It’s all coming together now, everywhere you look. 

It hasn’t arrived with a bold proclamation that anyone or anything is “back.” Or with overblown hype and outlandish predictions. 

It has instead arrived with better players and better practice habits, and better coaching and a better plan.

“We can still be better,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said.  

An unexpected milestone is unfolding in Tallahassee while the college football world argues about Playoff metrics and entry points and best wins and worst losses.

Florida State, left for dead not so long ago, is on the verge of a 10-win season.  

“You put the work in,” FSU quarterback Jordan Travis said, “you get the results.”

How about this for a result: Travis, standing on the sidelines in a ball cap during the fourth quarter of last weekend’s blowout of Syracuse, smiling and relaxed and helping coach his backup. 

How long has it been since those Halycon days in Tallahassee?

What a sight it was, FSU’s starters — for years recently, a mishmash of not good enough and not committed enough — on the sidelines in the final quarter of an ACC laugher. 

It was all of 5 weeks ago that the weekly college football circus moved on from FSU, which dropped 3 straight to Wake Forest, NC State and Clemson — and apparently eased right back into comfortable irrelevance. You know, the 5 years in the hinterlands, screaming into the ether and blaming everything on Jimbo Fisher. 

But Norvell promised this spring that things would be different. Said he had a quarterback who was a true thrower, and a team full of believers and they weren’t going to fold like a cheap tent at the first sign of adversity. 

The season would be unlike any in Tallahassee since 2016, the last time FSU had better players than a majority of the ACC, and the last time the Noles won at least 10 games. 

So after giving away a home game against Wake Forest with critical mistakes, the Noles got up 17-3 at NC State a week later before giving away another with unforced mistakes — including an unthinkable interception in the end zone with 44 seconds to play, when FSU only needed a field goal to win.

By the time Clemson led 38-14 in the 3rd quarter the following week, all of the bad from those previous 5 seasons was on full display.

If it truly does turn at FSU under Norvell, if the Noles return to the top of the ACC, the week of practice after the Clemson game and prior to a home game with Georgia Tech will be the crossroads moment. 

Players meeting and emphasizing everything from big picture (accountability and ownership) to situational awareness (you can’t throw an interception in the end zone with 44 seconds left in the game). Players and coaches together, in meetings and on the practice field, adamant about moving forward together.

They had their best game week prep in 2 years, even though the opponent was Georgia Tech, which was muddling through a season with an interim coach. 

Don’t kid yourselves, the FSU of the past 5 years could’ve easily given in and lost to Georgia Tech, and the next thing you know, it’s 5 straight losing seasons and you’re trying to find coaching buyout money again. 

But this team got better, played smarter, worked itself out of a losing funk and into the unthinkable: staring at the possibility of 10 wins. This isn’t a pipe dream, this is real and tangible. 

FSU plays host to Louisiana on Saturday, and gets rival Florida the day after Thanksgiving. Get 2 wins there, and another win in a bowl game (Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Illinois?), and the Noles are suddenly roaring into 2023 with a ton of momentum, a roster full of experience — and most important, a talented quarterback.

They’ll hit the transfer portal just like Norvell did after last season, when he landed critical starters on offense (G D’Mitri Emmanuel, OT Jazston Turnetine, RB Trey Benson, WR Johnny Wilson, WR Mycah Pittman) and defense (DE Jared Verse, LB Tatum Bethune). 

This is how you build teams now in college football. High school recruiting is important, but Norvell could never have this team staring at the potential of double-digit wins without the transfer portal. 

Without Wilson and Pittman combining for 61 catches and 8 TDs, or Benson rushing for 774 yards and 5 TDs, or Verse as one of the dominant edge rushers in college football (when healthy).

More than anything, how Norvell found a way to build chemistry — and get stronger mentally — despite the midseason adversity. 

“One of the things I appreciate with this team is that they understand the process of growth,” Norvell said. “It’s a choice that has to be made. It’s just like life. If you do things to a certain standard in a certain way, if you see the benefit, it starts becoming a part of who you are.”

You don’t need a bold proclamation to announce it. 

But 10 wins will do it.