Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for Florida State, they did.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was for the best.
As coach Mike Norvell sat there and tried to explain how his Seminoles lost to Memphis 20-12 to start the season 0-3, his press conference was cut short by the fire alarm.
He was discussing how Florida State will continue to work despite struggling through three games this season when the alarm went off.
Seth Henigan threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns — the 40th straight game he has tossed a TD pass — as Memphis beat Florida State.
Henigan connected with Greg Desrosiers Jr. and Anthony Landphere on touchdown passes as Memphis (3-0) jumped out to a 20-3 lead in the third quarter. The Tigers scored touchdowns on drives of 65 and 75 yards, finishing 7 of 17 on third downs and 2 of 3 on fourth downs in the game.
The Tigers take home quite the bonus: a $1.3 million guarantee as well as a resume-building victory on the road over a Power 4 team.
DJ Uiagalelei completed 16 of 30 passes for 201 yards and an interception, struggling to move the Seminoles (0-3) until a pair of scoring drives in the third quarter.
Florida State moved to the Memphis 39 and then spiked the ball to set up a final play with two seconds left. But Uiagalelei’s Hail Mary was swatted down at the goal line by Memphis’ Julian Barnett.
Florida State couldn’t run the ball, averaging 1.5 yards per carry. And the Seminoles were constantly facing third-and-long situations, where they converted on just 2 of 12 opportunities although they were 3 of 3 on fourth-down conversions.
“Extremely disappointed the way we played at time,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell said. “The things that we work and emphasize throughout the course of the week, you know, pre-season, off-season, things that are critically important to being successful are not showing up as consistent as we need them to be.
“Obviously offensively very disappointing performance. Never able to really get much going. Second half we were able to move the ball but had a couple explosive plays up still had too many negatives.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
