Florida
Florida State starts season 0-2 despite NIL team budget of roughly $12 million: Source
There’s still a long season ahead in college football with most teams only having played one game but Florida State couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. The Noles, who began the season ranked No. 10, are 0-2 with losses to two unranked opponents.
The team has struggled despite the Noles making a big investment in their defensive line this year with almost $2 million going to their starting front in what is an NIL team budget of around $12 million, a source briefed on FSU’s NIL strategy told The Athletic this week.
On Monday night, FSU got blown out at home by Boston College, 28-13. The Eagles ran all over FSU, outrushing them 263 to 21 yards.
Meanwhile in 2023, the Noles ran through the ACC, going 13-0 and claiming the conference before being left out of the Playoff. Since then, though, it’s been a nightmare for FSU.
Georgia whupped a depleted Noles team, 63-3, that had 20 players opt out of the Orange Bowl in 2023. Florida State coach Mike Norvell dipped heavily into the transfer portal again, signing 17 players in hopes of replacing 10 draft picks. Norvell previously did a superb job mining the portal, but this year, it’s had dreadful results.
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Live by the portal, die by the portal: FSU’s 0-2 start proof latest haul not special enough
One of the headliners of the new-look Seminoles was former Clemson and Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who transferred in after FSU was unable to land Washington State transfer Cam Ward, who chose Miami.
Uiagalelei is off to a very shaky start for FSU with the former five-star recruit throwing just one touchdown and completing 58 percent of his passes for a 6.7 yard-per-attempt average. A team that averaged 35 points a game last year scored just 34 in its first two games.
However, the more surprising issue is a defense that was gashed in both games. Boston College had 10 runs of at least 10 yards against FSU.
The Noles rank No. 124 in the country in run defense, allowing 227 yards per game on the ground. FSU was No. 4 in the country in sacks in 2023 with 46 and has just three in two games this season. The program did have to replace two top-40 draft picks in Jared Verse and Braden Fiske, but the expectation was it was still loaded up front with transfers Darrell Jackson, a 328-pound defensive tackle, who was brought in along with Georgia transfer defensive end Marvin Jones Jr. to go with Patrick Payton and Joshua Farmer.
FSU’s issues have been on both sides of the ball. The Seminoles rank last in the ACC among 17 teams in third-down defense, giving up conversions 56 percent of the time. The Noles were No. 2 in the ACC last year, allowing first downs less than 29 percent of the time. On offense, they’re only No. 14 in the ACC in third-down conversions and their No. 14 in red zone touchdown percentage.
Norvell’s team has this weekend off to try and sort out some of its problems before Memphis visits Tallahassee on Sept. 14.
Required reading
(Photo: Chris Leduc / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Florida
‘She was smashed’: Florida woman accused of driving onto golf course while intoxicated
A Florida woman was arrested after she drove onto a golf course while intoxicated, crashed her car, and found with dozens of miniature bottles of Fireball whiskey, according to authorities.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office identified her as 34-year-old Erika Mayer, of Palmetto.
“She was smashed,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a video shared on X earlier this week. “She was drunk — capital DRUNK. Wrecked her car. She said, ‘But I haven’t been drinking.’
The sheriff’s office said deputies responded to a single-car crash near Streamsong Golf Resort on May 14 shortly before 7 p.m. When deputies arrived, they found a red 2018 Hyundai resting on a sidewalk and a woman sitting beside the car.
Investigators said Mayer appeared impaired, displayed slurred speech, poor balance, and incoherent behavior. Deputies also detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage on her breath, the sheriff’s office said.
A witness told deputies they saw Mayer driving across one of the golf courses in the area before the crash.
Judd said deputies searched Mayer’s car, where they found 21 open mini bottles of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey, two empty 50 milliliter bottles of 99 Brand liqueurs, and an unopened 10-pack of Fireball.
“And she had empty Fireball bottles in her pants,” Judd said, adding that she was “drunker than Cooter Brown” and “had no idea where she was.”
Deputies said they asked Mayer to perform field sobriety exercises and provide breath samples, but she refused both requests.
According to Judd, Mayer told deputies she declined the tests because she heard it was a bad idea to participate in field sobriety exercises.
Mayer was arrested and charged with DUI, DUI with property damage, and refusing to submit to a DUI test. She was also cited for failure to drive within a single lane and possessing an open container of alcohol in a vehicle.
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No one was hurt in connection with the crash, authorities said.
Florida
Florida cities rank among best and worst places to raise a family
Port St. Lucie ranked No. 147 among 182 cities in the United States for places to raise a family in 2026, according to a WalletHub study.
Port St. Lucie ranked among the best places in the United States to raise a family in 2026, according to a WalletHub study.
The free personal finance website compared 182 cities in the United States to find the best and worst places to raise a family in 2026.
The website scored cities based on these criteria:
- Family fun
- Health and safety
- Education and child care
- Affordability
- Socio-economics
Port St. Lucie ranks for best places to raise a family
The rankings range from 1 to 182, with 1 being the best.
- Family fun rank: 179
- Health and safety rank: 40
- Education and child care rank: 160
- Affordability rank: 135
- Socioeconomics rank: 70
- Playgrounds per capita: 101
- Violent-crime per capita: 4
- Overall rank: 147
Top-ranked Florida cities to raise a family
- 49. Orlando
- 59. Tampa
- 60. Pembroke Pines
- 63. St. Petersburg
- 117. Jacksonville
- 123. Tallahassee
- 133. Cape Coral
- 147. Port St. Lucie
- 163. Miami
- 166. Fort Lauderdale
- 173. Hialeah
Best places to raise a family in 2026
- 1. Fremont, California
- 2. Overland Park, Kansas
- 3. Irvine, California
- 4. Plano, Texas
- 5. Columbia, Maryland
- 6. Bismarck, North Dakota
- 7. South Burlington, Vermont
- 8. Charleston, South Carolina
- 9. Seattle, Washington
- 10. Boise, Idaho
Olivia Franklin is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com, 317-627-8048 or follow her on X @Livvvvv_5.
Florida
As Florida debates property tax relief, a local official analyzed the potential impact on South Florida
Florida homeowners who have been lobbying for property tax relief may be closer to receiving it with a newly filed bill in Tallahassee.
Joseph Zamb, who works in real estate, said the ultimate goal should be to eliminate property taxes entirely for homesteaded properties. He believes this step would benefit both investors and homeowners.
“I think that the next step for South Florida, all of Florida, is to completely eliminate property taxes,” Zamb said. “You need to get the American dream back, buy a house, and not have to constantly be paying, paying, paying”.
The official bill calls for a $150,000 homestead exemption in 2027, followed by a $250,000 exemption in 2028. The legislature would then be tasked with creating a long-term plan for the following years.
Broward Property Appraiser Marty Kiar analyzed the potential impact based on 2025 property values. Kiar found that with the $150,000 exemption, the 425,000 homesteaded property owners in Broward would save about $2,100. However, this exemption would mean the county loses $195 million, and schools are down by $294 million. Kiar noted that the current version of the bill does not include a carve-out for schools.
“Whatever city you live in will depend on the loss of revenue to your city, based on how many homesteaded properties there are, how many commercial properties there are,” Kiar said.
The legislature is scheduled to hash out the details next week during a special session. If the bill passes, it would be presented to voters as a constitutional amendment for approval or rejection.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be the most consequential vote that anybody is going to make if anything’s on the ballot in November, because it could potentially change the way things are done,” Kiar said.
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