Where’s Charlie Ward when you need him.
The DJ Uiagalelei era at Florida State is already in crisis mode just two games in after a disastrous performance in Monday night’s home stinker against 17-point underdog Boston College.
Uiagalelei completed just 21-of-42 passes for 272 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception in the 28-13 loss that dropped the No. 10 Seminoles to 0-2.
Florida State fans started chanting, “We want Brock,” for backup quarterback Brock Glenn before halftime after the Eagles scored to take a 21-6 lead early in the third quarter.
Seminoles coach Mike Norvell did not say whether he considered benching Uiagalelei on Monday and whether he will consider making a change for the team’s Sept. 14 home game against Memphis.
“We were struggling offensively and there’s a lot of reasons for that,” Norvell said while not singling out his struggling signal-caller. “Obviously everything we’re doing, we got to push and get better and that’s what we’re going to focus on doing. We’re going to focus on pushing to get better and we’re going to put our guys in the best position to go achieve success and that’s what we are going to go focus on.”
Uiagalelei came to Tallahassee looking to take the reins of a program that went 13-1 last season and perhaps would have played for a national title if not for an injury suffered by quarterback Jordan Travis.
Florida State marks Uiagalelei’s third school after an uninspiring run at Clemson that saw him supplanted as the team’s starting quarterback and a solid if unspectacular 2023 season with Oregon State.
It’s starting to seem as if the third time won’t be the charm for Uiagalelei, with Florida State making its early bid to be the season’s biggest disappointment.
Uiagalelei produced a mediocre 19-of-27 line for 193 yards with zero touchdown passes in the season-opening upset to Georgia Tech before completing only 50 percent of his passes Monday night.
The redshirt senior led Florida State to just two field goal drives in the first half and Florida State did not score in the final 20:19 after cutting the deficit to 21-13.
He also made two particularly brutal throws.
Late in the first half while trailing 14-3, he missed a wide-open receiver for what should have been an easy touchdown and the Seminoles settled for a field goal.
Early in the third quarter on fourth-and-5 at the Florida State 47-yard line, Uiagalelei threw an interception with no Seminole around that led to a Boston College touchdown to put the Eagles ahead by 15.
For the season, Uiagalelei has thrown for 465 yards with that one touchdown pass.
Despite Uiagalelei’s poor showing, his coach fell on the sword for the team’s performance.
“For us, I’m just sick to how this season started,” Norvell said. “Obviously tonight, I failed in preparing the team to be able to go out and respond.”
