are great days ahead in Tallahassee,” Norvell said. “The future is very bright for this program, but it is because of the people that we have. It is because of that constant push to get better and guys are just willing to fight the fight.”
For many FSU players, this season’s success is something upon which to model their future endeavors.
“Use this year as an example of where we started in January of last year; it all built up to what we had this year,” tailback Treshaun Ward said. “It’s only going to get better from this point on and we’re just going to work even harder to get to that national championship.”
“We just getting started,” receiver Johnny Wilson added.