ESPN’s Rece Davis invited 2024 Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson on the College GameDay Podcast, where the two discussed whether one ACC club can harden back up after totally melting down last fall.
As Clawson and Davis ran through the various ACC contenders, discussing their merits and drawbacks, the enigma that is Florida State came hurtling into the conversation. For Davis, he’s still getting over the shock of how FSU’s 2024 season turned out on the heels of a tremendous campaign in 2023.
Remember, this is a team that won the ACC Championship to advance to 13-0 just 20 months ago, during the 2023 season. Then, they were jipped from a College Football Playoff slow, got their doors beat in by Georgia in the bowl game and have now lost 11 of their last 13 games as a program on the heels of a 2-10 season.
Oh how the mighty fell, observed Davis.
“Have you ever in your entire life seen a meltdown like Florida State’s last year?” Davis asked Clawson during their podcast, then answering his own question. “I know I haven’t.”
Of course, it all started on the Emerald Aisle with Florida State falling victim to some poor luck of the Irish, losing a shocker to Georgia Tech in Dublin to kick off their troublesome year. Rece Davis was at their practices before that first game and was still amazed at how poorly FSU showed out in Week 0.
“I went to Dublin for the Georgia Tech game a year ago,” Davis recalled. “I went to both practices and then walked out of there after looking at Florida State and thought, ‘there is no way Florida State loses this game’. Yet they did, and then they proceeded to lose 10 games and it got away from them.”
From there, the cookies just crumbled. Now, head coach Mike Norvell is starting fresh with a whole new batch to bake, and just two seasons after finishing undefeated through the 2023 ACC Championship game.
“It really demands an entire reset, Dave, if they’re going to have anything approximating a successful season,” Davis added.
Dave Clawson struggles to predict Florida State in 2025
We see top programs experience down years with lesser records, but Florida State’s 2024 was far worse than merely one down season; it was the type of disaster that begets major change. Going from 13-1 to, say, 8-4, would have been a step back, but falling to 2-10 is a head-scratching cliff-dive.
As Davis notes, a reset is in order for Florida State to look different on the football field this fall than they did one year ago. But with a full reset comes splintered expectations, because what can you possibly expect from a new staff and roster?
Former ACC coach Dave Clawson has a hard time pegging this club in the greater ACC race.
“They’re the toughest team in the ACC, because it wouldn’t shock me if they went 10-2 and it wouldn’t shock me if they went 4-8,” said Clawson, who emphasized that a new quarterback in former Boston College starter Thomas Castellanos may make the difference.
Related: Rece Davis Names His Top Sleeper Team in College Football
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 19, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.