Almost every weekend, it seems as if the Florida State Seminoles are hitting a new low in the Mike Norvell era. This season started so promising with a win over Alabama, but the last four weeks have been an unraveling. Even after stunning losses to Virginia and Pittsburgh, there was no world where you could imagine this team losing to Stanford.
The Cardinal lost their star running back Micah Ford early in this game, and Ben Gulbranson to injury, yet the Seminoles couldn't find a way to outscore the Cardinal. Mike Norvell's team hurt themselves several times in this game with outrageous penalties that felt like a breaking point.
After Edwin Joseph jumped offside, Mike Norvell tried to confront him, which ended up in a massive feud on the sidelines, and the two had to be separated.
https://t.co/XUUZRHVeIe pic.twitter.com/MgSoAUxNsq
— mrohr (@mrohr77) October 19, 2025
This isn't a talent issue, as Florida State should never under any circumstances lose to this Stanford group. The Seminoles may have come back if not for Tommy Castellanos wasn't knocked out of the game on a dirty hit, but the Seminoles still were trailing at that point, which shouldn't happen with a typical Florida State team.
How much is Mike Norvell's buyout?
Following the impressive run the Florida State Seminoles went on in 2023 and fearing that Alabama may pick him to follow Nick Saban, Mike Norvell was given a massive extension, which makes it almost impossible to move on from him. If Florida State chooses to move on from Mike Norvell, they'd owe him over $58 million which is a massive cost to stomach. It's more likely this team will have to hold onto Norvell at least for another season, as it's hard to take such a financial hit in this revenue-sharing era. That may be the wrong way of thinking however, after Penn State just paid a fortune to rid themselves of James Franklin.
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