Less than two months before Florida State’s marquee early-season matchup against the LSU Tigers in New Orleans, Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell and a group of players are heading to Charlotte for the ACC Football Kickoff media event.
Four hours to the southwest in Atlanta, SEC Media Days are already underway. LSU head coach Brian Kelly met with reporters and offered up praise of Norvell, saying he’s seen clear signs of “progress” in FSU’s program.
Kelly would know. His former program, Notre Dame, matched up with Florida State three times since 2018.
“I think probably more than anything else, the fight in that (2021) team," said Kelly. "I thought they fought for four quarters against Notre Dame last year.
"That was a team that obviously played to overtime. They were down late, came back. That has a lot to do with buy-in. You could see them playing harder and harder.”
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After describing the challenges of knowing what he has on his own sideline in Baton Rouge, Kelly said that the Seminoles' identity finally started to mirror its head coach last season.
“Maybe that wasn’t as visible earlier on. This is a team now that has Mike’s stamp on it. It’s going to play hard for four quarters,” Kelly said. “You can see the development of younger players coming along, especially on the offensive line. Defensively, there’s a structure there that is sound and fundamental.”
Although also in defeat, the 2020 matchup was one of FSU’s stronger showings during Norvell’s first season as head coach. FSU fell 42-26, but led No. 5 Notre Dame 17-14 on the road in the first half at a time where the ’Noles were 1-2 and still seeking their first FBS win.
“So I really just think you’re just seeing the signs of a football program, inside-out, making the incremental progress,” Kelly said of FSU. “Everybody wants to see more wins, but as a football coach, my eyes see a program that’s been getting better and better.”
Kelly was also asked how much of his game notes or scouting during his time at Notre Dame from the previous matchups with the ’Noles translates and is beneficial to his new staff preparation’s ahead of the Sept. 4 battle this season.
“Yeah, a lot of them carry over. I mean, obviously we evaluate; they lost some really good players," he said. "Defensively, obviously, one of the better defensive players in the country. But certainly we’re relying on a lot of that film and certainly player evaluations. I know a lot about what they want to do offensively, though they lost their offensive coordinator. There’s a lot of familiar notes that we can go back to.”
Kelly has been an FBS head coach since 2004 and is well aware of how early-season games and openers can sometimes play out in unpredictable ways.
“It’s an opener,” Kelly said. “You kinda, you throw a lot of that stuff out because you know everybody’s going to be playing at their highest level in their opener.”
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