Seminoles look to restart momentum against Pitt

Is this season’s Florida State Seminoles football team more like last year’s squad or the season before? Saturday’s matchup with Pittsburgh may provide the answer.

Two seasons ago, Mike Norvell guided Florida State to an undefeated regular season. The Seminoles missed out on the four-team College Football Playoff because quarterback Jordan Travis was injured late in the season. Then, last season, the team suffered through the worst season in Tallahassee in half a century.

It appeared that the Noles had bounced back this season when they upset Alabama to kick off the schedule, then coasted to easy wins over lesser competition. But a loss at Virginia followed by a thumping at Miami has FSU dealing with major questions.

Now at 3-2 on the season, the Seminoles host Pitt on Saturday (noon ET, ESPN). Norvell said this week that if his team can play a clean game, they should be in good shape to bounce back.

“We’ve lost two games. We have six turnovers in those two games,” Norvell said. “We’ve shown (a) high capability of production, and we’ve shown a lot of potential of what we can do. But it still comes down to applying that throughout the course of a game.”

Saturday’s game is important for multiple reasons. First, FSU wants to stop the losing streak. Second, with a road game at Stanford next, and games remaining at Clemson, North Carolina State, and Florida on the schedule, winning at home is key for FSU’s bowl chances. There is still a chance that the Seminoles could win the ACC, but it’s a long shot. And they must win the rest of their games to have even a sliver of a chance.

Other games involving Florida teams this weekend:

— USF at North Texas (Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2): The Bulls are ranked 24th in this week’s AP Top 25 poll but are road underdogs to the undefeated Mean Green, who beat Washington State and Army in the nonconference schedule.

— UCF at Cincinnati (noon ET, FS1): Cincinnati is a heavy favorite at home. The Bearcats have won four straight, including upsetting Iowa State last week. If UCF doesn’t derail Cincinnati, the Bearcats could roll to the Big 12 title game.

— North Carolina Central at Florida A&M (3 p.m. ET): The Rattlers (1-3) are off to a slow start and need a win to stay in contention in the SWAC Eastern Division.

— Florida at Texas A&M (7 p.m. ET, ESPN): It’s a crossroads game for the Gators after upsetting Texas last week. Can Billy Napier buy himself more time with a win over the No. 5 Aggies?