SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Florida State Seminoles head to South Bend, Indiana, to take on the tenth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a game that has lost all of its luster in FSU's disastrously historic season.
FSU came into the season ranked in the Top 25, and the game against Notre Dame was expected to be a marquee matchup. The Fighting Irish have held up their end of the bargain, running out to a 7-1 record. The Seminoles have been, well, terrible this season.
Heading into the game, Florida State is 1-8 on the season and has one of the worst offenses in the nation. The Noles' offense ranks 132nd out of 134 teams in total offense and 133rd in scoring offense, putting up just 14.4 points per game.
Florida State can't run the football, managing to run the ball better than only Kent State and UCLA. And when the Noles take to the air, they're only marginally better, ranking 108th in the nation, throwing for 188.4 yards per game.
Defensively, FSU is giving up 27.3 points per game, ranking 86th in the country. The Seminoles' defense ranks 96th in the country in total defense, surrendering 392.8 yards per contest.
Ouch.
“I am shocked in where we are,” Norvell said Monday. “You look at some of the results we’ve faced, you look at some of the circumstances that have shown up, you go into a season, and you have a picture in your mind of what things are going to look like. It really has been shocking some of the things that have kind of evolved throughout this season."
The Noles are 26.5-point underdogs to the Fighting Irish on Saturday, and FSU may only be favored in one more game this season, against Charleston Southern.
If FSU wins just one more game or doesn't win another game this year, it would be the Seminoles' lowest win total since 1974, when the team went 1-10.
For Seminoles fans looking for a bright side, the 1975 team won just three games. After that season, the school hired a coach named Bobby Bowden. The Noles didn't post another losing season until 2018.
However, since 2018, Florida State has posted a winning record just twice, in 2022 and 2023.
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