Saturday’s game between the Florida State Seminoles and the Florida Gators saw records broken, dreams crushed, and the same kind of intensity that is expected in this rivalry game. However, most of the intensity came from the Gator offense as UF won in mostly dominating fashion 40-21 before a crowd of more than 90,000 fans at The Swamp.
FSU entered the game needing a victory to stave off another losing season and become bowl eligible. But the Noles had no answers against the Gator offense as the game plan was to “Run the Baugh.” Sophomore running back Jadan Baugh rushed for 266 yards. This total was the second-most by a runner in a single game in UF history, and the most yards ever given up by an FSU defense to runner.
“When you know the work that’s gone in, the expectations of our play and that doesn’t show up, it’s infuriating,” said Head Coach Mike Norvell following the game. “I apologize to our fan base; everybody associated with the university.”
FSU played from behind for the entire game. Two second quarter touchdowns helped keep the score close and competitive as the first half ended with a 17-14 Gator lead. But missed opportunities and the inability to stop the UF offense, led by Baugh, brought the same result as most of the games this season as the Seminoles ended the year with a 5-7 record.
The Noles were led by quarterback Tommy Castellanos who passed for 240 yards, 2 TD’s, and an interception. Castellanos was also the Noles leading rusher with 77 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore receiver Lawayne McCoy had a breakout game with six catches for 117 yards and a touchdown.
FSU began the 2025 football season by shocking the college football world with an electric victory over favorite Alabama. Then after two big wins over East Texas State and Kent State the Noles were ranked 7th in the country. However, seven losses over the next nine games brought the FSU record for the six seasons under head coach Mike Norvell to 38-34. The Noles are two seasons away from their 13-1 ACC Championship season, and also two years removed from a road victory away from Doak Campbell Stadium.
The Noles enter the off season with lots of questions about next season. Norvell promises improvement,” Right now, just coming out of the game, we’ve got to be better, and we’ve got to be drastically better from what we’ve shown. Obviously, there’s a time and place for all that and we’ll get to that here soon.”
