What Florida State coach Mike Norvell said about Notre Dame football

Mike Norvell‘s Monday press conference was a bit more somber than that of Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman. Eh, a lot more somber.

It wasn’t tough to tell the type of season it’s been for Norvell in his fifth year as the Seminoles’ head coach. FSU is 1-8 ahead of a trip north to Notre Dame Stadium. It’d be hard to imagine many of its fans making that trek with them in light of all the losing — and a chillier weather forecast in Indiana than down in Florida.

“It’s been a really tough season,” Norvell said. “For our fan base, I understand the frustration. There’s no fan that’s more frustrated than I am. There is no person pouring more into our players and our program than our staff is. I watch the work.

“Has it been good enough? No. It hasn’t. We haven’t had the results that any of us desire or needs to be expected here. But we are going to pour all that we have to make sure for these games, the rest of the season, it’s the best that we got and we put ourselves in position to have success these next three games. It all starts going on the road this week.”

Most of Norvell’s time speaking Monday was spent on analyzing Florida State’s shortcomings, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. The Seminoles have put three quarterbacks on the field this season, including two-time transfer DJ Uiagalelei who’s been injured since September, desperately searching for a spark from any of them.

Norvell spoke highly of Uiagalelei’s replacements, redshirt freshman Brock Glenn and true freshman Luke Kromenhoek. Those two have combined to go 54 of 121 (44.6 percent) for 631 yards (5.2 yards per attempt) with 4 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.

“Both of those guys have shown moments and flashes of potential,” Norvell said.

Still, the Seminoles have yet to reach 300 yards in a single game this season. They’ve scored 14 touchdowns as a team. Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard has 11 on the ground on his own. Irish running back Jeremiyah Love has 10. It’s that dire for Florida State.

Subsequently, Norvell only received one question that referenced Notre Dame. It was an internal housekeeping session to the max. Here’s Norvell’s response to that one question, one that didn’t end up delving into Notre Dame but rather summarized the theme of the presser as a whole.

On a lack of physicality against North Carolina and having to face a physical team in Notre Dame

“There were times in the game when I did not like the physicality that we put on display. There were good moments. There were times when we were playing very physical. But maybe a lapse in judgement whether there was a gap to fit or maybe trying to do too much that opened up a seam or an opportunity for our opponent. But there were definitely plays going back seeing them on Saturday that I was displeased with.

“Going back and watching on film, we are in control of that for each player. I told the team yesterday, there is an expectation of what it needs to look like and making sure you put everything that you have into each play even if it is after a negative. There are going to be times when you might get beat on a play you didn’t desire or want to happen to you. But Lord willing, you get one more play, what’s it going to look like and how are you going to respond in that situation?

“I know we talked a little after the game about the confidence in some of our players and in some aspects our team, and it’s been a challenging year in a lot of ways when it comes to that. These guys deal with a lot of things externally, internally within their own mind of what they want it to look like. At times when it doesn’t, that’s when you got to stay true to who you are. You got to stay true to what you believe and just put everything you have into controlling what you can. And that’s the next rep. That’s the next play, the next practice, the day that you have of putting everything in and going and getting better. There have been times when that’s shaken a little bit. That hesitation has shown up in not wanting to have the negative and not wanting to have that experience. You have to move past that.

“Nobody is in a place where we want to be right now, but you get an opportunity to go play this game. You get an opportunity to go compete. You get an opportunity to go and get better. That’s what I am demanding and expecting to see in all things we are doing.”