Column: A win with flaws - but don't worry, be happy

The sidewalks of New Orleans and the seats of Caesars Superdome were filled with college football fans, split equally between those wearing Purple and Gold and those donning the Garnet and Gold. Though their loyalties were distinctly different, fans of Florida State and Louisiana State came to the “Big Easy” expecting this “big game” to foretell their football fortune.

The Seminoles came into the game a 3-point underdog and faced a sold-out crowd of more than 68,000, fully fueled for takeoff at 6:30 CST.

Following the 24-23 upset victory, you could hear hope rising among the FSU faithful as clearly as if in a hot air balloon. The Seminoles dominated for three quarters but very nearly lost it at the end, "We had to win it twice," a Seminole fan told me the next morning.

As Mike Norvell hoisted the Allstate Louisiana Kickoff Trophy, presented by the Sugar Bowl, over his head, the Chiefs blared the fight song and FSU players celebrated as if it were truly a Sugar Bowl victory. You couldn’t blame them for kicking up their heels as this is the first hardware in the Norvell era trophy case and a tangible reward for their buy in and hard work over three challenging years.

In addition to the hardware, the Seminoles brought back a piece of the turf as this upset victory on the road qualifies as a “Sod” game.

This was Norvell’s first big win at Florida State over an SEC opponent in what all Seminoles knew would be a big challenge for the program.

The sound of the Warchant was deafening in the Dome and the tune was carried by FSU fans all the way down Poydras, deep onto Bourbon Street. Seminole fans celebrated like they haven’t won a big game in, well, a very long time.

Simultaneously, you could hear the shattering of hope among a very-confident Tiger Faithful, who expected their $10 million a year investment in former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who they were certain would produce quick dividends. As the fan bases filtered out, you heard the morbid Kelly chatter, certain to be heard well past Bourbon Street.

Such is the fate of those who make their living in an arena.

If not for Shyheim Brown getting his mitt on the ball, the optics for these two coaches and their programs would have been radically different. One play, often a special teams play, can be the difference between victory and defeat; a halo and a noose. The big play was made by the freshman from Lake City, when he squeezed through a crease in the Tigers’ extra-point protection to lay palm on pigskin with time expired.

That blocked extra point, Norvell said, is indicative of this program’s foundation, which he hopes to build upon the next 10 days in preparation for a road trip to Louisville.

“It speaks to what this program is about, Unconquered. That’s it,” Norvell exclaimed. “Ultimately, at the very end anybody could have just (thought) overtime, but (FSU) had one (play), they still had one.”

Norvell praised a team.

“You watch them throughout the course of the night pounding their hearts. We talked about that throughout the week,” Norvell said. “That’s what’s going to win games. That’s what just won that game. It was heart. It was determination. It was the willingness to give a little bit more in a time of need.”

That one play – the blocked extra point – was BIG as it will lead to further player buy in, coaching confidence, and could very well inspire a four- or five-star player to trust FSU’s future under Norvell. The big win could convince some fence-sitters, who have been in “wait and see mode” to commit to season tickets or a donation to the program or, what the heck, a subscription to this website.

The time to wait and see has passed. We’ve waited and we’ve seen: They won.

Last week, we ran a story about the FSU-LSU series and how this series, which FSU leads 8-2, has often played a significant role in the program’s history. Each of those prior wins became significant and advanced the program because they were a building block to something bigger.

Florida State beat an SEC program that’s just a few seasons removed from winning a national championship. That’s a block to build on. And the Seminoles won it with players like Travis, Ward, Brown and others who didn’t get a sniff of interest from LSU (or any other SEC teams for that matter).

This was a big game and FSU found a way to win it because of the culture Norvell and the coaches and players have built.

As the trophy was hoisted and players celebrated, many Seminole fans were still grousing about missed opportunities that easily could have enabled Florida State to blow the Tigers out. Three days later, Norvell was grousing about those 17 points left on the field after what the irritated head coach termed an “average” practice Wednesday morning, a practice where he likely wanted better work on game-day issues.

Dissatisfaction with a victory, or a practice, is a good thing as elevated expectations lead to elevated performance.

On Sunday after the game, Norvell said: “We’re going to go back and watch that film and there's going to be a lot of things that will probably irritate me, but I'm excited about going back to work and getting those better.”

Norvell knows for FSU to use the LSU game as a building block, the team’s practice response to the big win needs to be better than “average.”

“Today was just an average practice. It was the first average practice since we started up,” Norvell said. “It wasn’t good enough in regards to the intensity. Ultimately, it’s a choice we have to make of what we want to be. We’ll practice again tomorrow (Thursday) and see how they respond to it but today wasn’t a good enough workday for what we want to accomplish.”

Norvell said it is sometimes harder for the players to respond after a win.

“The last time we took this trip to where we are going, we had just beaten a team that was highly rated, and we went and got embarrassed. That’s because we didn’t respond very well to success,” Norvell said, referring to his team’s 31-28 victory over No. 5 North Carolina followed by a 48-16 loss at Louisville in the 2020 season.

“When we win a game, yes, I’m excited that we won a game. I don’t think we played our best football game, so I’m pissed about that,” Norvell said. “Ultimately, that’s what we’re here to do is be our best. Yes, effort, heart, that showed up in the end. The character, the identity of what I believe this team has, and what they are about, showed up in that game. I’m really pleased about it. But today we had an opportunity to go out and get better and I think there were a lot of instances where we were just OK being where we were and that’s unacceptable.”

The fans were upset with two, point-blank missed opportunities they put squarely on coaching decisions and, whether coaching or execution, Norvell owned them.

Rather than attempting a field goal on fourth-and-2, right before the half, Norvell called a fade pass to Mycah Pittman. The other play call fans didn’t like came later, this from inside the Tigers’ 1-yard line with less than 1:30 remaining and FSU hoping to extend a seven-point lead. Rather than attempting a more conservative play to run clock and force LSU to burn timeouts, the play was for Jordan Travis to take the snap from under center and option it off guard, or if that wasn’t there, to make a short pitch to Treshaun Ward.

As you know, the play didn’t go as practiced and nearly cost FSU the football game.

The fans didn’t blame the players, who had enjoyed numerous good plays throughout the game. They were blaming the coaches for pitching the ball in that situation. LSU defended Travis, whose pitch to Ward was only slightly off. Ward’s eyes were focused on the hole in front of him, one he could have scored through had the ball not bounced off him. The Tigers pounced on it at the 1-yard line with 1:20 remaining, restoring hope and momentum.

“If you go back and you look at something we ran earlier on a short-yardage situation, it was the execution,” Norvell began, before pivoting quickly to take the blame upon himself. “Could I have had a better play? Absolutely! If it had scored, that would have been a really good play. I felt good about the moment. It was the first time in the last couple of years that’s happened to us (a fumble at goal line) but it happened right there. I have to go back and look at it and make sure that in those moments that we’re going to be aggressive, that we make sure we don’t put the ball in jeopardy. Ultimately, I call the play so that’s on me.”

For many fans, those play calls put a damper on the evening and distracted them from basking in a long-awaited, big-win celebration. Their reaction is not all bad as it tells you expectations are on the rise for those fans and for the irritated head coach back in Tallahassee, who is determined to take the next step.

I was just as alarmed by the Tigers’ 11-play, 99-yard drive in 80 seconds as I was the missed offensive opportunities. Defensive coordinator Adam Fuller, who was determined not to get beat deep (he learned from Jacksonville State but may have overcompensated), put three safeties deep, rushed three and had five defensive backs in man coverage underneath.

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels worked the underneath routes, hitting receivers when open, and running for big chunks when those underneath defenders turned their backs to him in man coverage. It was easy money for Daniels to gain yards and to get out of bounds to preserve time outs. Would zone coverage underneath have been a better solution, where defenders could keep their eyes on Daniels at all times?

Even in man coverage, LSU would not have had time to run 11 plays if not for a couple of missed tackles, a penalty, a busted coverage and defensive backs slipping, all of which left a bad taste in the mouths of those who love defense.

Listen, I’m the last person to advise anyone on how to think or how to consume Seminole sports. That’s obviously an individual matter. I will share advice a sales manager of mine once gave me, which is to celebrate every sale, no matter the dollar amount. He once forced me to stop at a Dairy Queen to reward ourselves with a small vanilla cone — instant gratification he called it — knowing no one at the office would be happy when we arrived with more work for them to process.

I remembered that ice cream cone /Sunday Night and allowed myself to fully indulge in the instant gratification of the celebration.

FSU just closed a BIG deal so it’s OK for our fans to take this moment to celebrate the win, even if it wasn’t as big a win as it could have been.

Wins are precious, especially for this program, which has been in an extended rebuild, so my first thought was to thank the football gods and to enjoy the 15-minute postgame celebration as I knew the following weeks would provide ample time to dissect everything that needs to be improved.

When Norvell went for the touchdown instead of attempting the field goal, it made me think he wasn’t certain his team could outscore Kelly’s team by kicking field goals rather than scoring touchdowns. Norvell isn’t going to say it and he may not even agree with my opinion. But when he went for seven, it took me back 40 years ago, to a time when Bobby Bowden found himself with similar decisions and often made aggressive play calls in unorthodox situations to give his team an edge against superior talent in a hostile environment.

History may offer an explanation for the “Y” of Norvell’s play calling,

You old guys – especially you, Kelly Lowrey – will remember the fake field goal at Ohio State in 1981 when the holder (Lowrey) scored a touchdown instead of the field goal.

It was what Bowden often chose to do until he amassed a roster filled with superior talent.

Look, I’m not disrespecting those early Bowden teams, nor this team, rather offering a possible look into a coach’s mind.

We all remember the “rooskies” that won games, including the “Puntrooskie” at No. 3 Clemson when Bowden called a schoolyard play his graduate assistant had showed him. What made the play so unorthodox was the fact the score was tied at 21-21 with only 90 seconds remaining with the ball on FSU’s own 21-yard line. If that draw-it-in-the-dirt play hadn’t worked, all Clemson had to do was kick a 38-yard field goal for the win.

Beano Cook called it “The greatest play since My Fair Lady” because it worked. But had it not worked, the media and the fan base would have called for Bowden’s head, the way folks in Baton Rouge are calling for Kelly’s today.

The Puntrooskie worked because Bobby called it in a game situation where not one fool coach in the history of football would have had the guts – or lack of game sense – to call it.

Do you remember the rooskies that didn’t work?

The one that stands out the most to me was the “fumble rooskie” in 1990 against another SEC team with a Tiger mascot.

No. 7 Florida State was dominating No. 5 Auburn throughout the first half. The Tigers had just 107 yards and four first downs at halftime to FSU’s 226 yards.

The Seminoles led 17-10 with just 6:41 to play. Facing a third-and-17 at the AU 43, Bowden called the “fumble rooskie,” a play that might have worked if Auburn’s aggressive nose guard Walter Tate hadn’t taken the play off. The design depended on Tate firing through the A gap, past the ball that the FSU center would place on the ground after a “faked snap.” But it didn’t work. Tate, apparently, was tired and didn’t fire out. In fact, he didn’t do anything but fall on the ball.

Jordan-Hare Stadium, which had been silenced by FSU’s offensive efficiency, suddenly erupted, all 85,000 of them. AU scored 10 unanswered points in those final minutes to win 20-17. Two of the top five teams lost that day – Miami and Tennessee – and a Seminole win over No. 5 Auburn may have propelled FSU back into the national title hunt again.

It was a crushing loss and the blame fell squarely on Bowden.

By the time I got to the FSU locker room for post-game interviews, two of FSU’s assistants were there and they weren’t happy about the play call.

One of those coaches said: “When is he going to learn we don’t live in a trailer park anymore. We have the superior players. Let them decide the outcome of the game.”

That moment changed the Bowden Era. The change came from Bowden, who figured it out on his own. Coaches, young or old, learn from their experiences. The Riverboat Gambler put away his bag of tricks that night, at least most of them, and relied on the superior talent of the players he and his staff had been amassing since 1984.

As a result, FSU didn’t beat themselves very often again.

My hunch is Norvell’s play calling will become more conventional (re: conservative) as he gains experience, and the talent catches up with his opponents. “I’m not too proud to change,” Bowden once said. “I like to win too much.”

I see a lot of those early Bowden teams in this Florida State team – teams with heart and guile and just enough talent to give a coach a chance to win. I saw many of Norvell’s play calls – the ones that failed and a half dozen that worked – in much the same light as the unconventional play calls of the early Bowden era. The double reverse pass for the only touchdown of the first half was certainly a Bowden favorite, and one I suspect Bobby smiled down upon.

It was the kind of play you don’t need to run when you have superior talent. But when a coach feels outmanned there’s a real temptation to do the unorthodox to steal an extra possession with a fourth-down conversion or touchdowns over field goals.

In the meantime, allow yourself to enjoy what this team is. Like those early Bowden teams, this FSU football team has become a likeable band of brothers, one that has bought into what their coaches are selling which is a very heavy lift for any head coach, just ask Brian Kelly.

Only time will tell how Mike Norvell’s program will respond to the big win in the Big Easy but this victory in New Orleans certainly gave FSU fans a clearer picture of the program and tangible reasons to have hope for the future.

Follow The Osceola on Facebook

Follow The Osceola on Twitter

Subscribe to the Osceola's YouTube channel

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Apple

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Spotify