Florida State fans boo DJ Uiagalelei ahead of Cal game

Florida State fans had already seen enough of quarterback DJ Uiagalelei on Saturday night. The only problem? It was 45 minutes until kickoff and Uiagalelei had yet to take the field.

Such are the times in Tallahassee as the Seminoles are 0-3 and much of it due to an offensive malaise, one Uiagalelei is at the center of. So when he was announced in Doak Campbell Stadium ahead of Florida State’s Week 4 game hosting Cal, the crowd had a quick response: A chorus of boos.

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And the juxtaposition of Uiagalelei getting booed after cheers for his teammates was a stark contrast.

DJ Uiagalelei gets booed as he gets announced as the starting QB in Doak. #Noles pic.twitter.com/hwhN7tlHQX

— Logan B. Robinson (@LogansTwitty) September 21, 2024

In three games so far this season, Uiagalelei has completed 56.6% of his passes for 666 yards, one touchdown and a pair of interceptions.

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Head coach Mike Norvell knows his team can only go forward from here

After recording an undefeated regular season record last season and winning the ACC Championship, Florida State is 0-3 in the 2024 campaign. Understandably, it’s been a frustrating stretch for the Seminoles. However, head coach Mike Norvell won’t allow his team to give up.

“We don’t have a choice,” Norvell said. “We found a situation nobody wants to be in. That’s pretty evident. But we still all have desires of who we want to be and what we want it to look like, and so we get to make the choice of that.

“If we’re just driven by circumstance, and when it’s all good, then, ‘Oh, now I’m going to work hard.’ No, that’s not right. We got knocked on our butt three times. We haven’t played good. We haven’t done the things necessary. But, we got the opportunity for today.”

Florida State entered the season as the No. 10 team in the country. Disaster struck the Seminoles immediately when they fell to an unranked Georgia Tech team in Week 0 in Ireland.

With millions of eyes watching the Seminoles fall apart in the Emerald Isle, the pressure was on for FSU to perform in their follow-up game. They failed to do so, losing by an even larger margin to Boston College.

With an 0-2 record against ACC opponents, Florida State hosted Group of Five school Memphis with hopes of having a bounce-back game. The Tigers pounced on the Seminoles and escaped with a convincing 20-12 victory.

While Norvell still believes his team can turn their season around, he knows his players have to want to win as much as him.

“If it’s true in your core of who you want to be, go get better and go show that you are better. Go take the steps that are necessary,” Norvell said. “We sit around and feel sorry for ourselves, but nobody cares. I’m like, ‘It doesn’t matter. Go show it. Show it in the work, show it in how we prepare and then dang well need to make sure that it shows up on game day.”