Answering your questions from a nonstop FSU week

After a genuinely devastating week for the Seminole program and gut punch after gut punch, the tide seems to be turning. Mike Norvell and the staff are back in Tallahassee after being on the road straight after the decision, and positive news seems to be in the works.

As always, thanks to everyone for the questions as we try to understand what just happened.

With that being said, let’s dive in!

Do you think being left out of the playoff will affect our recruiting or ability in the transfer portal to bring other players in while simultaneously keeping our players out of it?

I thought it would produce no effect for a while, but the Patrick Payton decision changed my views slightly (although he still is not officially in the portal). The current issue presides in the fact that as soon as FSU got left out, the coaches left to go and recruit. Now, all the teams in the playoff also had their coaches on the road this week and did not have a week of practice. However, all those negative emotions, without a constant support system around, would affect anyone’s mental health. That said, most players and recruits do a great job of looking at the big picture of a program and not the season’s value from a team. Even without the playoffs, the season finished as a smashing success. Mike Norvell will still be able to pitch to recruits and transfers that his team is back and that this is just the beginning. Furthermore, with the inclusion of the 12-team playoff, being left out by a bogus decision will not be a factor for an undefeated Power 4(!) team like it was this year. Mike Norvell may even be able to spin it into a positive, mentioning the rise in Battle’s End membership and the resolve of the FSU fan base.

As I mentioned earlier with Patrick Payton, it sounded more like he wanted the bag and not that he wanted to leave FSU because they were left out of the playoff.

Long story short, negative news around a program is never helpful. But, if every poor result on the football field changed how recruits view programs, then Miami would not always finish with a top-10 recruiting class! This season, the coaching staff fully earned our trust, and until they do something that burns it, Mike Norvell and friends can handle any circumstance.

What does this mean for ACC? If the committee snubbed FSU this year for an SEC team, why would FSU, Clemson, or North Carolina (teams that have a shot of making a 12-team playoff) stay in the ACC? The committee has made it clear that an SEC team will be chosen over an ACC school, so why should those teams stay in the ACC?

As I stewed in the car on the ride back from Charlotte Sunday afternoon, I wrote a top-five list on my X (or Twitter, whatever) about the most fraudulent characters involved with the CFP decision.

Behind the committee and ESPN, the ACC checked in at #3.

Indeed, the decision proves that the ACC is a dead conference walking. For a while, no one thought that the college landscape could change this dramatically, but anything is possible with the disassociation of the Pac-12.

There is some good and bad news regarding leaving the ACC.

Unfortunately, let’s start with the bad news. Yesterday, I met with an FSU professor who has excellent knowledge of Florida State, leaving the ACC and the Grant of Rights. He explicitly stated that the GoR is about as ironclad as it gets because of how small the document is. The ACC wrote this intentionally short so that the ability to find loopholes shrinks to almost 0. Furthermore, the only way to dissolve the GoR is with a 3/4s vote from the conference members. However, with this in mind, the smaller schools in the ACC just voted in 3 new schools, making it even more challenging to find an overwhelming majority. If it were easy to leave the conference, FSU and these other schools would have already done it.

On the bright side, the Seminoles do not have an issue raising the money for an exit fee. As I said, if it were just the money, Michael Alford could find it easily. On top of that, as the years go on, the leverage from the deal slowly works back in FSU’s favor. Not this year, but 4-6 years down the line, maybe a conference will be willing to take the Seminoles in without their media rights because of their potential value down the line.

Of course, with all this in mind, 13 years is far from now. I would be shocked if the GoR lasted until 2036 because of the free-flowing and ever-changing college landscape. Do not expect a sudden move from the ACC, but things are happening behind the scenes.

Should Norvell go after any transfer portal QBs, and if so, who?

A couple of weeks ago, I received this question and deferred it to the quarterbacks’ performance on the roster for their final two games. Unfortunately, we did not learn much about them, and the rumors swirling out of Tallahassee point to the staff being at least interested in a new signal caller.

First, my opinion. I think most of the fan base feels this way now, but I was content going into next season with the frame of a 9-3 rebuilding year. Let Tate get his turn at the wheel for a season. Maybe we can see if Brock Glenn beats him out during the year, but we should primarily focus on developing the new young talent. However, after Sunday’s decision, I think Mike Norvell and his staff have something to prove. There is no time for a rebuilding year, and they want to prove to the nation that Florida State is a national power. Before the decision, I think the staff and the fan base were split on taking a QB. After that, at least in my opinion, FSU should go out and get one.

With this in mind, two names have been most heavily rumored to be in touch with the Seminoles: DJ Uiagalelei from Oregon State (once Clemson) and Cameron Ward from Washington State (once D-II Incarnate Word). Of the two, I think Cam Ward would elevate the program’s ceiling the highest. Ward epitomizes the phrase dual-threat, throwing for over 30 attempts in his final five games while running the ball ten or more times during the final stretch of the season as well. WSU collapsed down the stretch, but Ward’s play got the Cougars ranked as high as #13 this season. He comes in at 6’2 ” and 223 pounds, so his body can take the pounding. Many of the top programs around the country are in on him, so it will be difficult for the ‘Noles, but they would become ACC favorites instantly with him in the fold.