Urban Meyer: Mike Norvell is certain Coach of the Year candidate

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell picked up arguably the biggest win of his tenure with the Seminoles this past weekend with his team’s win over LSU. It was a great performance by Florida State, and Norvell in particular.

Down 17-14 at the half, Norvell out-coached Brian Kelly as the Seminoles scored 31 points to just seven for the Tigers as his team won emphatically 45-24 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.

Florida State beat LSU last year as well, but the stakes were much higher this year. Both teams were ranked in the top 10 and a victory stands to be one of the biggest College Football Playoff resume wins of the season.

Among those impressed with what Norvell did is Urban Meyer. The three-time national champion said on Urban’s Take with Tim May that Norvell is an early favorite to win national Coach of the Year.

“Florida State, when I went back and watched it, they beat LSU,” Meyer said. “That was not a fluke. He’s a certain Coach of the year candidate because they were abysmal a couple of years ago. I mean, they had all kinds of issues with their players and culture. I actually met him and spent some time with him. I am really impressed with coach Norvell at Florida State.”

Novell is now 57-31 as a head coach, including 11-3 since the start of the 2022 season. During his four years as the head coach of Memphis, Norvell finished first in the AAC West Division three times, won double-digit games twice and won the conference title game once.

He said he thinks the second half was a “glimpse” of what Florida State can be this season. The team totaled 281 yards after the break with quarterback Jordan Travis throwing two touchdowns and running in another.

“To be honest, I’m not really worried about the statements they make. I just want to go see them play to their capability. I told the offense at halftime, I said, you will score every drive in the second half if you just go out there and focus on the little things, focus on the details. I’m glad that they went out and executed that. I mean, they did a wonderful job,” Norvell said after the game. “I’m definitely glad that everybody got to see a glimpse of the identity of this team and now we get to go get better.”