More swiftly than Florida State rose from unranked to the top 10, the Seminoles have plummeted the last two weeks.
After a second straight defeat — Saturday’s 28-22 home loss to No. 3 Miami — Florida State (3-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) clings to the 25th and final spot in this week’s AP poll.
The Seminoles will look to stop their slide Saturday when they host Pitt (3-2, 1-1) for an ACC matchup in Tallahassee, Fla.
“Our football team is, I’d say, very disappointed, angry,” said Florida State coach Mike Norvell. “… We’ve shown high capability of production and we’ve shown a lot of potential of what we can do. But it still comes down to applying that throughout the course of a game.”
Florida State was ranked as high as seventh before this two-game skid.
While the final score of the loss to the Hurricanes would lead one to believe it was a competitive game, the Seminoles trailed 28-3 with just more than 10 minutes left.
Of the team’s 404 yards, nearly half of them (188) came in the fourth quarter as Florida State rattled off 19 points to move an onside kick recovery away from having a Hail Mary shot at a win.
After quarterback Tommy Castellanos threw just one interception in the first three games, he has had a pair of picks in each of the last two games.
With six turnovers as a team in the last two games, Florida State is now tied for 112th out of 136 FBS teams with nine turnovers for the season.
“This (loss) is on me,” Castellanos said after the Miami game. “I told the (team) that I have to play better and be better.”
The good news for Florida State? After playing three teams currently in the top 20 in their first five games, none of the seven teams left on its regular-season schedule are ranked.
The bad news is that Pitt comes into Saturday’s game riding high. The Panthers head south fresh off a 48-7 win over Boston College in freshman QB Mason Heintschel’s first start.
A Pitt offense that had sputtered at times and struggled with turnovers — the Panthers had a 7-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio in their first three games against FBS opponents — was smooth as silk on Saturday with an 18-year-old at the helm after moving on from previous starter Eli Holstein.
Heintschel completed 30 of 41 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns, tied for the most by a freshman in his first complete game since at least 1995.
“It’s a dream come true for sure,” Heintschel said. “This is why I came to Pittsburgh.”
Heintschel was the first true freshman Pitt QB to start a game since Kenny Pickett in 2017. Head coach Pat Narduzzi sees some comparison points between the two.
“We think he’s got (Pickett’s) kind of ability,” Narduzzi said. “Again, one game doesn’t define you. He’s got a lot of work to do. We’ve got a big game this week against Florida State in Tallahassee.”
The Seminoles’ defense — which has six interceptions and ranks fifth in the ACC in passing defense (195.8 yards per game) — and a tough road atmosphere will further test Heintschel.
Pitt leads the all-time series 6-5, but Florida State won the last matchup on the road in 2023.
