Florida State Football: Are we seeing the worst Seminole team ever?

After a rare 0-3 start, is it safe to say that 2021 Florida State football is at risk of officially becoming the program’s worst team ever fielded?

Upon hearing such a question, the vast majority of people would scoff and proclaim that Florida State “isn’t that bad.” However, when looking at the personal worsts that they have already set with this season, along with who all awaits them further into their schedule, the idea of 2021 being a new low for the once-great program is not exactly absurd.

For starters, Weeks 2 and 3 of Florida State’s schedule possessed what were supposed to be probable wins. This is especially the case for the former, which had the Seminoles set to host FCS opponent Jacksonville State.

Even with FSU being down on their luck in recent memory, such a little adversary should see a brutal beatdown at the hands of the garnet and gold. But unfortunately, prevent defense was a myth in Tallahassee on the night of Sept. 11 as the Gamecocks ripped off an outstanding catch-and-run to the end zone as time expired to tie a bow on their 20-17 upset win.

That very defeat would be Florida State’s first-ever that involved an FCS foe, and they were subsequently set to enter their conference slate as a winless team. At this point, a Week 3 victory felt a tad far-fetched, as it had the Noles traveling to Winston-Salem to face unbeaten Wake Forest in what would be their first away game of the season.

Back in 2006, the Demon Deacons pulled off their best season to date, and it was headlined by a 30-0 shutout win over FSU. The loss was embarrassing for the Seminoles, but not because they had merely fallen to Wake. Rather, it was because of the fact that, no matter how good Wake Forest was or how bad Florida State was, a team of the latter’s status should never lose by 30 to a team of the former’s.

But nonetheless, it happened, and that game is still regarded as one of FSU’s most shameful to this day. As a result, the powerhouse saw to it that college football fans would never again see a performance of theirs be nearly as lousy as that one. That is, until this last Saturday.

Wake Forest, to put it softheartedly, beat the Noles like a drum.

Florida State turned the ball over six times in a 35-14 humiliation, and they fell to 0-3 on the season for the first time in 45 years as a result.

So to summarize, Florida State has: lost to an FCS opponent for the first time ever, suffered one of their worst-ever losses to the historically weak Demon Deacons, and started a season 0-3 for the first time in almost five decades; and their run is not even a third of the way through.

Lastly, what is yet to come for the Seminoles fails to appear any easier than what they have already endured.

Later on this season, they are set to visit a ranked North Carolina, visit a top-10 Clemson, host an in-state rival in Miami, and visit another in-state rival in ranked Florida.

The only game that FSU fans should feel even remotely confident about winning is the one at home against UMass on Oct. 23. However, they probably felt a similar way about JSU, so maybe they should only believe what they actually see.

But in all seriousness, the ‘Noles will most likely win a game or two in the long run, but anywhere beyond that would most likely have to involve a shocking upset occurring somewhere along the way. In other words, 2-10 is currently the best record that Florida State can realistically obtain over the course of their harsh slate, and there isn’t much that their storied history has seen that’s worse than that.