DJ Uiagalelei entered the 2024 season with big-time expectations as he stepped into the role of starting quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles, taking over for the NFL-bound Jordan Travis.
Uiagalelei’s highly anticipated return to the ACC, following his transfer from Oregon State after three years at Clemson, fell short of expectations in a disappointing upset loss to Georgia Tech.
An Underwhelming Start in ACC Return for DJ Uiagalelei
Tasked with keeping the Seminoles in the College Football Playoff conversation, Uiagalelei’s debut was met with challenges. In his return to the ACC, Uiagalelei’s performance for the 10th-ranked Seminoles was inconsistent at best. He completed 19 of his 27 passes for 193 yards without any touchdowns or interceptions.
Throughout the game, he struggled to find completions downfield, often settling for short throws around the line of scrimmage. He completed 12 of 14 passes in the first half but managed just 96 yards, averaging an uninspiring -0.1 air yards per attempt.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) August 24, 2024
Although he avoided significant mistakes and delivered a few clutch fourth-down throws late in the game to keep some drives alive, it wasn’t enough to prevent Florida State from suffering a 24-21 defeat — its first regular-season loss since Oct. 15, 2022.
Georgia Tech and Florida State did not meet in 2023, but Travis threw for almost 400 yards against the Yellow Jackets in their 2022 meeting. Travis finished 24-for-38 for 396 yards and three touchdowns.
College Football X (Twitter) Reacts to Uiagalelei’s FSU Debut
For a transfer quarterback leading a ranked team is never easy, getting upset by what was supposed to be an inferior opponent is never easy. Doing it with the Florida State Seminoles, whose fan base is foaming at the mouth for redemption after being left out of the College Football Playoff in 2023, adds some extra sting.
READ MORE: Florida State ‘Upset’ Proves Georgia Tech Is a Real Competitor in the Wide-Open ACC
Seminole and college football fans took to X to express their disappointment with Uiagalelei’s debut. At halftime, fans were clearly unhappy with the lack of downfield shots taken.
I challenege YOU DJU to drop back and attempt a pass longer than 8 yards!
— jxke. 🧸 (@cantguardjake) August 24, 2024
DJU when he has to pass over 5 yards pic.twitter.com/uirjSZgETK
— NMD Grant (@NMDgrant) August 24, 2024
Fan bases from DJU’s former teams didn’t hold back their criticisms of their former quarterbacks play.
DABO RIGHT NOW AFTER SEEING DJU PERFORMANCE AGAINST GT pic.twitter.com/KFWQFAlWhG
— Trey (@Trey2Triggerr) August 24, 2024
FSU fans all off season said Mike is a top 3 coach in football and a QB whispers that was gonna magically fix DJU
Meanwhile Clemson fans seeing FSU Twitter Meltdown right now after DJU throws under 200 yards and 0 TDs: pic.twitter.com/N87s7FtjXZ
— Clemson Addict (@Clemson_Addict) August 24, 2024
Many are left wondering how such a promising prospect who has shown flashes of greatness can still display such inconsistent quarterback play this far into his college career.
In DJU’s second career start, he threw for 400+ yards against a top 5 Notre Dame team in South Bend and was throwing incredible deep passes.
Incredible how he has looked nothing like that in the 3+ seasons since pic.twitter.com/7RIAi1cJIE
— Brian Rauf (@brauf33) August 24, 2024