A season of change but one that began with great expectations now instead opens with a stunning, and stinging, loss.

Jamal Haynes ran for 75 yards and two touchdowns and Aidan Birr made a 44-yard field-goal attempt with no time left as Georgia Tech upset No. 10 Florida State 24-21 in the teams’ season opener on Saturday.

Any idea on the timeline for WR Hykeem Williams to be ready to go? His dynamic ability and size are needed.

It’s not there. No particular player to blame. It’s just not clicking.

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Here's a full video of FSU's press conference with Mike Norvell, Lawrance Toafili and Ryan Fitzgerald from the aftermath of its 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech in Ireland.

Photos from FSU-Georgia Tech from Kathy Hitchcock:

Start with……….
FYI, hate these season openers because there is so much SH!T to distract anyone, but it plays into the under dogs favor. A season opener it enough in itself.

Most Eye Opening thing that hit me was realizing how TALENTED we really were last yr. I know it’s one game but it’s easy see. Can these guys turn it around yes but it’s going to be a long road taking the L out the gate.

I remembering coaching in games like this because you know you need this one big time play late ( DeLoach Clemson), but it never came because right now we don’t have that GUY on D. I’m sick of all the trip shit. We gave up so many YAC is sickening.
Our D got to feel a little bit of how teams felt playing us last yr. Farmer and Jackson were unbelievably underwhelming and in effective. Coach HS you always have at least one Big A$$ Boy that you send in for GL or Short yardage. His single job is don’t let them move him. Like a giant paper weight. You don’t need that from your 2’s much less your 1’s. We will see if Peyton is what we hoped. Not overly impressed with MJjr. Our LBs are going to cost this D so many big 3rd and whatever. They are two easy to scheme up and beat. I understand why Riley was so easy to get and someone needs to tell Omar NOmar this season. Scheme, tbh if the guys played GAP sound which we didn’t and we they did they didn’t make the play. Our D will only go as far as Farmer and Jackson takes them. Secondary, jury still out.

Offense - The gut feeling about DJU when we got him was….. We have a QB who most likely won’t beat us or win us games. It wouldn’t be easy for any QB to make plays with their legs like JT. His mobility and big play ability masked weaknesses on last yr. DJU’s mobility is on par with a paralyzed rabbit. Look, he might cost a game, but he won’t win us one either. GT DC stacked the box committed to more hats than blockers. This stifled the run and stop the pass because DJU not known for his short to intermediate passing ability. We def need TE. 6 was a big loss. I wish we hit more HB/TE/Wr screens / slips to slow things down and quick throws across the middle when Wr filled the blitzing LB or S.

Coaching - You have to wonder if Atkins not being there didn’t have an impact on the play calling. Yes, CMN calls the plays but every good coach will say I’m only as good as my assistants. I feel like it impacted more than we know.

CMN - Man I’ll be honest being in the position he was in.
1) No OC
2) Veteran QB you bring in to be the glue and fill a leadership spot.
3) Season opener and DJU hasn’t done a single thing to put us in position to win. He isn’t a big play threat knowing this I feel like after 3Qs he more than gave DJU a shot to do something. He should have went to Glenn at minimum to 2 series. I don’t see us being a very good offense for the long haul.

Special- 🫡 🫡
Conclusion - Easy to panic and lose faith , Easy to give up on certain players. If we had a L to give that’s it. We need those 1 or 2 Dawgs step up on each side of the ball. This team and season will go as our QBs take them. What we saw isn’t going to keep showing up I promise and I say that because I know Norvell and staff are not a staff that will allow it. This is when having a culture set is imperative.

As I watched this game unfold both on the field and the sideline I did not see any one player take on a leadership role. Who are the leaders?

The waiting is done. Florida State football is finally back.

After months of anticipation, the No. 10 Seminoles kick off their 2024 season -- and the 2024 college football season as a whole -- Saturday in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland vs. Georgia Tech. The game is set for 5 p.m. IST (Noon EST) and will be broadcast on ESPN with Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer and Katie George on the call.

It's the first time in program history that the varsity FSU football team has played an international game. Aug. 24 is also tied for the earliest on the calendar that FSU has ever played a football game in a season.

The Seminoles finished the 2023 season 13-1 and won their first ACC Championship since 2014. They were picked to repeat as conference champs in 2024 by ACC media members, receiving 81 of the 169 first-place votes. GT, meanwhile, is coming off a 7-6 debut season for head coach Brent Key and was picked to finish ninth in the ACC, receiving one first-place vote.

FSU leads the all-time series vs. GT 15-11 and won the last matchup between the two teams 41-16 in 2022. FSU is favored by 10.5 points over the Yellow Jackets for Saturday's game.

This game marks the debut of quite a few new faces on the FSU roster. This includes quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, a former five-star recruit who spent time previously at Clemson and Oregon State. Additionally, new running back Roydell Williams, new wide receivers Malik Benson and Jalen Brown, new defensive end Marvin Jones Jr. and a number of other Seminoles will make their debuts in the garnet and gold Saturday afternoon in Dublin.

College GameDay will be broadcasting from 9 to noon EST from Dublin for the first international broadcast in its history. Safe to say there could be a few FSU fans there with interesting signs considering the fanbase's perception of how ESPN affected the narratives around last year's FSU snub from the College Football Playoff.

I'm live on scene in Dublin and will have live updates during warmups about who is inactive and who it looks like will be the starting lineup and then during the game as things start to unfold.

So after too many Guinness (our concession stand ran out at halftime) I thought it was 4th down on the bad snap. So initially I agreed with the TO. Seeing as it was 3rd down, CMN should have made GT burn that TO. If they didn’t, go to OT. If they did, you had another TO to stop it on 4th.

Not that it would have made a huge difference but I would have liked a chance to try to tie or had time to get in FG range with a miss.

Normally Norvell has a massive man crush on him. This game he hardly featured him. Other than the TD run, Norvell was mixing in all the RBs. I don’t think it’s the reason for the loss but I was shocked Toafili didn’t get 78 touches this game with him being an upperclassman and being a Norvell man crush.

I am still not convinced that it’s only Fox and ESPN that are planning the PFC.

We have known for several years that other networks have been teaming up to get pieces of the pie and trading each other for assets.

I think even a semi final product is not ready to make its debut.

NBC was making noises two years ago about wanting properties that ESPN has. Who’s to say their execs might decide they did well with the Olympics and have money to spend? After seeing them team up with CBS and Fox makes me wonder.

Hotel rooms are available at the Hilton Garden Inn Tallahassee Central for Sunday and Monday nights or Monday night only of the Boston College game on September 2 with nightly rates from $139 to $159 plus a reservation fee. You may visit https://www.gamedaytravelhotels.com or use the direct link to the Florida State vs. Boston College hotels, https://gamedaytravelhotels.com/product-category/florida-state-vs-boston-college. Please e-mail me at gamedaytravel1@yahoo.com if you have any questions. Please list the game (Florida State vs. Boston College) in your e-mail.

Please join us live on the Osceola YouTube Channel Saturday afternoon after the game as we will offer our instant reactions to FSU's season opener vs. Georgia Tech. Former FSU senior defensive analyst Shane Burnham who also coached at UCF, Rutgers, Iowa State, Elon and Richmond will join us to help us break the game down. Charles Fishbein is also planning on joining us. And we hope to have Mark Salva and Jerry Kutz join us live from Dublin as well. The show can also be seen on the Osceola Facebook page, and my Twitter page @OsceolaPat and Curt Weiler's twitter page.

We have set the show up to start at 345 pm eastern time, but we will start approximately 15-20 minutes after the game is over.

Here is the YouTube link:

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shouldn’t we have some kind of non conf refs involved in our conf games given the ongoing lawsuit? How can we expect to get a fair shake?

Some unfortunate FSU news shared by a spokesperson: Sophomore WR Hykeem Williams, listed as a co-backup on FSU's initial depth chart, will miss today's game vs. Georgia Tech.

Rarely post, not making excuses, we were manhandled upfront on both sides of the ball today and didn't deserve the W. But, the chance to win the game, wasn't the WR for GT out of bounds on 3rd and long before the 44 yard kick? We would've had 45+ seconds to move it down the field let Fitz attempt a long one or break something......just asking, I reviewed the play a few times, hes out of bounds clearly before going down.

Two years ago he struggled to make PTA. Last year he had a great year, and now he kicked a 52 yarder and a 60 yarder.

Do we have anyone there for updates on practice

I don’t watch espin shows but was curious as to how Nole Nation was dealing with those clowns.

Any idea where in Dublin they’re selling Noles gear pre game? Thanks!

It appears that Georgia Tech is the home team and can choose their uniforms first. It also appears that Georgia Tech doesn't wear navy blue anymore, they only wear gold and white. If GT comes out in gold and white, I would hope we don't also come out in gold and white lol. Maybe this is a game for the white helmets? We tend to wear the white helmets against other teams that have gold helmets, which I think is smart. We wore white helmets against GT in 2022 and against BC in 2023. My money is on the white helmets. Maybe we could wear white helmets with white jerseys and garnet pants for the first time? I always thought that combination was slick in the recruiting photos but we've never worn it in a game. I know you guys love the traditional stuff but I think it would look pretty stupid if both teams have gold helmets and gold pants. We did that often against BC during the Jimbo era and I think it looked silly.

Everywhere you look in this lovely country you see Garnet and Gold. Our friend Bryan Oneil, who was the longtime President of the Charlotte Seminole Club, estimates FSU fans outnumber GT fans 90 to 10 percent.
"Curious to see how the stadium colors play out on gameday," he said. "I expect it to be dominated by the Garnet and Gold."

Emerald Island turned Garnet and Gold with Seminole Invasion

I forgot about that! What did that sign say?