Mike Norvell explains what Florida State can take away from Orange Bowl loss

Mike Norvell and the Florida State Seminoles didn’t have the end to their season they wanted, but he’s not letting it spoil everything they accomplished.

The Seminoles fell in grand fashion to the Georgia Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl. After being snubbed from the College Football Playoff, a lot of detractors were seemingly proved right by Florida State’s performance, if you ignore the difference in their roster for their bowl game and the one that went 13-0.

Regardless, what happened in the Orange Bowl wasn’t all bad for Florida State. Norvell revealed that the Seminoles were at least able to get some extra work for their younger talents, and learned where they could improve over the next couple of months.

“A lot of guys got the most extensive work that they’ve had in this season,” Norvell stated. “We had a lot of young players that kind of got, like I said, thrown into it, and you get to see kind of where you are. There was some communication issues. There were some things that — technique and fundamentals where we can be better.

“Obviously things kind of started to snowball on us there throughout the course of the game, and what are the things that we can do to get that right because we’ve lived it throughout the season. They’ve seen it happen with maybe more experienced players, but now it’s on them to be able to take those steps.”

Continuing, Norvell explained that while it was a challenging moment for the Seminoles, how they respond and grow from it will tell their story.

“We’ve seen it in challenging moments, and we’ve seen it done at an elite level. I think being able to have that opportunity for some young guys was big. We had some guys that were out due to injury. It was kind of just a perfect storm of challenge,” Norvell added.

“We’ve been used to challenges, and we’ll learn from this experience and we’ll grow from this experience and we’ll be better as we continue to grow as a program.”

At the least, Florida State can take solace in the support they’ve received from numerous corners of the college football world. Their performance in the Orange Bowl was far from representative of their season.

Nevertheless, it’ll provide some added motivation for the Seminoles and Mike Norvell in 2024. We’ll see how they use it next season, as they look to get to the College Football Playoff.