The weekend was not good for the state of Florida when it came to both college football and the NFL this weekend. Between the NFL, FBS and FCS, Florida teams were a combined 0-11 heading into “Monday Night Football,” where the Miami Dolphins looked to break the Sunshine State curse.
The Dolphins were the state’s saving grace, defeating the Los Angeles Rams by a score of 23-15 in Week 10. Miami is now 3-6, snapping a three-game losing streak and doing so on the road. Not only does the offense look better, with receiver Tyreek Hill scoring his first touchdown since Week 1, but the defense has also improved since last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
That was the good news. The rest? Very bad. Week 11 of the 2024 college football season marked the first time in the FBS era, dating back to 1978, that a state went 0-6 in a single week. Florida State, Florida, Miami, UCF, USF and FAU lost their respective games, while FIU was inactive.
To make matters worse, Sunday wasn’t very kind to the Sunshine State either when it came to NFL action. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers came out on the losing end to lead Florida State to a mind-boggling 0-8 over the weekend.
The only ranked college team in the group, Miami, lost its first game of the season with a 28-23 loss to Georgia Tech on the road. As CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm writes, Miami holds the conference tiebreaker over Clemson.
Florida State fell to 1-9 with a crushing 52-3 loss to Notre Dame. The Seminoles are the first preseason top-10 team to lose at least nine games in a single season. Florida lost its second straight game with a 49-17 setback to Texas just days after coach Billy Napier. received a vote of confidence from athletic director Scott Stricklin.
UCF is in danger of missing a bowl game after losing to Arizona State, 35-31, on the road. The Knights started 3-0, but have since lost six of their last seven games to fall to 4-6 (2-5 Big 12 play) in Year 2 as a member of the Big 12. The only win after September It was against Big 12 newcomer Arizona at home.
USF came into the season as a potential dark horse to make the 12-team College Football Playoffs, but after losing to Navy 28-7, the Bulls are in danger of missing a bowl game as well and will need to win two of their final three against Charlotte, Tulsa and Rice.
The state’s first loss of the weekend occurred Thursday night, when Florida Atlantic lost, 49-14, to East Carolina.
From an NFL standpoint, Florida teams continued to struggle during Sunday’s action. The Jaguars led the Minnesota Vikings in the second half, but the Vikings ultimately pulled out a 12-7 victory. It marked Jacksonville’s third straight loss and its fourth loss in the last five games.
Meanwhile, the Buccaneers also lost against the San Francisco 49ers. Quarterback Baker Mayfield threw for just 116 yards, but made a valiant effort to try to push the Bucs over the goal line. Still, the 49ers recorded a much-needed victory with star running back Christian McCaffrey back in the lineup.
Florida A&M, Bethune-Cookman and Stetson also lost. Florida A&M lost, 31-12, to Prairie View, Bethune-Cookman suffered a 25-23 loss to Southern in a game that went to five overtimes, and Stetson fell to Marist, which was winless heading into the contest.
Here’s a closer look at how each Florida State team lost their respective games this week.
- Georgia Tech 28, Miami 23: Miami has been living on the edge all season with exciting last-second wins. The magic ran out during a loss to Georgia Tech, dropping the Hurricanes eight spots to No. 12 in the latest AP Top 25 poll. Barring a historic late-season collapse, Miami should still be in the College Football Playoff.
- Notre Dame 52, Florida State 3: Florida State’s latest loss was a turning point for coach Mike Norvell. FSU’s coach fired offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and wide receivers coach Ron Dugans after the program fell to 1-9.
- Texas 49, Florida 17: Without star quarterback DJ Lagway, Florida struggled against Texas on the road. The Longhorns took a 42-0 lead before Florida finally got on the board with a 23-yard field goal by Trey Smack. The Cats finish the season with a tough schedule against LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State.
- Arizona State 35, UCF 31: After a 3-0 start, it looked like UCF was due for a possible breakthrough in Year 2 as a member of the Big 12. That dream was short-lived after starting conference play 1-4 with losses to Colorado, Cincinnati, Iowa State and BYU. The latest setback was a 35-31 loss to Arizona State last weekend.
- Navy 28, USF 7: USF was competitive against Alabama for the first three quarters of Week 2, but the program hasn’t been the same since. After winning back-to-back games over UAB and FAU, the Bulls lost their fifth game of the season to Navy.
- East Carolina 49, FAU 14: FAU fell to 2-7 with a 49-14 loss to East Carolina. The Owls have lost five of their last six, with the only win during that stretch coming against Wagner.
- Vikings 12, Jaguars 7: The Jaguars continued their slide against the Vikings. The Jaguars were without quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who missed Sunday’s game due to an ankle injury.
- 49ers 23, Buccaneers 20: The Bucs have had their fair share of issues since wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin were out of the lineup. Tampa Bay was able to tie the game at 20 in the final minute before San Francisco’s Jake Moody connected on a 44-yard field goal to win the game as time expired.
- View of Prairie 31, Florida A&M 12: The Panthers’ offense was on a roll against Florida A&M and the Rattlers couldn’t keep up.
- South 25, Bethune-Cookman 23: It was very exciting to have to go through five overtimes before reaching the final.
- Marist 40, Stetson 31: Marist hadn’t won all season, but got its first against Stetson in a close matchup.
