The Florida State Seminoles found another way to make their road problems worse Friday night.
Florida State blew a 14-0 lead and was outscored 44-6 the rest of the way in a 44-20 loss to Louisville, dropping Mike Norvell’s team to 3-3 and extending one of the ugliest streaks of his tenure.
The Seminoles have now lost 13 consecutive games away from home. Their last win outside Tallahassee came in the 2023 ACC championship game, when Brock Glenn started at quarterback in a 16-6 win over Louisville in Charlotte.
Florida State Reaches 13 Straight Losses Away From Home
The Athletic’s Chris Vannini pointed out the streak as Louisville pulled away Friday night.
“Florida State has not won away from home since the 2023 ACC championship game led by Brock Glenn. Looking at 13 straight losses now,” Vannini wrote.
That stretch started with Florida State’s 63-3 loss to Georgia in the Orange Bowl to end the 2023 season.
The Seminoles then went 0-5 away from Tallahassee in 2024, beginning with the neutral-site loss to Georgia Tech in Dublin before road losses to SMU, Duke, Miami and Notre Dame.
Things didn’t improve in 2025. Florida State lost all five of its road games at Virginia, Stanford, Clemson, NC State and Florida.
The streak reached 12 with a 50-36 loss at Alabama on Sept. 19 before Louisville made it 13 Friday.
There is an important distinction in the wording. Florida State has lost 13 straight games away from home, but two of those were neutral-site games: the Orange Bowl against Georgia and the 2024 opener against Georgia Tech in Ireland. The Seminoles’ true road losing streak is now 11 games.
Their last actual road victory came Nov. 25, 2023, when they beat Florida 24-15 in Gainesville.
That was 1,049 days ago.
Mike Norvell’s Road Struggles Draw Bobby Bowden Comparison
The length of the skid has produced an especially ugly comparison to Florida State’s most successful era.
Jon Loesche pointed out during Friday’s game that Bowden lost only 12 true road games from 1987 through 2000, a 14-season stretch in which Florida State finished in the AP top five every year.
“Going to be 13 straight road losses for Mike Norvell. Bobby Bowden lost 12 road games total between 1987 and 2000,” Loesche wrote.
Again, Norvell’s 13-game figure includes the two neutral-site defeats, while the Bowden number refers to road games. Even using only true road games, though, Florida State has now lost 11 in a row.
Friday’s loss made the streak sting even more because of how it unfolded.
Florida State jumped ahead 14-0 and had a chance to make it a three-score game before failing on fourth down near the Louisville goal line. On the next play, Isaac Brown broke a 97-yard touchdown run.
The Seminoles never recovered.
Louisville scored 35 unanswered points before Florida State finally found the end zone again in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals finished with 537 yards, including 397 on the ground, which is the most a Seminoles team has surrendered in 17 years, according to Yahoo Sports.
Florida State entered the night coming off consecutive home wins and a 38-7 rout of Virginia that seemed to have stabilized things after a 1-2 start.
Instead, the Seminoles are back at .500 and still searching for their first win away from Tallahassee in nearly three years.
The next chance won’t get any easier.
Florida State travels to Miami on Oct. 17.
Florida State Hits Staggering New Low Under Mike Norvell vs. Louisville