Florida State got absolutely crushed 44-20 by Louisville on Friday night, but that final score barely scratches the surface of how head coach Mike Norvell might have just coached himself straight out of a job with one utterly baffling play call. The Seminoles were up 14-0, dominating the line, and looking like they were about to turn the game into a blowout of their own. They had 4th-and-goal at Louisville’s 2-yard line. Two yards! That’s it.
The Call That Blew It All Up
FSU had been running the ball down Louisville’s throat all night. Their quarterback, Ashton Daniels, had just rushed for a school-record five touchdowns the week before against Virginia, and the team had piled up nearly 300 rushing yards in that win. Smash-mouth football was working, finally building an identity for this team. So what did Norvell do when they needed two yards? He got cute. Instead of putting the ball in Daniels’ hands on a run-pass option, instead of just daring Louisville to stop what they hadn’t been able to stop, Norvell called a little swing pass to true freshman Jasen Lopez. Lopez lost a yard. Just like that, FSU went from potentially making it 21-0 to nothing.
A Historic Collapse, Straight From the Blueprint
And boy, did Louisville make them pay. On their very next offensive snap, Isaac Brown took a handoff and exploded 97 yards for a touchdown. A potential knockout punch for FSU became an open invitation for Louisville to get off the canvas, and they absolutely accepted. The Cardinals then reeled off 35 unanswered points, turning FSU’s most encouraging performance of the season into another humiliating collapse. Brown wasn’t done, either. He rushed for 235 yards on just 17 carries, including another 68-yard touchdown. Louisville finished with 397 rushing yards, averaging an obscene 9.2 yards per carry. Brown didn’t just outrun FSU’s defenders, he made them look like traffic cones. This was an embarrassment, and it all started with a coaching decision that simply defied common sense. It’s the kind of head-scratching call that makes you instantly think of Pete Carroll’s infamous Super Bowl blunder, when Seattle had Marshawn Lynch on the 1-yard line and called a pass that Malcolm Butler picked off. These decisions stick with you.
Norvell’s decision led to the longest rushing score in college football that season, and the longest play from scrimmage Florida State’s defense had ever surrendered. For a program once known for speed and defensive dominance, seeing a 97-yard touchdown run go into the record books for all the wrong reasons is just brutal. This team has a lot to figure out after such a historic collapse.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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