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At one-year anniversary of Jordan Travis’ injury, Florida State football has not recovered

It has been a year since since Florida State football quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury against North Alabama.

To this day, Travis has moved on as a member of the New York Jets.

For FSU, however, the wounds have not fully healed since that fateful day in Doak Campbell Stadium.

It was on Nov. 18, 2023.

FSU trailed 13-0 as Travis scrambled and avoided two defenders. But he landed awkwardly while being hip-dropped by North Alabama’s Shaun Meyers.

The sold-out crowd in the Seminoles’ 2023 home finale sat in stunned silence as Travis withered in pain while he held his left leg.

Travis suffered a fractured and dislocated ankle injury, according to NFL.com.

It was the last time Travis wore an FSU uniform. He was carted off to the ambulance while the Warchant fight song was played.

Little did everyone know, including FSU coach Mike Norvell, that the worst was yet to come.

How losing Jordan Travis impacted FSU football’s playoff chances

Oct 9, 2021; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis (13) looks on from the sidelines against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

After Travis was ruled out for the remainder of the 2023 season that year, FSU moved forward.

The fourth-ranked Seminoles beat the Lions 58-13 and ended with a perfect 13-0 record and an ACC title with Tate Rodemaker and Brock Glenn at quarterback.

Despite being undefeated, FSU was on the outside looking in when the College Football Playoff rankings were announced. Michigan, Alabama, Texas, and Washington were the top four selected teams. FSU was fifth.

Alabama and Texas both got in despite being the only two one-loss teams. Michigan went on to win the national championship.

The decision to leave FSU out of the final four infuriated everyone in the city and nationally, from Travis to Norvell to Athletics Director Michael Alford to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

To the College Football Playoff committee, the loss of Travis hurt FSU’s production offensively. In two games with two backup QBs, FSU played below its season average of 34 points a game.

Against Florida, the offense had only 134 passing yards with Rodemaker, while against Louisville in the ACC Championship, Glenn only threw for 55 yards. Neither QB threw a passing touchdown in those last two games.

The committee was convinced that the offense without Travis was justified in keeping the Seminoles out of the top four playoff teams.

“Florida State is a different team than it was the first 11 weeks,” CFP selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan told ESPN.

“As you look at who they are as a team right now, without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic he brings, they are a different team and the committee voted Alabama four and Florida State five.”

FSU ended up playing in the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium, losing to Georgia 63-3.

More than half the starters didn’t play that game as they either opted out or skipped the bowl game to enter the NFL Draft.

Ironically, the committee expanded the playoff brackets into 12 teams this year. If FSU had the 12-team format, there would’ve been no discussion of being snubbed in the playoffs.

Unfortunately for the Seminoles. that blowout loss to the Bulldogs was just the beginning of the demise of FSU’s destruction.

Did Jordan Travis disguise FSU football’s flaws

Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis (13) makes his way towards the end zone. The Florida State Seminoles defeated the Florida Gators 45-38 at Doak Campbell Stadium on Friday, Nov. 25, 2022.

In his career, Travis has thrown for 8,644 yards and 65 touchdowns while also adding 1,910 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns on 409 carries.

While Travis put on a Heisman-type performance each game, his impact masked the flaws on offense.

For example, this season, FSU’s offensive line returned three starters. However, the unit has allowed 38 sacks, which is ranked second worst nationally and more than half of what Travis took last year with 15.

Travis struggled when under pressure, but the offensive didn’t do any favors either. He was able to avoid a sack with his mobility.

The same goes for his wide receivers. Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson were strong targets for the Seminoles, along with Jaheim Bell at tight end. But the lack of separation made it difficult for Travis to find an open receiver.

It is also possible that Norvell might’ve leaned heavily on Travis and would have bailed him out from his playing calling, which has raised questions this year.

All have been exposed due to the 1-9 season – the Seminoles’ worst in 50 years.

Travis was the heart and soul of last year’s team. He was 28-9 as a starter and, obviously, the best quarterback Norvell has had.

Travis is hard to replace, and it is nearly unfair for any FSU quarterbacks to come in and try to fill his shoes, nor would Norvell want them to.

However, Norvell has yet to find his future quarterback to lead his team on offense and is something he will have to address in the offseason while looking for his next offensive and defensive coordinators.

FSU football failed to find Jordan Travis’ replacement

It’s never easy to replace a quarterback like Travis, who was with the program for five seasons. Travis was selected by the New York Jets in the fifth round.

Norvell knew he had to address the quarterback position quickly to get back into playoff contention.

He took another swing at the transfer portal, which has worked for him in the last two years. He brought in DJ Uiagalelei, who played his first three years at Clemson and one year at Oregon State.

The fifth-year senior was intended to be a short-term solution, and the offense would build around him while picking up where Travis left off.

FSU lost 15 starters from last year, half of which were on offense. Uiagalelei was one of the 15 players Norvell brought from the transfer portal.

The Uiagalelei experiment turned out to be a failure. The 6-foot-4, 252-pound quarterback didn’t do enough to elevate FSU’s offense, only gathering one win in five starts.

He completed 84 passes out of 156 attempts for 1,065 passing yards, four touchdowns, and six interceptions.

Uiagalelei suffered a broken finger injury that had him out of the season, leaving Glenn and true freshman Luke Kromenhoek to finish off a disastrous year.

Both quarterbacks regressed in production, combining a 49 completion percentage with four touchdowns and five interceptions. FSU is ranked last in scoring with 13.4 points per average.

Travis’s impact on the field has never gone unnoticed, but how impactful was he? Travis was a baller who showed his dual-threat abilities.

Last year, in 11 starts, he threw for 2,756 yards with 20 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He was voted fifth in the Heisman race.

The year before that was his career-best, in which he accounted for 24 passing touchdowns and seven rushing TDs, tied for FSU’s third-highest single-season total. FSU has scored only 15 touchdowns this year.