Two hours after Florida State fell to 0-3 with its second straight home loss to Memphis on Sept. 14, the Florida Gators appeared to join them in the dumpster of college football.

In the midst of a monsoon, UF fell behind Texas A&M 20-0 in the first half for a 33-20 loss, and the Billy Napier era seemed to be over. Two former top programs have become the laughing stock of college football, and the only bowl the two appeared to be headed for was one made of porcelain.

“To be honest, I probably would have done the same thing,” Billy Napier said after the game about the chorus of boos in the Swamp during the game.

Three months later, the only cheers heard for Napier at Doak Cambell Stadium were: “Come Gators, get up and go!” Chants erupted from the UF section, creating a desolate scene as Mike Norvell limped off the field, freezing, after throwing a Florida flag for the final time to cap off a disastrous 2024 season.

“We made too many mistakes throughout the game, we turned the ball over five times, too many negative plays on offense,” a visibly exhausted Norvell said after the game.

In theory, the gap between FSU and UF shouldn’t be that big. 247Sports ranks these teams 13th and 14th in their talent rankings. Both floundered over the course of the year, with season-ending injuries to transfer quarterbacks leading to both starting as highly touted true freshman quarterbacks – a first in the series between the two.

The difference that became apparent throughout the year and was painfully obvious Saturday night was that one team embraced adversity and the other did not. One side wanted to improve and found the answers in the locker room, while the other collapsed. Earlier this week, Billy Napier said he had “his own grass to cut” when asked about the state of the FSU program earlier this week. He then drove a John Deere into Norvell’s backyard and did a few wheelies while leaving the lawn bare.

A year after being named state and ACC champions, Florida State lost to Miami and Florida by a combined 42 points and sits in last place in the conference at the end of the year. The look of this game mattered almost more than the result given the state of the programs, and UF won in that department too, not letting off the gas late and covering its widest spread in the series since 2019. True freshman DJ Lagway put together a dual-threat performance at the Sunshine Showdown that, while not exceptional, still made a few throws and points off the court that left both fan bases open-mouthed. The Gators have acquired nine recruits in the last two and a half weeks, three of them at the expense of Florida State, which is holding on to anyone it can find as the early signing period approaches.

Didn’t what happened today sum up the Seminoles’ season? They were in the game but never looked like they had a chance to win it, literally taking advantage of every opportunity to get competitive. The offensive line, which was terrible all season, forced Kromenhoek to run for his life, allowing eight sacks and double-digit TFLs – unfortunately the status quo for this group all season.

The defense, which had stood firm for most of the first halves of the season, finally relented after a 65-yard TD run by Montrell Johnson Jr. in the fourth quarter. The offense put them in a bad position all season, and the defense collapsed in this run after being stretched to the limit up to that point.

The special teams mishaps, the terrible situational playcalling, and the one-step-forward, two-step-back style of play that the public saw week after week. Tonight could have been Memphis, Duke or Clemson, but instead it was a head coach with an 18-19 all-time record and a true freshman quarterback who will only get better as the years go by.

FSU even created positive moments that gave us time to pause. For most of the game, Luke Kromenhoek was on par with Lagway and finished the game with similar stats. Some of the young players on defense made impressive plays, such as Edwin Joseph’s pass breakup on third down. The truth is, it wasn’t all bad tonight, but all the critical moments went in UF’s way because they are a more talented, better coached and harder playing team than Florida State.

At least it’s all over now – with a season-opening game against Alabama awaiting FSU the next time the Seminoles take the field.

Until then, here are three thoughts on Florida State’s latest frustrating failure (on the field) in 2024.

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1. Turn the ball over like it’s going out of style

Florida State has struggled with turnovers all season, often in the worst moments of the game.

The Kam Davis muff inside the five may have been the worst of the year.

To cap off a 13-game series, Norvell quickly pushed his team to the finish line, making a similar play to the one he did two years ago at the end of the game against LSU and getting the same result. The ball squirted free for the seventh time, the fourth time was recovered by the Gators, and the game essentially ended on that snap. UF responded with a 93-yard touchdown drive less than three minutes in, as Montrell Johnson Jr. scampered into the end zone.

Davis wasn’t the only true freshman to make a critical mistake, as Lawyne McCoy botched a punt after being benched for BJ Gibson last week. He never seemed comfortable all season, and again a strange special teams play came at the worst possible time.

Florida State finally played complementary football for the first time by putting its opening points on the board, and the defense made a quick stop to give the ball back to their counterpart with momentum. But of course, FSU stubbed its toe at the opportunity to go through an open door and collapsed when McCoy punted at the 12-yard line. The defense did an impressive job holding the Gators to just three, but the cake for a UF win was already in the oven.

Somehow the Seminoles fumbled the ball eight times, lost it five times and gave the opponent an interception that they dropped. FSU finished the year with a -16 revenue margin as any bounce came against them and their terrible fundamentals buried them.

2. From First to Worst

I’m open to discussing that Trey Benson and Jordan Travis have filled a lot of holes on this offensive line over the past few seasons, but tonight, like everything else, they described their putrid season.

On senior night, Darius Washington played a game to forget. In the first quarter, the UF edge rusher beat him cleanly off the edge, resulting in a strip sack on Kromenhoek that bounced back into FSU’s hands. Later in the game, Kromenhoek lost the football on the same play because Washington couldn’t keep it upright, and this time Napier’s team recovered. Rob Scott later came on for Washington, but the OL game never improved. All five guys will watch the film tomorrow and no one will say they played their best game. Julian Armella, who appears destined to leave FSU at the end of the season, had the best performance of any OL as he flew off the sideline to face the UF players and the flag at midfield at the end of the game hissed. As mentioned, Florida finished the game with eight sacks, 14 tackles for loss and eight forced fumbles.

On the bright side, the Seminoles didn’t commit a single penalty.

Progress.

3. Off-field storylines

Normally, when the clock hits zero, media representatives on the field are quickly escorted to the press conference. However, knowing today’s events, I asked the intern if we could wait 30 seconds to see if anything would happen. As I said those words, a silver pole shot into the air and the FSU sideline showed more life than it had all season. It turns out that Mike Norvell threw the flag out of the ground and Coach Napier expressed his opinion. UF took chunks out of the FSU end zone a few minutes later in revenge for last year’s prank play; They filled Doak Campbell Stadium with cigar smoke. I didn’t mind what UF did because A. Winners go for the spoils, and B. If you don’t want anyone to plant a flag on your field, you shouldn’t lose in the first place. But it was a ridiculous situation overall, considering a high school could beat FSU this year and UF still finished 7-5, even though it was the most exciting part of the game. At a heated post-match press conference, I asked Norvell what he thought of the scuffle and his conversion with Napier. He tried to hold back as much as possible, but dropped a few hints.

“I told him what I thought. You won the game. You have the right to celebrate, just as we have in previous years. If you want to come and do that, that’s your decision that you can make within the team, but I told him what I think.”

A few hours before the confrontation in Tallahassee, ESPN reported that Gus Malzahn would be stepping down from his position as head coach at UCF and becoming the new offensive coordinator at Florida State.

It’s debatable whether Norvell wanted the announcement about Malzahn or his postgame interaction to become the storyline of today’s game, but it helped turn the page on the 2025 season. With this news, the narrative changed from FSU being 2-10 to start the season and preparing for signing day on Wednesday.

Despite his passion during the press conference, he showed more relief than any other emotion that this year was finally coming to an end.