Mike Norvell on Florida State's schedule: 'There's no waiting to go play your best'
No. 10 Florida State has no time to wait with how their slate, specifically the start, sets up in 2024.
Mike Norvell assessed his team’s schedule during the first episode of Inside Seminole Football on Monday. He said they have to be prepared from opening kick on Saturday in Week 0 against Georgia Tech as they just immediately dive into conference play. He thinks they will be too with how they’ve approached it to this point.
“Yeah, there’s no waiting to go play your best,” said Norvell. “You know, obviously, starting off with ACC matchups? I think we have six of our first seven games are going to be ACC games. So we’ve got to come out of the gates fast.”
“You know, I think our guys have understood the importance of that and just the overall sense of urgency and mindset that they brought into the work has been really good,” Norvell added.
Florida State will play their entire conference schedule over the first three quarters of their year. They’ll play a quarter of it before the rest of the season even really begins with their first pair of games being league ones against Georgia Tech and then Boston College.
A game with Memphis separates what’s left for the Noles’ in the ACC. From then through November 2nd, they’ll have meetings versus California, SMU, Clemson, Duke, Miami, and then North Carolina. That’s before three non-conference games to close their year against Notre Dame, Charleston Southern, and Florida.
Beginning league play in your opener is a lot to handle for any time come kickoff. However, with the attention that will come with it this weekend in Dublin, Ireland, Norvell is glad to have the chance to start their season that way.
“You know, kicking it off in Week 0? I mean it is a great stage. We’re going to get a chance to kick it off on GameDay, their first-ever international show,” said Norvell. “I know I mentioned in the press conference there yesterday. We were a part of the very first GameDay on-campus experience and now their first international game to kick off the 2024 season. “
“I mean this is a stage that our players worked for. When you come to Florida State, you want to be the show,” said Norvell. “That’s the opportunity we have in front of us.”
First things come first, though, with Florida State focusing on starting with a win over GT. With that also comes the preparations of flying everyone across the pond for the opener.
“You know, it’s just about going out there and, you know, playing their best with plenty of distractions that come in to traveling eight, nine hours away,” said Norvell.