Milton has fond memories of battles with FSU coach; Norvell not so much

They aren't exactly the types of memories Mike Norvell cherishes.

The Florida State head football coach hates losing. And two of those defeats were two of the most painful losses of his career.

But for his famous transfer quarterback, well, they were victories he'll remember for the rest of his life. And looking back, McKenzie Milton says all three games he played against Memphis in 2017 and 2018 were significant in him deciding to finish his college career at Florida State with Norvell.

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But first, let's recap those three games.

Milton's UCF team beat Norvell's Memphis team, 40-13, in September of 2017 and then beat the Tigers again, 62-55, in double-overtime of the AAC Championship game that December.

Then, in 2018, Milton led the Knights to a 31-30 comeback win over Norvell's squad, which held a 30-14 lead late in the second quarter.

"A lot of chips were stacked against us that day," Milton said of the one-point win. "They had a really good team. All of the rain and whatnot. But a lot of good battles with Coach. That's what made me want to join him, just knowing what his program was about there. And I know what he's going to do here.

"I'm just grateful to be a part of it."

In that comeback win over the Tigers in 2018, Milton completed 17 of 29 passes for 296 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He also rushed for a touchdown.

In total, in the three games the two played against each other, Milton accounted for 1,188 total yards from scrimmage and 11 total touchdowns.

In the double-overtime win in the conference title game, Milton threw for 494 yards and five touchdowns and also rushed for 68 yards and a score.

Clearly, the Memphis defense had a hard time figuring out how to slow down the All-America quarterback in those three games.

When Milton was asked about those contests last week at ACC Kickoff, he shared a conversation the FSU players and Norvell had in Charlotte the night before.

"Jermaine (Johnson) asked at dinner, 'So who won when y'all played?," Milton said. "And I was like, 'We played a few times.' And then Coach Norvell was like, 'What does that mean?' Because we beat them every time."

Milton started laughing for a moment before finishing his thought.

"But it's all good," he said. "Like I said, they could have won those games, too. The ball rolls this way or that way, Memphis is on top there. Luckily, we were on the right side of it. And hopefully we're on the right side of it here, too."

Milton has been on the right side of 23 straight games as a starting quarterback, so it's not like Norvell was the only coach losing to him back then.

But he is the only one of those guys who is currently coaching Milton.

And while Milton still has plenty of work to do to win the Florida State job this fall, Norvell certainly remembers -- how could he forget? -- the type of player Milton was when he was leading UCF to national prominence.

Not that the FSU head coach brings up those games in conversation.

"We try not to talk about it because I won't let him talk about it," Norvell said with a smile. "It didn't go my way very much against him. But he's just the ultimate competitor. And a guy you knew would always put his football team in a position to achieve success. It's who he is.

"And I'm grateful for the opportunity to coach with him, and to coach him. It's exciting to see just that ownership he has in our program."

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