FSU sports information:

Florida State's Morgane Metraux fired an 8-under par 66 in the second round and is in first place after two rounds of the Olympic Women's Golf Championship at Le Golf National. She holds a one-stroke lead over Yin Ruoning of the People's Republic of China with 36 holes remaining to be played in the tournament. The 27-year-old Seminole All-American, who is playing for her home country of Switzerland, carded two eagles and four birdies in a bogey-free front nine holes to reach 10 under par for the tournament in the first round. Metraux fired an 8-under 28 on the front nine to set a new Olympic record on Thursday

Metraux was one of the first six golfers to begin play in the round and is the clubhouse leader as of 9:15 am ET on Thursday.

Live scoring of the championship can be found here.

Metraux began Thursday in a tie for third place after carding a 2-under 70 in Round 1, and caught fire early in her second round with a birdie on the par-4 first hole to move to 3-under. She then eagled the par-5 third hole, and earned off three more birdies on holes No. 4, 5 and 6 to move to 8-under for the tournament and 6-under for the round.

Metraux totaled pars on holes seven and eight but closed out her incredible opening round with another eagle on the par-5 ninth hole, making a nearly 16-footer after once again finding the green in two.

“There wasn't a particular shot,” said Metraux. “I hit really good shots on one and two which I think are some of the hardest holes, especially with some of those pins. The pin on two was really difficult. To to be this close to the hole there on that hole was crucial for the confidence and for going into the round. But I didn't think there was one in particular (that gave me a notion that it could be a great day).”

Metraux’s front nine score of is the first 28 to be recorded on nine holes in both the men’s and women’s Olympic golf competitions this year. The score is also two shots lower than Metraux’s career-low nine-hole score on the LPGA Tour. She posted a front-nine 30 during Round 1 of the 2023 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

“There was barely any wind this morning,” said Metraux after her round. “Perfect conditions and the course is just perfect. If you hit a good putt, you know it's going to go in because the greens are rolling so well. I was really calm. I knew my game is in a good spot, and I was rolling it well. It was actually surprisingly very calm starting the round. The difference between yesterday and today at the beginning is just the putts that fell. It just brought me confidence going forward and I just tried to stay as present as I could and one shot at a time.”

The Florida State graduate and Seminole All-American is relishing her time in Paris.

“It's always fun to see Swiss flags and people shouting my name,” said Metraux. “When I make a birdie, they make a lot of noise. It's fun to know there's so many people supporting me. I don't take it as pressure. I'm just happy I can perform in front of them and you know have that much support. So it's really fun.”

Golf Channel will air the 2024 Women’s Olympic Golf event on TV.

Olympic Women’s Golf TV schedule
Friday, August 9: 3 a.m.-end of round (Golf Channel)
Saturday, August 10: 3 a.m.-end of round (Golf Channel)

FSU sports information:

Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei earned his third preseason watch list honor Thursday when he was named to the Davey O’Brian Watch List, presented annually to the nation’s best quarterback by the Davey O’Brien Foundation. Uiagalelei previously earned a spot on the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year watch lists.

Uiagalelei has started 40 games in his career and earned a 30-10 record while accounting for 9,451 yards of total offense with 8,319 yards and 57 touchdowns passing and 1,132 yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground. The Inland Empire, California, native transferred to FSU from Oregon State, where he was a 2023 Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist after throwing for 2,638 yards and 21 touchdowns with 219 rushing yards and six more scores on the ground. His 21 passing touchdowns were sixth in a season for the Beavers, with a career-high five coming in Oregon State’s victory over Cal.

Uiagalelei spent his first three seasons at Clemson, where he ranks top-10 in program history for completions, passing touchdowns, quarterback rushing touchdowns, passing yards and wins as the starting quarterback. He recorded 51 total touchdowns with the Tigers and was 22-6 as Clemson’s starting quarterback.

Florida State has won the Davey O’Brien Award three times: Charlie Ward in 1993, Chris Weinke in 2000 and Jameis Winston in 2013.

The Davey O’Brien Award will announce its Class of 2024 on October 29 and semifinalists will be selected on November 12. Three finalists will be named on November 26 and the winner will be announced during the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on December 12.

Florida State, the defending ACC Champions, will open the season August 24 at 12:00 p.m. ET in Dublin, Ireland, for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic against Georgia Tech on ESPN.

Preseason Watch Lists
Davey O’Brien Award – best quarterback – QB DJ Uiagalelei
Walter Camp Player of the Year – QB DJ Uiagalelei
Lou Groza Award – best placekicker – K Ryan Fitzgerald
Ray Guy Award – best punter – P Alex Mastromanno
Wuerffel Trophy – community service – OL Maurice Smith
Thorpe Award – best defensive back – DB Shyheim Brown
Nagurski Trophy – best defensive player – DL Joshua Farmer
Outland Trophy – best interior lineman – DL Joshua Farmer & OL Darius Washington
Maxwell Award – best player – QB DJ Uiagalelei

Today's kool-aid saturated positive post:

It's the combination of the coaching staff and the talent level of the roster from top to bottom.

Let's face it, this roster was a complete wreck when Norvell arrived. There were some talented players, but not even close to enough to field a "team." In lightning-fast time, he surgically removed the cancers of the team, and started to fill the roster with not only the best talent he could find, but the best "fits." The ;uchbox type attitude and embracing the hard work was a must for kids on his roster. That became contagious. He started to find success and was getting more competitive play out of a semi-talented roster than other teams loaded with more "talent" on paper. You hear kids now saying things like, "this coaching staff turned a 3-star kid into a NFL pick, imagine what they will do with me." The classic doing more with less story. I am still amazed at the QB this staff was able to develop Jordan Travis into.

Fast forward to today. Norvell now has talent, top talent wants to be at FSU after seeing the quick growth. Norvell continues to instill that lunch box, hard-nosed attitude into this team. He will maximize their potential both physically and mentally. I can picture Norvell laying in bed at night knowing he finally has the team he has been trying to build since he got here. Now, we will really get to see what he can do with this level of talent at every position.

Trust me. . .drink with me.

The night before FSU fall camp began, Marvin Jones Jr. rolled his ankle while getting in some extra work. After missing the start of camp, he's returned this week in a big way, looking like the same player who has consistently stood out since arriving.

just a thought, if a player can now transfer at any time, why can’t a school transfer at any time?

FSU WRs coach Ron Dugans talked after Thursday morning's practice about Malik Benson, who has stood out so far this preseason and his players' practice battles with FSU's talented secondary.

Mike Norvell had praise for Shyheim Brown, Marvin Jones Jr. and others after FSU's second and final practice in Jacksonville Thursday morning. Here's the full interview with the FSU head coach.

Jaboo had some moves!

FSU is practicing on UNF's campus this morning to close out its trip to Jacksonville. Here's footage from the Seminoles' 13th practice of preseason camp this morning.