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Mike Norvell walked into the interview area looking like a man who had just lived through every one of the bizarre bounces that doomed Florida State’s night. The tone was steady but the frustration sat right at the surface. “Hell no, we are not even close to living up to expectations,” he said.
He insisted he saw a team that prepared well during the short week, a team he believed was ready, but everything unraveled in the margins. Drops. A turnover in plus territory. A missed field goal. A backbreaking interception on a drive that should have produced points. “We were able to move the ball but too many missed opportunities,” he said. “We have to put points on the board and we have failed to do that on the road numerous times.”
Florida State actually outgained NC State 383 to 286, picked up more first downs and ran for 180 yards, but none of it mattered because the turnover margin swallowed everything whole. Four turnovers to zero. That was the game. Every mistake became a lifeline for the Wolfpack and every lifeline turned into another reason Norvell spent the night searching for answers.
Nothing stung quite like the muffed multiple special teams late in the game. “Two catastrophic things happened to us in the fourth quarter…When you go out and you do not play to the level you are capable of, it is extremely disappointing.”
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He defended his players’ effort but admitted he cannot explain why the same strange, painful moments keep stacking up on the road. “Some of these things are unexplainable,” he said. “But I am not pulling back. I am going to push forward with everything I have to get it fixed.”
One game remains and it is the one that defines years. Florida in Gainesville. A rivalry that needs no extra context, yet arrives with everything at stake. Florida State is 5-6 and must win to reach a bowl. The expectation does not change. The standard does not change. But the margin for error is gone, and the frustration that followed Norvell into the interview room now travels with his team into the Swamp.
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