Mike Norvell on FSU's run game: 'It's been awful'

Florida State is in the midst of a much-needed bye week following one of the most surprising and disappointing starts to a season in recent history. That of course follows the Seminoles’ undefeated regular season and ACC Championship win from last year with a 1-5 start to the season.

Fingers can be pointed in various directions regarding what the problem has been for the Seminoles, but one of the most glaring has been their struggles in the run game. It’s an area that head coach Mike Norvell was asked about during his press conference on Wednesday.

“You always have self scout, you’re always trying to evaluate what and why throughout the course of a season,” Norvell said. “And as you get into a game week, you see the issue and it’s about correcting the issues and going to be able to apply the corrections in the course of the game. When you get to a bye week, you can look collectively over multiple games, over how it’s played together, some of the issues that that are keeping you from your success.”

The Seminoles rank last in the ACC and second to last in the entire FBS in rushing at a disappointing 58 yards on the ground per game. Those struggles can be contributed to a combination of issues up front on the offensive line and with the team’s ballcarriers running the ball.

“I will say that when it comes to the run game, it’s been awful,” Norvell admitted. “There are some reoccurring issues that have showed up and if it’s making changes, if it’s making different adjustments whether it’s a scheme, a concept, personnel, whatever that is, we gotta be willing to make those changes.”

Florida State was forced into some personnel changes heading into the season after losing three players on last year’s starting offensive line and star running back Trey Benson. But further changes could be in line for the Seminoles given their struggles, which Norvell went into more depth about.

“But then there are also the issues where it’s multi-level and there’s times that we’ve been great on the offensive line and we’ve been on the bodies, we’ve created space, had the leverage, but maybe it was a track or a second level block that kept us from having an explosive play or even just a positive run in some of those instances,” Norvell explained.

“So it is collective but yes, identified some things that we absolutely need to do because it’s embarrassing what our run game has been.”

Florida State will look to improve their run game, among other things, during their bye ahead of a matchup next weekend on the road against a 5-1 Duke squad.