Mike Norvell speaks to media after Florida State’s loss to Georgia Tech

Mike Norvell’s debut went the exact opposite as he had hoped. For the fourth straight year, Florida State has lost their season opener. After a scripted first drive touchdown, Norvell’s offense struggled to do much of anything the rest of the night. FSU fell to Georgia Tech by a score of 16-13 in Norvell’s debut.

In their last nine drives, FSU posted just 194 yards on 62 plays. The offense couldn’t find execution due to dropped passes and critical penalties. FSU couldn’t sustain drives with third down conversions, which made it hard for them to score. On the offense, Norvell said, “We have to do a better job of focusing on the next play, going out there and executing to the best of our ability and we’ll be able to overcome some of those situations.”

Florida State could never find a consistent attack on offense. Norvell didn’t put that on any single position. He said, “When you look at the offense in general, the consistency didn’t really show up at any position. We had quite a few mistakes that showed up in critical situations.”

On the flip side, FSU’s defense just couldn’t get off the field on third downs. Norvell: “Missed out on some opportunities to get them off the field. Allowed them to convert on 50% of third downs and extend drives. Had some miscommunications, some things we just can’t have.”

Despite the loss, Norvell is still positive about this team’s future. He said, “This football team does not have to be defined by tonight. They’ll be defined by how they they respond to this situation and how we move forward together as a program.”

For Norvell’s full presser, see below: