Mike Norvell will remain the Florida State football coach for the 2026 college football season, the school announced on Sunday, Nov. 23.

The Seminoles announced the decision to retain their head coach two days after a 21-11 road loss to North Carolina State that dropped them to 5-6 on the season. FSU has dropped 10 straight games away from Doak Campbell Stadium and has not won a road game since a win over in-state rival Florida on Nov. 25, 2023.

‘FSU Board of Trustees Chairman Peter Collins, Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford, and I are in complete agreement that changes are needed for our program to improve,’ FSU President Dr. Richard McCullough said in a news release.

‘Coach Norvell embraces our support in that process and agrees that success must be achieved. He continues to demonstrate an unwavering belief in this program’s future, and so do we. This decision reflects a unified commitment to competing in the rapidly evolving landscape of college football, while maintaining continuity within the program.’

Norvell led the Seminoles to a 13-1 record and the ACC championship in 2023, but FSU was denied a berth in the then-four-team College Football Playoff field following an injury to quarterback Jordan Travis.

Alabama targeted Norvell as a potential replacement for Nick Saban, following the legendary coach’s abrupt retirement. The Crimson Tide eventually hired Kalen DoBoer, with Norvell signing a massive extension with the Seminoles.

However, FSU went 2-10 in 2024 following an exodus of talent to the NFL. Following a rough 2024, Norvell’s decision to hire Gus Malzahn (offensive coordinator) and Tony White (defensive coordinator) looked to be a smart move, as the Seminoles opened the season with a win over No. 8 Alabama. However, after a 3-0 start, Florida State saw its season sink, starting with an upset loss at Virginia on the road.

‘Our responsibility is to do what gives Florida State the strongest competitive position – not just today, but for years to come,’ FSU athletics director Michael Alford said. ‘Florida State has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its football program over the past few years with high expectations. Chairman Collins, President McCullough and I are aligned in partnering with Coach and improving our ability to compete for championships. Our mission is unwavering in putting Florida State football at the forefront of college athletics.’

However, the Seminoles believe Norvell can turn things around, as he did before the magical run in 2023.

‘In addition to addressing the reality that on-field results have been far from acceptable to the FSU standard, we also realize our responsibilities as stewards of program revenues and how to best allocate those dollars to compete at an elite level – something we will not compromise,’ said Collins. ‘Throughout the assessment, one goal will remain beyond all others – achieving sustained championship-level success. We will address performance deficiencies in the program. These deficiencies may include structural changes to the very large and complex program FSU football has become, and these areas are where we will focus and invest.’

FSU closes out the 2025 regular season against rival Florida in Gainesville, Florida, on Saturday, Nov. 29. The Seminoles need a win to avoid missing a bowl game for the second straight year and the fourth time in six years under Norvell.

Mike Norvell buyout

If FSU had fired Norvell, it would have owed Norvell a little over $59 million in buyout money as of Sunday, Nov. 23, according to contract information obtained by the USA TODAY Network. His contract is set to run through Dec. 31, 2031.

Mike Norvell record at Florida State

In his six seasons under Norvell, Florida State has a 38-33 overall record and a 22-26 mark in ACC play. The Seminoles have finished with just two winning seasons during his tenure, which include a 13-1 record and an ACC championship in 2023.

‘This program has been built on belief, sacrifice, and putting the team first,’ Norvell said. ‘That set of values has always guided my actions, and those of our players. The driving motivation behind this is to make certain that we are doing everything properly to obtain and retain elite players, add critical pieces, and sustain long-term success. I love Florida State, and I am fully committed to this program, and our shared goals.’

Here’s a year-by-year breakdown of how FSU fared under Norvell:

2020: 3-6, 2-6 ACC
2021: 5-7, 4-4 ACC
2022: 10-3, 5-3 ACC
2023: 13-1, 8-0 ACC
2024: 2-10, 1-7 ACC
2025: 5-6, 2-6 ACC

This story was updated to change a video.

This late into the college football season, it can sometimes hard for teams to pick up quality wins for their College Football Playoff resumes and postseason pictures.

That wasn’t the case for No. 5 Oregon (No. 7 College Football Playoff) and Dan Lanning on Saturday, Nov. 22, as the Ducks earned their biggest win at home of the season with a 42-27 victory over No. 16 USC (No. 15 in CFP).

In the process of discussing his team’s win, Lanning may have taken a shot at teams from other conferences in his postgame news conference — specifically, their practice of scheduling non-conference games against Group of Five or FCS programs.

‘Played a good team. We beat them, right? All we can do next week is try to do the same thing, right? This conference is a really good conference. It’s competitive,’ Lanning said. ‘We didn’t play Chattanooga State today, right? Like some other places. We competed.

‘That being said, it’s tough playing nine conference games. It’s tough playing in this league. And we got to take advantage of playing a good team today and attacking that.’

To Lanning’s point, six of the 13 SEC teams in action in Week 13 played ‘buy games.’ No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 10 Alabama and Auburn picked up wins over FCS opponents in Samford, Eastern Illinois and Mercer, respectively.

No. 4 Georgia picked up a win over Charlotte, South Carolina defeated Coastal Carolina and LSU won a close game against Western Kentucky.

The SEC did feature four conference games on Nov. 22, with No. 8 Oklahoma beating No. 21 Missouri, No. 13 Vanderbilt beating Kentucky, No. 18 Texas beating Arkansas and No. 20 Tennessee beating Florida.

With its win over USC, Oregon kept itself in the mix for the Big Ten championship game. The Ducks not only need to beat Washington in Week 14, but also need Ohio State to lose to Michigan in ‘The Game.’ The Ducks are set to close out the season on Saturday, Nov. 29 against the Huskies in Seattle.

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Colorado lost to Arizona State 42-17 after a critical fumble by a redshirt sophomore in the fourth quarter.
Coach Deion Sanders took responsibility for the fumble, which led to an 88-yard touchdown run by Arizona State on the next play.
The loss drops Colorado’s record to 3-8, and Sanders promised changes are already in progress for the team.

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders made a curious decision early in the fourth quarter Saturday night with his team down by only four points against Arizona State.

He called on a redshirt sophomore named Ronald Coleman, who had never carried the ball before in a college game.

Sanders liked what Coleman had shown him in practices. So he put him in the game and then saw him rip loose for a 14-yard gain on his first carry before he inexplicably dropped the ball without even being touched. Sanders blamed himself for the lost fumble, which proved to be the turning point in a 42-17 loss at home for Colorado.

“The gentleman who fumbled, that’s on me,” Sanders said afterward. “I put him in the game to try to have a change of pace. I figured he was gonna hit it, and he hit it. And he fumbled. It is what it is.”

Before the fumble, the Buffaloes trailed 21-17 with about 14 minutes left. They were driving inside the Arizona State 20-yard line.

After recovering the fumble, Arizona State throttled Colorado. Running back Raleek Brown exploded for an 88-yard touchdown run on the very next play. It was the first of three consecutive touchdown drives for Arizona State to close the game as Colorado dropped to 3-8 overall and 1-7 in the Big 12 Conference. It ended up being the first and only college rushing attempt for Coleman, who is listed on the roster as a receiver.

“I’m tired of singing the same old darn song to you,” Sanders told reporters afterward. “I really am.”

Deion Sanders promises changes again

Brown of Arizona State finished with 255 rushing yards and one touchdown on 22 carries, which atoned for his own fumble on the series right before Coleman’s fumble for Colorado. Arizona State finished with 580 total yards despite giving up four turnovers, including three fumbles. The problem for the Buffaloes was that they converted those four turnovers into just three points in front of 43,348 at Folsom Field.

“I’m gonna say it’s multiple things that we’ll need to change, and it will,” Sanders said. “Matter of fact, it’s already in progress.”

It was the second career start for Colorado freshman quarterback Julian Lewis, who completed 19 of 38 passes for 161 yards and one touchdown. He led his team to its first lead in six weeks in the first quarter – 7-3. But Colorado also was missing several injured players, including its starting offensive tackles and top defensive player, safety Tawfiq Byard, who left the game with a wrist injury in the second quarter.

“He wasn’t settled, never got settled,” Sanders said of Lewis. “We gotta do better.”

Deion Sanders bested by Kenny Dillingham

Sanders, 58, and Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham, 35, started their current jobs in 2023, both as new head coaches in major college football. But their records are now nearly the opposite after three seasons. Dillingham is 22-15, including winning the Big 12 championship last year. Sanders is 16-20.

Sanders was asked about that afterward.

“I’m not going to compare myself to any other person,” Sanders said to reporters. ‘I’ll let you guys do that.”

Their records are the opposite this year, too. Arizona State is 8-3 while Colorado is 3-8.

“I mean, it’s huge, getting to eight wins,” Dillingham said afterward.

Sanders said he’s happy for Dillingham, whom he considers a friend. To catch up with him next year, Sanders hopes to at least keep a core group of top players instead of losing them to the transfer portal in January. That starts with Lewis, the quarterback, who says he’s committed to the program at age 18.

“Oh yeah, I’m a Buff through and through,” Lewis said when asked if he’s committed to next year. “I’ve got my crib out here. All my guys are out here. I don’t got no reason to go.”

Will Julian Lewis redshirt this year?

He sounded less committed to playing in the season finale at Kansas State Nov. 29. If he plays in that game, it will be his fifth game this year, which would burn a redshirt year for him. If he doesn’t play in it, he’ll have four more seasons of eligibility left starting in 2026. If he does play in it, he’ll have only three. He previously said he wanted to play through the end of the season and not redshirt this season.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Lewis said when asked about redshirting Saturday night. “There’s a lot more into it than just me with the redshirt situation. But I really don’t have any information on that.”

Colorado has struggled since the departure of Sanders’ quarterback son, Shedeur, to the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. Shedeur Sanders is scheduled to make his first NFL start Nov. 23 in a game against the Las Vegas Raiders. The father said as recently as Nov. 20 that he didn’t know yet if he would attend the game in person in Las Vegas.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

This story was updated to change a video.

Bill Belichick has six Super Bowl wins on his resume. But his first season with North Carolina football won’t include a bowl of any kind.

North Carolina lost 32-25 to Duke in the Victory Bell rivalry on Saturday, guaranteeing the Tar Heels’ first losing record in a season since 2018. That was also that last time UNC (4-7, 2-5 ACC) hadn’t reached a bowl.

“We’re just playing one game at a time, not worried about anything in the future,” Belichick said in regards to the postseason after the loss to the Blue Devils (6-5, 5-2), who became bowl eligible with the road win. 

So what does the 4-7 record mean for Belichick and the Tar Heels?

“It means we have one game,” Belichick said, “and we’ll put everything we got into that one.” 

Wide receiver Jordan Shipp, who had eight catches for 83 yards and a touchdown against Duke, said “it sucks, man” and there’s “a lot of stuff you can harp on.” But he went on to say he’s just focused on beating NC State (6-5, 3-4) in the regular-season finale. 

“Nobody thinks you’re going to come into a season 4-7, no matter who is your coach,” Shipp said before highlighting the relationships he’s built with his teammates and coaches. 

Starting linebacker Andrew Simpson also pointed to the Tar Heels’ growth and connectedness throughout the season, but the mood in the locker room was “not good” after the Duke loss. 

“We wanted to win this game, we wanted to be bowl eligible,” Simpson said. 

Now, with one game remaining in Raleigh, Simpson and the Tar Heels are simply trying to end their season on a positive note. 

“We gotta finish strong. We got a good group,” Simpson said. “Proud of our guys for playing hard, but we just gotta play a little harder. Hopefully, next week we can come out and finish the season strong.” 

Rodd Baxley covers North Carolina Tar Heels athletics for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding UNC? Send them torbaxley@usatodayco.com.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins suffered an apparent head injury during the fourth quarter of his team’s Week 12 game against the New England Patriots.

The injury occurred when Higgins attempted to make a one-handed catch while being covered by Carlton Davis. The veteran receiver went to the ground hard, unable to brace himself as Davis was tackling him, and saw his head slam into the turf.

Higgins remained down on the field and was tended to by Cincinnati’s medical staff. The CBS broadcast eventually showed the 26-year-old leaving the field on a cart, holding the back of his head.

The Bengals later announced Higgins had been ruled out of Sunday’s game because of a concussion.

The Bengals were already without top receiver Ja’Marr Chase because of a suspension, so they will finish Sunday’s game with Andrei Iosivas, Mitchell Tinsley and Charlie Jones as their top available receivers.

(This story will be updated as more information becomes available.)

The Pittsburgh Steelers are already without their starting quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, for their Week 12 game against the Chicago Bears. Now, the team is also dealing with an injury to its top receiver.

That would be DK Metcalf, who has been dealing with an ankle injury throughout the Steelers’ Nov. 23 contest.

Metcalf originally hurt his ankle in the first half following a 2-yard completion to Pat Freiermuth. It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the veteran receiver, but he wasn’t able to put any weight on his left leg as he hopped off the field.

Metcalf headed to the blue medical tent after reaching the sidelines. The Steelers later announced he was ‘questionable’ to return to Sunday’s game because of an ankle injury.

That said, Metcalf was able to return to the field in short order for the Steelers. He continued to serve as their top target until he appeared to aggravate his injured ankle during a third-quarter end-around.

Metcalf again hobbled to the sideline. The Steelers did not immediately provide an update on whether he would return to the game.

Metcalf had two catches for nine yards before exiting the game for a second time. He also logged two carries for 12 yards and a touchdown.

(This story will be updated as more information becomes available.)

CHICAGO — With or without Aaron Rodgers, this was a game the Pittsburgh Steelers needed to win.

They did not, making mental lapses at critical times and failing to take advantage of Caleb Williams when they had the chance. Now they’re hovering barely above .500, staring down a schedule that includes the Buffalo Bills and two games against the Baltimore Ravens.

Ideal situation it is not.

Rodgers has owned the Chicago Bears throughout his career, and this is likely the last time he would have faced his old nemesis. But Rodgers was ruled out before the game, the fracture in his left hand not healed enough that he could play safely.

Mason Rudolph started in his place and, after a pick on his first pass attempt, settled into a groove. The Steelers defense had its way with the Bears early, with T.J. Watt sacking Williams and forcing a fumble that Nick Herbig recovered in the end zone to give Pittsburgh a 14-7 lead.

Pittsburgh (6-5) could have made it even tougher on Williams, getting hands on his passes several times but unable to hang on.

But Montez Sweat’s strip-sack late in the third, when the Steelers were trailing 24-21, was a dagger to Pittsburgh’s chances. The season is a long way from over, but it’s beginning to feel as if Pittsburgh is all but done.