Ultimate College Football Preview, 130 Teams In A 130 Days: Florida State

Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.

2022 Recap:

The Noles had an up and down to back up season last year. Starting off with a big win vs. LSU and winning the next two. Then the drop off happened, losing their next 3 games, all in conference. The Noles finished strong winning its next 7 games, including knocking off rival Florida and beating Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl. Finishing the season at 10-3 and ranked 11th in the AP Poll. It was an overall successful season and if they don’t lose close conference games in the middle of the year this could have been a playoff team.

Head Coach:

Coach Norvell is coming into his fourth year in Tallahassee. After a terrible first year going 3-6 followed by a 5-7 record things turned for Norvell last year. He has improved every year with the Noles, despite notable criticism from local and national media. To take a team from 3-6 to 10-3 and ranked in the top 15 in two years is impressive. A lot of the criticism comes from the Noles’ own fan base who didn’t want to hire the Group of 5 coach. I personally think the turn around Coach Norvell has done is impressive and he will continue that this year.

Key Players:

Jordan Travis is a big time Heisman trophy candidate for the 2023 year. The dual threat QB, when healthy, is one of the most dynamic players in college football. While not playing in every game, Travis still was able to complete 64% of his passes for 3,200 yards 24 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions. Travis also rushed for over 400 yards and 8 touchdowns. Florida State always have great WRs, but let me tell you about 6’7 Sophomore Johnny Wilson. This man is a flat out stud and will be a household name after this year. Last year he had 43 catches for 897 yards and 5 touchdowns. That is over 20 yards per catch; the man has big play all over him. Wilson, along with Seniors Mycah Pittman & Winston Wright Jr., might be the best receiving group in the country. The defense is young but has over 14 players coming back that contributed in a big way lead by Senior LB Tatum Bethune.

2023 Prediction:

If you look at the schedule, there is a very good chance this team could be undefeated going into the last game of the year @ rival Florida. Now the first game of the year is a huge test with LSU coming into Camping World Stadium in Orlando. It is not an actual home game, but the crowd should be majority Noles. If they get by the Tigers of LSU and then the Tigers of Clemson on the road, the schedule lightens up a lot. The ACC has a lot of bottom feeders that the Noles should handle easily. I am predicting they split vs the 2 Tiger teams and beat the Gators. If they don’t have 10 wins and are playing for an ACC title it will be a disappointing year for FSU.