AP Top 25 Takeaways: While trying to escape ACC in court, Florida State falls from top 10 to 0-3

Updated Sep. 15, 2024 9:43 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Since suing the Atlantic Coast Conference, and essentially announcing to the world that it is too good to be associated with the likes of Georgia Tech and Boston College, Florida State has not won a football game.

The Seminoles have gone from preseason top 10 to 0-3 after losing at home to Memphis on Saturday. That was after starting the season with losses to Georgia Tech in Ireland and Boston College in Tallahassee.

“I know what it takes for a team to go out there and be able to execute and play at a high level. We all have to do a better job of what we’re doing throughout the course of the week,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell told reporters.

The last time a preseason top 10 lost its first three games was No. 7 Penn State in the abbreviated pandemic Big Ten season of 2020. Throw out that and Texas A&M in 1988 was the previous to go from top 10 to 0-3, according to Sportradar. Those Aggies also started 10th, but that team's 0-3 start included three games against ranked teams, none at home.

The Seminoles, coming off an ACC championship and College Football Playoff snub, are also the first team to start 0-3 after having an unbeaten regular season the year before since Arizona State started 0-4 in 1976.

This is the program the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference will be fighting over if it can hit free agency?

“We all have to prepare better,” said Norvell, who received an eight-year extension that made him a $10 million-per-year man after drawing some interest from Alabama to replace Nick Saban.

Memphis, Norvell's former team, took home a Power Four victory and $1.3 million for the trip to Tallahassee. The money is nice, but it won't make up for the fact that beating Florida State might not do much for a playoff resume this season.

If Clemson's Dabo Swinney can be criticized for being transfer portal-phobic, maybe Norvell became too portal-dependent in building a team that was one of the best in the country last season.

The imports have been more miss than hit this year, most notably quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, and there is not enough in-house talent through high school recruiting to make up for it.

Florida State's regular-season finale against Florida is shaping up to be one of the saddest games of the season. At least Norvell can be confident he'll still have his job by then. The way things are going in Gainesville, Gators coach Billy Napier might not make it to Monday.

The humbling of the Seminoles doesn't help the ACC when it comes to putting teams in the new 12-team CFP, but it would be shocking if some of FSU's conference mates aren't enjoying the Seminoles' demise just a little.

Florida State is suing the ACC, trying to find a way out of a contract that expires in 2036 without paying a half-billion dollars. Florida State has insisted it should make more money than its less accomplished and famous ACCers.

The conference has tried to accommodate FSU by setting up a bonus program that rewards its best football programs.

How much for making it to the Birmingham Bowl?

Florida State officials, trustees and supporters have been emboldened to bully the ACC over the past couple years as Norvell pulled the program from the ditch Jimbo Fisher drove it into and Willie Taggart couldn't pull it out of.

Nobody would deny Florida State has been the standard-bearer of ACC football since it joined the conference 30 years ago. But its bravado, not to mention its attractiveness to the SEC and Big Ten, falls flat when the Seminoles are the nation's most disappointing team.

“I think from their attitude and approach and in the locker room, we are all disappointed. But we continue to work and pour into each other,” said Norvell, whose postgame news conference ended, appropriately enough, with a fire alarm going off.

Who's No. 1?

Maybe not Georgia when the latest AP Top 25 comes out Sunday.

The Bulldogs slogged to a 13-12 victory at Kentucky on Saturday night. That probably opens the door to No. 2 Texas or No. 3 Alabama jumping to No. 1.

The Longhorns have hardly broken a sweat through three games, and they showed Saturday against UTSA they probably have the best backup quarterback in America.

Alabama was glitchy last week against USF but had no issues against Wisconsin, sucking the life out of “Jump Around.”

No. 1 has won but lost the No. 1 ranking dozens of times in poll history. It happened three times in 2022, with Alabama and Georgia moving in and out of the top spot.

That last time Texas was No. 1 was Oct. 26, 2008.

Cougs and Karma

The first Apple Cup played in September went to Washington State as the Cougars beat Washington, their flat-leaving former Pac-12 rivals now in the Big Ten, with a late goal-line stand.

"The Palouse is gonna party,” Wazzu coach Jake Dickert said after leading the Cougars to just their second victory against the Huskies in 11 meetings.

New Washington coach Jedd Fisch might want that option to call back the decisive fourth-and-goal.

Washington State is off to a 3-0 start, with consecutive wins over Power Four schools after trouncing Texas Tech last week. The Big 12 didn't want the Cougs, either.

In between, it was announced that Washington State and Oregon State are rebuilding the Pac-12, starting with the additions of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State.

Things didn't go quite as well Saturday for Oregon State. The Beavers were trounced by No. 9 Oregon, which finally looked like the top-five team it was billed as in a dominant second half.

Around the country

Tired: The Backyard Brawl should be played every year. Wired: The Backyard Brawl should be played every month. Pitt rallied from 10 down in the fourth quarter to beat West Virginia in another wild installment of one of college football's great rivalries that had been interrupted by realignment. The Panthers and Mountaineers play again next season in Morgantown to cap a four-game series — and then go on break again until 2029. Shame. ... No. 4 Alabama and Jalen Milroe demolished Wisconsin in a rare trip north for the Crimson Tide. Milroe might be the early Heisman Trophy front-runner with eight touchdown passes and six TD runs. Next up: No. 1 Georgia in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 28. ... A week after losing to Northern Illinois from the Mid-American Conference, No. 18 Notre Dame beat Purdue of the Big Ten 66-7, the most points the Fighting Irish have scored in a game since 1977. If ever there was a case for promotion and relegation in college football, give NIU the Boilermakers' spot. ... LSU coach Brian Kelly has implored his team to be better at finishing games after losing the opener to USC. The 16th-ranked Tigers finished off a comeback at South Carolina in a crazy and sloppy affair that didn't necessarily inspire confidence in LSU as an SEC contender. ... Indiana is off to a 3-0 start after the Hoosiers routed UCLA at the Rose Bowl in the Bruins' first Big Ten game. Brash first-year coach Curt Cignetti talked a big game upon arrival at Indiana and has delivered a highly functional team that has outscored its opponents 150-23. ... No. 13 Oklahoma State is 3-0 even though All-American Ollie Gordon has run for just 216 yards and under 4.0 yards per carry. ... The MAC struck again, though Toledo's decisive victory at Mississippi State hardly looked like an upset. Year 1 under Jeff Lebby is looking like a long one for the Bulldogs. ... Missouri All-American Luther Burden III broke out with 117 yards and a TD as the sixth-ranked Tigers beat No. 24 Boston College in the Saturday's only game matching ranked teams.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

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