If it happened in College Football 25, You would end the game before your opponent could even think of flicking the cheer stick – let alone before it could happen twice.

But in a tied game at the end of the third quarter, Florida State witnessed a series of events that summed up a rainy, sloppy and disappointing season opener in Ireland, each of which added salt to the self-inflicted wound that was the Seminoles’ performance and final score.

Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King dropped back to pass and forgot to take the ball. A botched snap led to a tight scramble that Georgia Tech miraculously regained control of. On the next play, the Yellow Jackets converted a first down on one of King’s only 11 successful passes.

One frame later, with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter, King brought the ball up the turf again. Once again, Georgia Tech recovered and gained significant yards on third down, putting the Yellow Jackets within field goal range on the final play of the game.

A year ago, both ties could have gone in FSU’s favor when the ball bounced in the Seminoles’ hands and gave them a sigh of relief.

This is not the last season.

On Saturday, FSU’s season fell apart before it even got going. Many of the offseason concerns about the offense came true, while the defense shockingly fell apart. Every time FSU got back into rhythm and seemed to regain control, the Yellow Jackets took every hit and then took control again, displaying the usual “calm in the face of chaos” response that Florida State has tried to embody under Mike Norvell. FSU never found the patented play to create a spark, and the Seminoles trudge back to Tallahassee with some serious soul-searching before 99% of the other teams have even taken the field.

Georgia Tech dominated the line of scrimmage in what felt like a late fall game, a key factor in a matchup where each team tried to establish the run. Defensively, GT beat Florida State without the ball. All three of the Yellow Jackets’ points came on the ground, and the team finished the game with 190 yards on 36 attempts.

Norvell always talks about the identity of his team and how they react.

They didn’t fight back today.

Florida State couldn’t get off the field, a trend that proved fatal on the final two drives, as the inability to stop the running game finally caused the aforementioned wound to fail. King’s team took the ball at the end of the third quarter and marched it down the field for an 11-play, 89-yard touchdown drive that lasted over six minutes, with more than half of the plays consisting of runs.

At the end of the fourth quarter, Georgia Tech ran the ball six times in a row, running down the clock until the team reaped its reward. The Yellow Jackets used over six minutes on 12 snaps and covered less than 50 yards. After the game, Norvell addressed the mistakes at the line of scrimmage, saying he “didn’t think it was a lack of physicality.”

“There are moments up front where we need to be better offensive to maintain our lead… they changed our strategies well. We had our chances.”

Florida State touched the ball once in the fourth when former offensive line coach Brent Key forced FSU into the turf. Most frustratingly, the one time highly touted freshman DJ Uiagalelei had possession, he looked like a quarterback capable of leading a team, rather than a highly touted game manager carrying out the conservative instructions of a seemingly timid offensive team.

Unfortunately, Uiagalelei was unable to showcase his arm strength and durability on the other six drives before the tying goal. Norvell’s plays showed no confidence in the transfer, and Uiagalelei did little to inspire confidence when the opportunities arose – a trend that started on the practice field and carried over into the game.

“I thought DJ did some good things. I thought he did a great job with that drive in the fourth quarter,” Norvell said after the game. “I thought he delivered in that moment… Ultimately, we have to be more explosive, and that’s not just for one player.”

It also didn’t help that the running game dried up after the first drive, averaging less than four yards per carry. Rotating the offensive line didn’t solve chemistry problems, as a unit without Atkins couldn’t find its best five players and was never able to wear down the Tech front.

Norvell played it safe, hoping his team could keep it boring and leave Ireland with a win, but a back-and-forth of players’ inability to accomplish their goals and poor game management by the personnel backfired as Georgia Tech did the same thing, only better.

How long will it take for Norvell to take off the training wheels? If the head coach loosens up a bit and finds the rhythm that fueled an 84-yard offensive streak that raced down the field and converted multiple fourth downs, FSU can quickly pull itself out of the gutter.

However, if this was a system error rather than a feature, fixing the problem may require a little more than just calling IT to unplug and replug the devices.

Troubleshooting begins now.

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First thought: The run defense was a disaster

Georgia Tech won the game because they dominated on the ground, and the stats speak for themselves: King ran the ball 15 times and threw it 16 times as the Seminoles couldn’t solve their running game problems. The Jackets ran 5.3 yards per attempt, and four different players gained ten yards or more.

Their experienced offensive line was pressed against the supposedly vaunted defensive front, and clever coaching took advantage of undisciplined linebackers who looked overwhelmed. Defensive coordinator Adam Fuller coached one of his worst games in years and never found the right approach to counteract King’s ability to threaten tackles or put GT behind the posts.

“We need to set the edge better,” Norvell said. “That was definitely the X-factor in this game.”

On one of the few times Fuller used his patented secondary pressure to force the issue, Shyheim Brown picked the wrong gap and the first play of the second half went 36 yards into FSU territory.

Throughout the game, the unit never settled down and the pre-snap movements made it seem like a group playing together for the first time. It will be interesting to hear what Fuller says about communication on Wednesday, because from the press box, the defense’s uncoordination was due to being confused before the ball was snapped.

Last season, it took a while for the run defense to go from a weakness to a strength, and Josh Farmer, Darrell Jackson Jr. and Daniel Lyons should be better. But with Thomas Castellanos’ arrival in town, they will be tested early and often on Labor Day.

Second thought: Minimal moves dry up the offense

In a way, Uiagalelei did everything Norvell asked of him. He took care of the ball and never made a bad play that directly cost his team the game. He controlled the offense well and constantly controlled plays at the line of scrimmage. The offense scored on four of its seven drives and never had a single three-and-out.

But the story of the crime was different from the statistics.

Throughout spring and fall training camp, the unit felt kind of weird, and Saturday the whole thing was exposed. Norvell consistently made conservative decisions even when the opportunity to throw the ball down the field arose. Uiagalelei threw for less than 100 yards in each half, and through the first two quarters, his average throw length was -0.1 yards behind the line of scrimmage. In fact, none of what happened Saturday should surprise anyone who followed the team to Dublin. When the Seminoles darted down the field, and they did, either GT didn’t fall for it, or Uiagalelei recognized the play too late and the ball never arrived.

Norvell knew he had to run the ball with his spotty passing game, and FSU managed to keep it on the ground 31 times, four more times than they threw it. But he probably stuck with the run game longer than he should have because he didn’t trust the quarterback and wide receivers; the Seminoles managed less than 100 yards.

Without Hykeem Williams, Norvell relied on just two receivers: Malik Benson and Ja’Khi Douglas. Together, they accounted for eight of DJU’s 19 completions and were also responsible for three 3rd and 4th down conversions in the fourth quarter.

But if teams notice these offensive deceptions and the lack of consistent attacking opportunities, the offense could dry up even more.

Third thought: What comes next?

One game doesn’t tell the whole story about a season, but losing the first game of the conference before most of the country is in action should be a real concern — at least for the Seminoles’ targets. Florida State used its mulligan on a 7-6 team that had a Vegas-projected over/under total win percentage of 4.5 before the game. Now the Seminoles will likely have to give it their all to have a chance at the ACC championship.

“I know how we work,” Lawrance Toafili said after the game. “I know what the team is about. We just have to focus on ourselves. We just have to get better and just go about our business.”

While they are talented, Saturday showed they are behind schedule, and the coaching staff cannot rely on a truly impactful player on either side of the ball to step up and make a play when it is needed most. The subdued play and lack of execution give the impression that there are no obvious home run hitters on offense, showing it has a clearly defined ceiling, and that no “decisive” moments have helped set up a defense that needs time, not exactly available, to get up to speed and reach the heights it reached last year.

While you can’t win a championship in a season opener, you can definitely lose one. And if Florida State has championship aspirations, ACC or not, there’s still a lot of work to be done to change the direction the Seminoles are on.