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Clark: How FSU became youngest team in college football

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Contact: Chris Sabanosh / csabanosh@jfqlending.com / (480) 562-6267

You might think there is no excuse for Florida State to be THIS bad.

You might think there is no excuse for Florida State to be THIS big an underdog this weekend, no matter if it's Clemson or Alabama or the New Orleans Saints.

Florida State should never be in a position where it's on a three-game losing streak to Louisville, Pitt and N.C. State, and has been outscored by over 70 points in that span.

That's a perfectly reasonable expectation.

But here we are.

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Redshirt freshman offensive linemen Darius Washington and Maurice Smith have started for most of this season.
Redshirt freshman offensive linemen Darius Washington and Maurice Smith have started for most of this season. (Gene Williams/Warchant)

Florida State is indeed on a three-game losing streak, it is indeed 2-6 (about to be 2-7), and it indeed has been blown out in all three games.

None of that should be expected or accepted. None of that should be normalized or rationalized. Florida State has become one of the very worst teams in the United States. The question, no matter the head coach, is can it be turned around and can it be turned around quickly?

No one knows that answer for sure, but the one bright spot in this 2020 mess, the one silver lining in a season full of dark clouds, is the fact that the Florida State football team has played more underclassmen than virtually any team in the country.

The Seminoles are incredibly young, incredibly inexperienced and maybe -- just maybe -- the losses of 2020 will end up being a great teaching lesson for the years to come.

Here's what head coach Mike Norvell has to work with on offense:

His top two rushers from 2019 are gone. His top two QBs from 2019 are gone. And with the recent dismissal of Tamorrion Terry, the top five receivers from 2019 are all gone as well.

There isn't a team in the country that has been decimated like that from a production standpoint, and let's not forget that the 2019 team wasn't exactly a championship contender.

The top four rushers on the 2020 team are as follows: Sophomore, sophomore, sophomore, freshman. And with the NCAA rules granting eligibility for this season, they will all be underclassmen again next season.

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