Joel Klatt provides grim outlook for Florida State record

It’s the job of college football analysts to react to what they’re seeing on the field each Saturday, and sometimes those reactions can tend toward the extreme. Then again, sometimes the results do, too, and that’s certainly the case for Florida State right now.

One year after going 13-1 overall and winning the ACC, Florida State has started just 1-4. And things look bleak, to say the least.

“What’s going on at Florida State? Hello? What are we doing?” FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt said on The Joel Klatt Show. “This was a top-10 team in the preseason and they’re nowhere to be found. I mean like nowhere to be found.

“They just got housed by SMU, the team that is not taking a dime to be in their conference. The team that’s boosters are flipping the bill to pay for everything just so they can play in the ACC on the ACC Network. And then they host the team that just won the conference, felt like they got snubbed from the College Football Playoff, and SMU houses them.”

Worse, the personnel is starting to deteriorate for Florida State. Starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei is now out due to injury.

“DJU is now going to be out with a broken finger. Brock Glenn is going to start against Clemson,” Klatt said. “Their next three is against Clemson, 5-0 Duke, at Miami. They could be starting 1-7. In fact, likely. Remember now, it’s not just like, ‘Oh those games,’ they’ve lost to Georgia Tech, Boston College, Memphis and SMU and you’re expecting them to win any of the next three against Clemson, a 5-0 Duke team with Manny Diaz, and No. 8 Miami, on the road, by the way?

“1-7 is like bang, right here. We’re staring down the barrel, Florida State, at 1-7. 1-7. By the way, Cal had the lead in the fourth quarter in the one game they ended up winning. Cal very easily could have won that game.”

So where does Florida State go from here? Can Mike Norvell‘s squad rebound and put together a solid second half of the season to at least partially salvage things?

Klatt doesn’t see that as particularly likely.

“Eight losses is the most by a preseason top 10 team ever,” he said. “They’re going to give that a run. In fact, I kind of think that they’re going to lose nine games. They also have to have a road game against Notre Dame late in the year. Sorry. And when you lose to Boston College, Memphis and SMU, you can lose every game on your schedule.

“They’ve got North Carolina coming up. Maybe they can beat North Carolina. I think that this is going to be probably a 3-9 team. I think 3-9 is where I’m landing. I think 3-9 Florida State after being top 10. Easily the No. 1 bad surprise in all of college football. Nobody expected this and it’s wild. And Mike Norvell’s buyout is like $65 million by the way. Yikes. Yikes.”