Mike Norvell explains benefit of early bye week for FSU

You’d be hard pressed to find a team in better shape heading into Week 3 of the college football season than Florida State. Or at least a coach feeling as comfortable with where his team is at than Mike Norvell following an early bye week at FSU.

The Seminoles were one of a handful of teams that had the luxury of playing in Week 0.

That afforded an earlier start to fall camp, as well as a schedule that includes multiple bye weeks this season. While the first one is early, coming last weekend following an impressive win over LSU, Norvell couldn’t be happier with how things shook out in 2022.

“I actually loved our schedule,” Norvell said. “Like whenever we knew it was somewhat intentional playing the Week 0 game. You look, you’ve got four weeks of camp. We’ve played two. So you’ve got that six-week set. You get a few extra days. We get another six weeks, essentially six-week stretch in front of us with the second bye. So I love the way it times up in the schedule.”

With early bye week, FSU balancing physicality and rest

Now that FSU has gotten two games in the books and enjoyed the early bye week, it’s time for the Seminoles to buckle down for the middle third of their season.

Starting with a road trip to Louisville this Friday (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN), Florida State will play five straight games. The last of those is a bout with No. 5 Clemson at home on Oct. 15 before a second bye on Oct. 22.

Norvell knows his program has a lot of work to do still after going just 8-13 in his first two seasons at the helm. So he has been careful to try to balance working on areas the Seminoles need to get better while making sure it’s sustainable throughout the course of a long season.

To that end, the ‘Noles put in a bit more work in the first bye week than they’re likely to in the second come mid-October.

“We probably got a little bit more physicality and work last week, because we’re still at the beginning of the process,” Norvell explained. “I told you guys last week, the growth of this team, it’s critical that we take those massive steps forward through all the game experience that we’ve had and the things that we’ve learned over the first six weeks of camp and the first two games.

“Now we’ve got to get better. That’s been a big things we’re pushing the players with, and they embrace that and they understand. There will be times later in the season; the second bye will probably be a little bit less physicality, but we’ve got to continue to build that mindset.”