SMU Beats FSU…Mike Norvell Finished?

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Whether you're new to football, a fantasy football fanatic, or a diehard fan, NFL Pro will help you analyze the game like a pro. Listen to NFL Pro on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, I'm firing this thing up right now. I'm going to turn it over to you, right after this game ends. SMU, 27-24 final over Florida State. By the way, before I even talk about the game, you ever just think sometimes how insane this sport is? There are people out there every single year, you know, as viewership continues to grow, that are coming in for the first time. They're watching this sport for the first time. Can you imagine introducing someone who's new to college football and showing them some of the stuff that we've seen this weekend? So look, I'm kind of with Eddie Royal, all these hours ago now, when it looked like this game may or may not be played. I kind of thought they may not play it, but they did play it. They had the whole power outage thing. Again, the kind of stuff that wouldn't pass if it were fiction, but since it's real life, it happens. So SMU won this game despite doing every single thing in their power to give a game away. And I watched that game since it's your first time out, and I could go either way. I'm also realizing I'm wearing SMU. I'm not showing favoritism though, but they were on the Ramen Noodle Express. So I am happy that cashed, but I think about it like this. Okay. So this is college football. So you can look really disjointed and discombobulated your first time out of the gate. I'm going to be mad if I'm an SMU backer that they turned the ball over four times, but then I'm going to look at it and say, well, hold on, hold on now. Now, Kevin Jennings has had turnover issues in his past. So what I'm going to say is this is us turning the ball over four times and still finding a way to win on the road. Imagine what it's like when we play clean football, when we, you know, quote unquote, get all of it cleaned up. Now the flip side to that, the reason I said, put an asterisk next to it is we all know there's no guarantee that you ever get that cleaned up. You just hope in the best of worlds that you do get it cleaned up. So to me, this is a blowout disguised as a close game. Like this right here should be a three plus touchdown win for SMU. That stadium should have been empty during the fourth quarter. Uh, they should have been talking about all sorts of hot seat stuff with Mike Norvell. They should have been talking about you going to play Louisville in a couple of weeks. That's what the conversation should have been. But because you didn't take care of business and you kept, you know, throwing the life preserver out there, it comes down to the wire. So I know a lot of people were confused about this line, this point spread when they were coming into this weeks. And, but how are they only a two and a half point favorite? How are they? How are they going to play? How are they going to There's no regression to the mean, I guess, because SMU hadn't played a game. There's some of that. There's some of the whole, you're never as bad as you look. So with that, with Florida state, for example, you know, with the New Mexico state game, your back's against the wall. It's a home game. You've played a game already against a team that hasn't. And they're coming on the road. Need I remind people, Alabama opening their season in that building a year ago. So you've got to bake all that in to a point spread, not to mention. Like I said, people's minds operate in terms of extremes. And that's just not the way a data driven market-based or predictive line works. So having said all that, they won the game, Kevin Jennings, a lot of good, some bad, but I look at it as a starting point. There's a lot to like about SMU. There's a lot to hate about the mistakes they made tonight, but there's a lot to like about that SMU team. And man, that game in a couple of weeks, that game, I think it's the same week that LSU plays Ole Miss. I'm pretty sure that's the case. So that's SMU going to Louisville. Going to be incredible game. Going to be Kevin Jennings versus Lincoln Keenholz. And we saw Keenholz in a loss the other night play out of his mind in the second half. So that one's going to be a really good one. As for the Florida state part in all this, they're just a bad team. Florida state's just a bad team. There's not much to say. There's this is heading. I don't take any joy in that because I like Mike Norvell. I think he's a great individual, but he's got a bad team on his hands. He's responsible for it. I mean, if you cannot get it done at home, plus four turnovers, then you're not going to get it done. And it's only going to get more difficult. They're going to play Alabama. They're going to, they're going to play a bunch of games. They're probably going to lose before Halloween. I expect, I don't know when, but at some point a move will come this year. So you will talk about that down the road, but two of 15 on Deuce Robinson, I think it's the ball a couple of times, a couple of receptions. But I mean, then again, you, that's one part of the equation. The other part I'm watching in the final drive here. I mean, he's, he looks like he's open across the middle effort. Doesn't look a hundred percent. Then again, it's tough to question the effort when there's a top to bottom sort of systemic litany of issues, I guess, with Florida state, it's hard to, you know, cherry pick or I don't think anyone's surprised. I mean, are they, the closer you got to the program over the spring and summer, the louder the chorus was that, yeah, it's not looking good. And I, I think maybe tonight in a kind of weird way provided some clarity. Of course, a blowout loss would have provided that clarity. This was a blowout loss. You're plus four turnovers at home in a conference game and you still can't win. That actually is the equivalent of a blowout loss. And I think in the back of everyone's mind, they're like, hold on, we lost plus four turnovers. What would have happened if we were minus one? What would have happened if this game was just even? And so I think people aren't stupid. Like they understand this is a blowout loss masquerading as a close game, but I think SMU can be a good team. I think they can be a really good team. This is the starting point. Just the starting point. I keep reminding people, even in just the ACC last year, Miami lost to SMU, Miami lost to Louisville. And ended up playing for a national championship. So it's not, you're not always what you look like in week one, I guess is what I'm trying to say. I want to go back to the point I just made a second ago though. Imagine you got a cousin or a friend or a coworker, what have you, that hears you talk about college football all the time. And you finally convinced, let's call him Jeffrey. You finally convinced Jeffrey, who's an NHL fan or just strictly an NFL fan. You finally convinced Jeffrey, the pro sports fan, you need to give college football a try. And Jeffrey's like, man, I hear y'all talk about the sport all the time. And I see things on social media here and there. I'll see college football highlights on SportsCenter, but I've never really been into it. But this year I'm going to give it a try. And in the span of the first weekend of this season, the first full weekend of this season, at least, Jeffrey watches that debacle go down at Michigan at the end of that game. Then he watches in the year of our Lord, 2026, a game, a standalone game on Labor Day night, get delayed an hour and a half. Cause why? Cause we can't cut the lights on. In 1996, if they were talking about what football is going to be like in 30 years, they're talking about whether the player's feet are still touching the ground or if everyone just hovers over the field. Imagine getting a brief flash forward and a vision of the future. And it's everyone just standing around looking at the field. up at the lights, seeing if we're going to be able to see tonight or not. not. And then we end up playing the game with partial lighting and we don't have working scoreboards. It's like Stone Age football, which has a little romanticism about it. That was also in this game why I went from liking SMU a lot to loving SMU because I'm thinking, well, if you're going to be without the normality of comms, which everyone's grown accustomed to, I trust the quarterback who's done it already and who should know the offense inside and out. And that team ends up being minus four turnovers, but they still win the game and cover somehow. So not a good night for either team, but great for SMU in that they did everything they could possibly do to lose a football game and they still won it. And the complete end of the road for Florida State, like any remaining solace of hope about this year, had to just be slammed in your face when you saw this happen. There's going to be a lot more said about Florida State. That's all I have to say for this game. We'll be right back. 1-800-GAMBLER or visit Fanduel.com slash RG. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit ndgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY in New York. The league's newest podcast, The Lakers, is on the air every Sunday the NFL Report, hosted by me, Andrew Siciliano. It is your home for everything football, breaking news, expert analysis, game picks, and hear from your favorite players, too. Join me and an all-star cast of experts for everything you need to know from around the league. Join me and former NFL quarterback, Matt Cassel, every Wednesday on our podcast, Lots to Say, with me, Bobby Bones, and Matt Cassel. You're in training camp, and the rookie quarterback has one good throwing session in front of the media. Suddenly, everybody online says he should start over you week one. Listen to Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Brett Coleman. And I'm Trevor Sikama. If you love football and want to understand what's really happening on the field, check out our show, NFL Pro. Hey, I'm Mike Yam. And together, we host the NFL Fantasy Football Show. Are you ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Because if you aren't locked in with us on the NFL Fantasy Football Show, you're already playing from behind. 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