TALLAHASSEE – Florida State head coach Mike Norvell was voted the 2023 ACC Coach of the Year, it was announced Thursday.
Norvell has led the Seminoles to a perfect 12-0 record, including 8-0 in the ACC, and the top seed for Saturday’s ACC Championship Game. He produced the seventh unbeaten regular season in program history and only the fourth 12-0 mark in a season, joining the 1999 national championship team, the 2013 national championship team and the 2014 College Football Playoff semifinalists. Norvell is the sixth different ACC coach to lead his team to an undefeated record in conference play since 2000.
Florida State is ranked No. 4 in each of the major rankings this week and has been in the top-5 for 13 consecutive weeks after opening the season with a 45-24 win over No. 5 LSU in Orlando. The Seminoles have seven wins this season over bowl-eligible Power 5 conference teams, tied for the most in the country, and also are tied for the national lead with four wins in games it trailed by at least 10 points. FSU is the only team that has produced a stretch in which it outscored its opponent by at least 17 points in every game this season, and its eight games with a plus-24 scoring run rank second.
Norvell’s team placed a program-record 25 selections on the All-ACC teams announced earlier this week, including at least one at every position. FSU’s eight first-team selections led the conference, and it also topped the ACC in second-team and third-team honorees.
The Seminoles lead the nation in opponent completion percentage, fewest turnovers lost and pass breakups. FSU leads the ACC in scoring offense, ranking 10th nationally with an average of 38.8 points per game, and scoring defense, allowing only 16.8 points per game to rank 11th in the country, and are one of four teams in the top-12 nationally in both categories. The Seminoles are also one of five teams in the country ranked in the top-30 in both pass defense and passing yards per game.
Florida State ranks third in the country in kickoff return average, fourth in net punting average and fifth in 3rd-down defense, pass efficiency defense and turnover margin per game while also ranking seventh in sacks per game and ninth in total touchdowns scored. FSU also leads the ACC in fewest interceptions thrown, rushing touchdowns, passing efficiency, yards per completion, red zone offense, points scored by kicking, PATs made, field goal percentage and punt return yards.
Norvell is Florida State’s first ACC Coach of the Year since 1997. He joins College Football Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden, who won the award in 1993 and 1997, as the only FSU coaches to be voted the conference’s Coach of the Year.
No. 4 Florida State faces No. 15 Louisville in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kickoff from Bank of America Stadium is set for 8 p.m. on ABC.
