College football won’t be quite as quick to change, plus FSU’s goal after 2-10

Earlier this week, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced Pete Rose (along with others) is now eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, ending a 36-year ban against the late Rose for betting on baseball during his career.

Why the sudden change? From Ken Rosenthal’s story:

“Did Rose’s death soften Manfred? Was the case presented to the commissioner by Rose’s lawyer and daughter singularly moving? Doubtful on both counts, considering Manfred’s resistance to reinstating Rose in the past. Only after Trump entered the picture did the commissioner do an about-face.”

Weeks prior, Manfred had met with the president, and the commissioner has since acknowledged Rose’s eligibility was a topic. Trump has publicly favored Rose. We’ll now wait several years to see whether Rose actually enters the HOF, but Manfred has washed his hands of the decision by passing it along to various committees. (The word “committee” appears 14 times in that explainer, which makes me feel like I’m reading about the NCAA.)

What’s this have to do with college football? Well, a few weeks ago, Trump also met with Nick Saban and learned of the former Alabama coach’s issues with modern CFB. Just as with MLB, things appear to have moved rapidly since that initial meeting, though Saban is now downplaying the “presidential commission” seemingly being formed in response.

Whatever it is Trump might want to change about college sports, I’m guessing this will go very differently than it did with MLB. Main reason: Manfred was a single pressure point. If there’s one decision-making guy, and you can make that guy decide he doesn’t want to put up a fight, then that part of the fight’s over. But college football has thousands of pressure points, and plenty of the biggest ones don’t like each other. I’m not sure how that works neurologically.

Even getting the NCAA to go along with something doesn’t establish it as any kind of universal law. The NCAA gets rocked in court all the time, and might (still) be days away from its biggest amateurism surrender ever.

Who knows what this “commission” stuff will amount to, but if I had to place a bet, it’d probably be on these commissioners taking a look at what they can actually change, declaring a small victory in a side quest and then telling Congress to figure out the big stuff — something Congress has yet to make any progress on doing.

Mandel’s Mailbag

What would be considered a successful season for Florida State after last year’s disaster? What would put Mike Norvell’s seat in jeopardy? — Esteban G., Jacksonville, Fla.

Get to a bowl game. This isn’t the old days, when it might take you three or four years of new recruiting classes to turn a 2-10 program into a 7-5 program. Everyone now is always one great portal class from a quick turnaround, and Norvell’s class of 23 transfers is ranked No. 6 on 247Sports. (Fair warning: Last year’s was ranked No. 7, and you saw how that turned out.)

At the same time, no one should expect to go from 3-9 to 11-2 overnight, as Indiana did last year. It was an extreme outlier. (The Hoosiers also had a new coach.) Even at a brand-name school like Florida State, you’d hope the fan base can accept a more realistic year-over-year goal of just getting back to .500.

The Noles made some clear upgrades on the offensive line with Ole Miss’ Micah Pettus and Wake Forest’s Luke Pettibon. Former USC receiver Duce Robinson was a big-time recruit in 2023 but got somewhat lost in the shuffle there. He’ll likely get more opportunities at FSU. Nebraska edge James Williams was a big get on the D-line. One of the biggest additions may be Houston cornerback Jeremiah Wilson, who came in after spring camp.

My biggest concern for FSU is at quarterback. A year after Norvell’s baffling decision to go all in on the underachieving DJ Uiagalelei, he chose another guy he’s seen up close in the ACC: ex-Boston College starter Tommy Castellanos. He’s a talented dual-threat guy who had his moments over the past two years. Bill O’Brien benched him before BC’s stretch run last season, at which point he immediately left the team. I’m not convinced he’ll be FSU’s savior.

And then there’s the guy who will be calling plays for him: Gus Malzahn. Interesting OC choice by Norvell, who will be giving up play calling this year. I’m not for or against the hire, but I wonder if Malzahn’s reputation as an offensive genius has stretched a bit beyond its peak. His past two UCF units were ranked in the top 20 nationally in yards per play, thanks in large part to stud running back R.J. Harvey. Quarterback play, on the other hand, was not anything special.

But again, if this crew can string together six or seven wins, great. It’s a nice bridge to 2026. If, on the other hand, it’s something like 4-8, FSU boosters might be passing the hat to afford Norvell’s $60 million-plus buyout.

More from Stew’s mailbag on the portal, realignment and so forth.