Somewhere, Kirk Herbstreit must have been laughing.

Herbstreit, the ESPN analyst who led the charge last season to put one-loss Alabama in the college football playoff over undefeated Florida State, was booed unmercifully by Seminoles fans every time he spoke during the GameDay telecast from Ireland on Saturday before the college football season opener between FSU and Georgia Tech.

But when Georgia Tech upset the 10th-ranked Seminoles 24-21 hours later, it was Herbstreit, Paul Finebaum and FSU’s other critics who got the last laugh.

This is certainly not the way FSU coach Mike Norvell and the Seminoles wanted to follow up last year’s undefeated regular season.

We found out last season that the Seminoles were a great football team under Norvell.

This season, we will find out if Norvell is on his way to building a great football program.

And, quite frankly, it’s off to an horrendous start.

Norvell’s 10th-ranked Seminoles kicked off one of the most historic college football seasons in history Saturday in Ireland by losing to 10 ½-point underdog Georgia Tech on Aidan Birr’s 44-yard field goal as time expired.

It was the biggest upset they’ve seen in these parts since Billy Joe Doodlehopper of Umatilla ordered a Guinness on the rocks at Mulligan’s pub in Dublin.The changes in college football are immense this season from the expanded 12-team playoff … to conference realignment … to Kalen DeBoer replacing the legendary Nick Saban. Likewise, the Seminoles have also seen a sea of change with 10 players from last year’s undefeated ACC championship team getting drafted into the NFL, including starting quarterback Jordan Travis, their starting running back, their two best receivers and two best defensive linemen.

Norvell, per his reputation, has replenished his roster through the transfer portal, but obviously it’s a work in progress. FSU’s offensive and defensive lines were purported to be among the best in the country this season, but they certainly didn’t look like it on Saturday.

Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King marched the Yellow Jackets down the field in the closing seconds for the game-winning field goal. Georgia Tech was able to run the ball effectively all day on FSU, with 190 rushing yards and 5.3 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, Georgia Tech’s maligned defense, last in the ACC a year ago and 123rd in the country, held FSU to just 98 rushing yards and sacked new quarterback DJ Uiagalelei four times.

There was a thought that FSU would just keep on rolling after last season, but it’s not always so easy. When coaches like Saban, Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Ohio State’s Ryan Day have had such roster turnover in the past, their programs just kept on chugging. This is the year we are supposed to learn if Norvell is on the way to becoming college football’s next great program-builder.

You see, there’s a big difference between coaching a great football team and building a great football program. Just ask LSU about Ed Orgeron. Or ask Auburn about Gene Chizik.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Norvell is going to be a one-hit wonder like Orgeron and Chizik; I’m just saying one undefeated regular season does not suddenly turn FSU into an A-list program.

That’s why I believe this season is so important for the Seminoles if they truly want to get back to the “elite” status they enjoyed under Bobby Bowden and, to a lesser extent, Jimbo Fisher. Those national championship glory years became fading memories until Norvell arrived in 2020.

As Norvell embarks on his fifth season in Tallahassee, the question isn’t whether he’s improved the team — because obviously he has — but whether he can sustain the upward trajectory and put Florida State into the same exclusive category as Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State.

After Saturday’s loss, it’s apparent that “the climb” Norvell often talks about just got a whole lot steeper..

Which is why I believe FSU needs to think long and hard about leaving the ACC. Yes, the Seminoles are at a financial disadvantage with SEC and Big Ten programs if they stay in the ACC, but they are at a competitive advantage.

There’s a reason Bowden pushed for FSU to join the ACC instead of the SEC back in 1990 when the school had a choice between the two leagues. Bowden used a boxing analogy at the time and compared the competition in the ACC to the tomato cans that the aging and overweight George Foreman was beating up at the time in his quest to regain the heavyweight championship.

“I’m like George Foreman,” Bowden said then. “I like to pick those unranked guys out and fight ’em. Ol’ George is out there knocking out these no-names, but he’ll be fighting for the heavyweight championship directly. Everybody just assumed ol’ Bobby was raised in the heart of the SEC, so naturally he’s going to want to jump right in. Maybe I know too much about the SEC to want to join up.”

Translation: Bobby knew that FSU had a much better chance of competing for national championships in the ACC rather than the SEC.

That still holds true today.

If you ask me, FSU needs to focus on being a consistent ACC power before the Seminoles think about jumping in with the SEC heavyweights. And as it stands now, FSU is in for a dogfight with the likes of Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, etc. if they expect to win the ACC championship again and get the league’s automatic bid into the 12-team playoff.

Forget about Georgia.

Right now, the Seminoles aren’t even as good as Georgia Tech.

Somewhere, Kirk Herbstreit is laughing.

Email me at mbianchi @orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen.