New FSU coach Norvell has impressive track record in openers

Since 2011, his first season as an offensive coordinator, Norvell's teams have posted an 8-1 record in opening games. He was 4-0 as head coach at Memphis and 4-1 as a coordinator at Pitt and Arizona State.

While it's fair to point out that those nine opponents were not often the strongest of competition, it's still a positive sign for FSU fans as the Seminoles prepare to open the 2020 season this Saturday against visiting Georgia Tech (3:30 p.m., ABC).

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If Norvell can improve to 5-0 as a head coach in season openers, it would mark the first time Florida State has started a season with a victory since a memorable 2016 comeback win over Ole Miss in Orlando.

Coincidentally, Norvell led Memphis to a season-opening win against Ole Miss, 15-10, just last season.

"That was an exciting atmosphere," Norvell said after beating the Rebels at home on Aug. 31, 2019. "We said all week, whatever it takes to be one point better. Hat's off to our defensive staff, Coach [Adam] Fuller. Kept them off-balance all game long. Whoever could establish the running game would be successful. We ran for 192 yards; they ran for 80. And to end the game with a six-minute drive ... that's something I'll remember a long, long time."

That six-minute drive included a crucial fourth-down conversion around midfield with three minutes left on a shovel pass to star running back Kenneth Gainwell.

"Those [fourth-down] decisions, you gotta be willing to make," Norvell said afterward. "I believe in our players. We wanted to have an aggressive mindset. I felt good about going out to win the game, and not just hold on. I had confidence that if something bad happened, we would do what was necessary [to win]."

Not only has Norvell won all of his season openers as head coach, but he's 3-1 in Game 2s as well. So that's a 7-1 mark as head coach in the first two games of a season.

When you throw in his work as an offensive coordinator at Pitt in 2011 and at Arizona State from 2012 to 2015, his teams are a combined 16-2 in the first two games of a season -- and that includes wins over Illinois, Wisconsin and UCLA.

Norvell's only loss in a season opener came in 2015, during a 38-17 defeat to Texas A&M in a neutral-site game; he was Arizona State's offensive coordinator at the time.

Other than that, he's been perfect.

In his first and only season as offensive coordinator at Pitt in 2011, the Panthers beat Buffalo 35-16. Perennial All-Pro defender Khalil Mack, who played at Buffalo, was held to five tackles in the win; he did record one sack.

Norvell and head coach Todd Graham won their first three season openers at Arizona State, although all three came against inferior competition -- Northern Arizona, Sacramento State and Weber State.

But in 2012, the Sun Devils beat Illinois 45-14 in Week 2. In 2013, they beat a ranked Wisconsin team, 32-30. And in 2014, they knocked off New Mexico 58-23.

It was that victory over the Badgers, who went 9-4 that year, that wound up being one of the biggest wins during Norvell and Graham's tenure in Tempe. (The game featured a bizarre finish, in which Wisconsin seemed to be in line for a game-winning field goal attempt, but a QB kneel down turned into a bizarre pile-up and the clock ran out).

In that game, Norvell's offense threw for 352 yards, and running back Marion Grice scored four rushing touchdowns.

In fact, if you go back and look at all of Norvell's offenses, they have averaged 41.1 points per game in the first two contests of a season.

As impressive as those numbers are, they aren't nearly as important as the 8-1 mark in season openers overall and the 4-0 record as a head coach.

Getting that fifth in a row, against Geoff Collins' Georgia Tech squad, won't be as easy as beating Mercer in 2018. But if he can get it, that would a huge first step for Norvell as head coach at Florida State.

Not only would it be a positive sign for FSU fans, who have endured three consecutive sub-par seasons, but it would be the first time the players on this roster would have ever contributed to a season-opening win for the 'Noles.

For the past month, Norvell and his staff have been preparing FSU's players for this opportunity. In five days, the Seminoles will see if they can continue his winning ways.

"Now it comes down to the execution in those situations," Norvell said. "That’s something that sometimes is years in the making, of understanding the situation, playing with confidence, being able to go out there and respond to what we see.

"Guys can have a great sense of the play call, the defense, the blitz, special teams call that we have. But when the moment shows up, you have to be able to have 11 guys execute it to the best of their ability and have confidence in that."

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