I originally wanted to sit down with Mike Norvell and discuss our "moment" together back in November. Back when Florida State had turned its season around, won five of seven games and actually had a chance to make a bowl game.

Then Florida happened.

Then Travis Hunter happened.

And I figured it might be best if I put the idea on ice for a while.

But still, that press conference always stuck with me. Not just because I almost singlehandedly turned around the fortunes of the Florida State football team with a single question, but because I always wondered what he thought of that exchange.

So, because he's the most media-friendly head coach in college football, and because I'm a huge deal that gets anything he asks for, I floated out the idea of he and I revisiting that moment from Sept. 27, 2021 -- when he gave an answer that quickly became a viral moment (a positive one!) to an FSU fan base searching for anything to feel good about.

To refresh your memory, it came after I asked him -- twice actually -- how he was selling his program to recruits when the Seminoles were 0-4 on the year and he was just 3-10 in his first 13 games as the Florida State head coach.

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Norvell's team had just come off a 31-23 loss to Louisville, but that second half -- in which the Cardinals didn't score a single point and had just 79 yards of total offense -- showed some actual promise for the first time since the Notre Dame game.

At the same time, 0-4 is 0-4. And Florida State hadn't been staring at a record like that since before I was born.

So I wanted to know how Norvell was selling his program to recruits and their parents. Keep in mind: This was before the NIL boom of 2022, where in theory it really doesn't matter what your sales pitch is to recruits as long as it involves some commas and a lot of zeroes.

But way back in the fall of 2021, trying to instill belief in recruits and transfers that they weren't going to be joining a perennial dumpster fire was a rather large priority.

So, I asked the question ... poorly. Then asked it again.

And Norvell gave an answer that lasted almost a full five minutes.

With each sentence, he grew more and more impassioned -- while staring at me the entire time. And because I wasn't going to avert my gaze from a question I asked, it turned into the longest uninterrupted eye contact of my life.

Just two dudes staring at each other. One talking louder and louder. The other wondering: "Is this guy gonna swing on me?"

So, here we are almost eight months later.

Florida State did go on, after that emotional soliloquy by its head coach, to win five of the next eight games -- including narrow losses at Clemson and Florida and a competitive loss to N.C. State without starting quarterback Jordan Travis.

And then it did sign a decent (Hunter-less) class in December. And it brought in a good stable of transfers.

The program, in my opinion, is upwardly mobile and could/should make a bowl game in 2022 at the very least.

So, with that as the backdrop, I wanted to sit down and watch that press conference moment again with Norvell. I thought it would be an interesting look inside his thought process during that moment, how he felt when the question was asked, and how he felt he handled it.

I also wanted to once again take full credit for his team's turnaround in the second half of 2021. For being the spark that eventually led to a home win over Miami and impressive road wins over North Carolina and Boston College.

Look, it's all in a day's work, people.

And Norvell was nice enough to give Aslan and me about 30 minutes to go over that answer, to break down how he conveyed his message that day and how he continues to convey it to his players.

So, check out the embedded video when you get a chance. It's a pretty interesting glimpse into how he ticks and what he was thinking in that moment -- and how, in my mind anyway, he can't really turn it off. The way he speaks to me watching the video is rather similar to the way he was talking to me IN the video.

It's just who he is.

And for the record, he made a point to reiterate that he wasn't mad at me for the question. He was angry that his team was 0-4 and that all the hard work his players had put in up until that point had not translated to any on-field success.

But that was coming.

As he left the dais following that answer -- there was really no way anyone else was going to ask a question after that moment -- he had no idea his team was about to turn things around.

He did find out quickly, though, that his five-minute answer had been received well by the Florida State community.

"I had plenty of people that reached out to comment," Norvell said. "Or said something to me about it. ... At the end of the day, I try to be as genuine and real in those moments of what I felt. You asked a question. And that was our reality. There is no coach-speak, none of that, in that time. That's the daily belief.

"If you sit there and ask our players what shows up at 7 in the morning for a Tuesday practice, it's that. You asked a question that got me excited about the opportunity to express what we are looking for."

So, if Florida State goes on this season to have an eight- or nine-win season and maybe challenge for an ACC Atlantic Division title, then again, I'm just going to go ahead and take credit for turning this entire program around on that afternoon on Sept. 27, 2021.

If that doesn't happen ... then, I mean, that's on somebody else, right? I did all I could.

And in all seriousness, go watch that video. It's fun and informative, and I think gives a real genuine look inside the head coach of this program.

Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.

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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council