The 2024 college football season began with a bang. In an absolute cracker game that remained exciting until the final moments, the 10th-seeded Florida State Seminoles lost to Georgia Tech in an ACC showdown.

The highly ranked Florida State football team seemingly had all the expectations and favorites on its side, as it was the 10th ranked team and 10.5 point favorite. It was also coming off a one-loss season that no one had forgotten, as it missed the College Football Playoffs. So how could a non-highly ranked Yellow Jackets team hand them a season-opening loss on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland?

Someone has to take the blame for this loss, because there are certainly a lot of people pointing fingers at the Seminoles football team right now.

DJ Uiagalelei still doesn’t look like that

It’s just one game for DJ Uiagalelei, but it’s a game in his third different uniform in five seasons. Uiagalelei was supposed to be the designated successor to Trevor Lawrence at Clemson, but that didn’t work out, so he transferred to Oregon State last season. In Corvallis, under then-coach Jonathan Smith, Uiagalelei showed signs of improvement, but he was protected by Smith’s schemes and a solid running game that featured Damien Martinez. That kind of protection may not be there at Florida State this season.

Uiagalelei was still well below a 60 percent completion rate (57.1) last season and had the fewest pass attempts of his career since his freshman season.

In Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech, aside from a game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter where he converted two fourth-down conversions, Uiagalelei didn’t really ease the worries of those who doubted him. He completed 19 of 27 passes for a meager 193 yards that day, along with seven more rushing yards. But his ability to get the ball down the field was concerning. After the first half, Uiagalelei had -0.1 air yards.

Uiagalelei was one of the top quarterback transfers of the offseason, and yet he doesn’t look anything like the replacement Mike Norvell hoped last year’s quarterback Jordan Travis would be.

Mike Norvell has placed too much emphasis on the transfer portal

It’s definitely a different era in college football, with everyone from coaches to administration seemingly figuring things out on the fly. Determining the best use of the transfer portal is still a work in progress.

Florida State football coach Mike Norvell has been putting everything on the line since joining the Seminoles. Last season, it finally seemed to pay off until Travis suffered a late-season injury. Travis and nine other players from last season are now moving on to the NFL, forcing Norvell to sit out this season again.

Florida State signed 17 transfers this season to fill last year’s big shoes. That could still pay off, but many are wondering if Norvell has put too much emphasis on rebuilding his team with top transfers each season rather than traditional recruiting. Norvell and his staff have been heavily criticized for developing homegrown talent.

Where was Florida State’s running game?

One of the strengths of this year’s Florida State football team should be their running game. The Seminoles managed just 98 rushing yards on the night compared to Georgia Tech’s staggering 190 yards.

Florida State had six runners on the day, with transfer Roydell Williams being the most productive, running for 38 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, nearly a quarter of which came on runs of 10 yards or more.

Where was Florida State’s defense?

Florida State’s defense was considered one of the team’s greatest strengths last year. Not only did they get overrun by the Yellow Jackets – 36 carries for 190 yards and three touchdowns – but they also couldn’t get close to Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King.

They failed to beat King once, recording zero sacks on the day. Last year’s team was sixth nationally in team sacks, averaging 3.29 per game.

The question now is whether this year’s Florida State team can recover. Everything that happened last year definitely cannot be appreciated after that upset in the first game.