Mike Norvell and his Florida State coaching staff definitely deserve credit for one thing -- they don't shy away from accepting blame publicly for their mistakes.

In the two days since the Seminoles lost by 16 points at No. 5 Notre Dame, Norvell has said in multiple interviews he was unhappy with some of his in-game decisions at key moments during that game.

"There's things that I would have liked to have done better throughout the course of the contest," Norvell said in his postgame press conference. "A couple calls, a couple situations that I have to improve in."

On Monday night during his weekly coach's show, Norvell went into detail about one of them.

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Shortly before halftime, Florida State drove from its own 25-yard line deep into Notre Dame territory. At the time, the Seminoles were trailing 28-17, and there was less than two minutes left on the clock.

Facing first-and-10 at the Notre Dame 12-yard line, if Florida State had run the ball on either of the next two downs, the Irish would have had to either watch most of the remaining time tick off the clock or use their final timeout. Instead, the Seminoles threw passes on both downs, and the clock stopped after each incomplete pass.

Then when FSU completed a short pass on third down, Notre Dame was able to use its last time out to stop the clock with 1:19 remaining. So when FSU's Ryan Fitzgerald kicked the ensuing field goal to cut the Irish lead to 28-20, the home team had ample time to get back within scoring range before the break.

"That was one of the critical sequences of the game," Norvell said during his coach's show, adding that he should have done a better job of milking more time off the clock.

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That mistake was compounded when special-teams coordinator John Papuchis called for a "sky kick" on the ensuing kickoff. Instead of letting Parker Grothaus kick the ball into the end zone and potentially risk a long return, Papuchis wanted the kicker to hang the ball up higher and shorter to force the Irish to call a fair catch.

Instead, kick returner Jafar Armstrong snared it at his own 7-yard line and returned it 36 yards to the Notre Dame 43. And there was just enough time on the clock -- with the help of an ensuing FSU personal foul -- for the Irish to score a touchdown with just 11 seconds remaining in the half.

That pushed Notre Dame's lead back to 15 points at the break.

Like Norvell, Papuchis took full responsibility for his decision backfiring.

"Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I could take that one back," Papuchis said during his his media session Monday. "The thought process going into it was they have a pretty good kick returner, and I didn't want to kick it deep and put the ball in his hands for fear of him setting up a good return. And we went with a sky kick that we didn't execute real well, but ultimately I'll take all the ownership there. Because I don't know if that's something we spent enough time practicing. ...

"I wish I could have it back and change the thought there. But just like we all do in this, we live and learn and hope to make better decisions moving forward. Certainly that's one I wish we could do over again."

If the Seminoles had managed those final minutes of the first half better, they actually would have had a chance to tie the game early in the third quarter.

FSU would have been trailing by eight points at halftime, and the 'Noles ended up taking the opening kickoff of the second half and marching 75 yards for a touchdown in just seven plays. As it turned out, that score (and failed two-point try) only cut the deficit to nine points, and that was as close as the Seminoles would get.

It's important to note that the coaches also were victims of some bad luck.

* If the sky kick had been executed better, there would not have been a long return.

* If either of the first two passes had been completed, the clock would have kept running or FSU could have scored a touchdown.

* If defensive back Jaiden Lars-Woodbey hadn't committed a late hit out of bounds, Notre Dame might not have scored at all, or might have been forced to settle for a field goal.

But just like he works with his players on Sundays to correct their mistakes from the previous game, Norvell acknowledged he and his staff didn't have a perfect day in South Bend, either.

"We're all in this thing together," Norvell said. "There were things throughout the course of the game that I thought that I would have liked to have done better -- handling a couple of different situations differently."

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