Mike Norvell addresses crucial mistake, special teams blunder

The now 4-2 Florida State Seminoles suffered their second straight loss this past weekend, as they fell in a closely fought battle to No. 14 NC State 19-17. The Seminoles did not play their cleanest brand of mistake-free football Saturday, giving up two turnovers and being called on ten penalties that accounted for 100 yards.

The most fascinating penalty of the day however was likely called on Seminoles punter Alex Mastromanno, who appeared to be attempting a fake punt to run for a first down (which he likely would have converted), but instead at the last second decided to punt the ball illegally beyond the line of scrimmage. Head coach Mike Norvell spoke about the blunder following the game, and was asked if his punter had the option to fake a punt on that specific play.

“No, Norvell said. “They brought an extra hat off one side and I think it flashed in front of him and he started to go.”

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Mastromanno did deliver a booming 66-yard punt on the play, but did not count as they were called for a penalty that resulted in a loss of downs and gave the Wolfpack the football with excellent field position.

“I just think that was something that happened where Alex got sparks and started to run and just kind of probably lost bearings of where he was,” Norvell said.

NC State started the following drive on the Seminole’s 13-yard line, but Florida State’s defense pushed the Wolfpack back a ton, forcing a 4th and 33 and a career-long field goal attempt from NC State Kicker Chris Dunn.

“Appreciate our defense, really rose up in that moment and did a great job of forcing them back and that guy made, whatever it was, a 56-yard field goal to go up,” Norvell said. “Our guys responded really well in the situation and they made a play to get three points off of it.”

Unfortunately for the Seminoles, Dunn did make the kick, bringing NC State within one point of the lead in the fourth quarter. Which ended up being costly, as the Seminoles would be held scoreless and Dunn would make one more kick to give the Wolfpack a two-point lead that they’d hold onto till the clock hit zero.

The Seminoles obviously lost for various different reasons, not just on one play, but hopefully for Florida State moving forward, their costly mistakes can be cleaned up. As they face their third straight ranked ACC opponent in No. 5 Clemson at home in their next matchup.