Florida State football is close to a breakthrough. Sickeningly close.

TALLAHASSEE — Another marquee game, another Florida State defeat.

That’s the harsh reality after Saturday’s 34-28 home loss to No. 4 Clemson. The Seminoles (4-3, 2-3 ACC) are better under third-year coach Mike Norvell — as good as they’ve been since at least 2017.

They play hard. They have an identity. They’re fun to watch, and, as they showed Saturday, can play with one of the nation’s premier teams.

But playing with a premier team is not the same as beating a premier team.

“It’s frustrating that you see the ability,” Norvell said, “and then not to finish it.”

It’s frustrating to see it once. Three in a row? Norvell had another word for that: sickening.

Who can blame him?

The Seminoles outgained Clemson 460-370 — and lost. They ran for 206 yards against the nation’s No. 2 rushing defense — and lost. They scored on the first possession, tallied 10 more first downs and committed five fewer penalties — and lost.

“When you’re playing good football teams…” Norvell said, “it’s going to usually come down to a handful of plays. Tonight, you can go pick a wide variety of single plays that dictate the outcome of the game.”

Like Kevin Knowles blitzing in the first quarter, only to watch quarterback DJ Uiagalelei evade the sack and throw a 59-yard touchdown pass. Or Trey Benson tripping in the open field on a drive that ended with a fourth-down stop. Or Clemson’s Phil Mafah spinning out of a third-down tackle. Or Amari Gainer coming inches away from blocking a fourth-quarter punt.

But the ones that will upset Norvell’s stomach during this entire off week came over 130 disastrous seconds of game time.

It started innocently, by holding Clemson (7-0, 5-0) to a long field goal. It was a win of sorts for the defense, even if the 47-yard kick broke a 14-all tie.

Next came the fumble. Former top-10 overall recruit Myles Murphy beat FSU’s banged-up left tackle, Robert Scott, and dislodged the ball from quarterback Jordan Travis. Tyler Davis recovered in FSU territory.

On the next snap, Tigers star running back Will Shipley raced past linebacker Tatum Bethune up the middle and ripped off a 36-yard rush. That set up an easy touchdown run by Uiagalelei.

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Then came the backbreakers. Shipley sped 69 yards on the opening kickoff of the second half —a rare miscue by a coverage unit that had been good all season — and tight end Davis Allen scooted out of a block for a 31-yard touchdown catch immediately afterward.

Fifteen plays. One hundred and 30 seconds. Seventeen points.

The game wasn’t over yet because the ‘Noles made it interesting, as they always seem to do. Travis threw a pair of touchdown passes in the final 10 minutes before an unsuccessful onside kick all but sealed the defeat. Norvell, as usual, praised his team’s heart and fight afterward.

“I do believe that we’re so very close,” Norvell said.

It sounds like coach-speak, and maybe it is. That doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

The Seminoles’ 4-0 start was not a fluke. Beating LSU, as Florida State did in New Orleans, is no small feat. Just ask the Gators, who lost at home to the Tigers on Saturday night.

But the first three Saturdays of October were always going to make or break our view of FSU. It cracked.

The ‘Noles lost by 10 at home to Wake Forest in a game that was closer than the final score suggested. They lost by two at North Carolina State after being outscored 16-0 in the second half. And then the latest disappointment, a seventh consecutive loss to Clemson.

Three marquee games against three division opponents ranked in this week’s top 15. Three losses.

All three were fiercely competitive, which is better than the alternative. In fact, FSU outgained those three opponents 1,240-1,082. The gap isn’t massive.

But it’s a gap nonetheless.

The three-game skid doesn’t change FSU’s upward trajectory. The Seminoles are stable for the first time since Jimbo Fisher’s glory days. If last year’s close loss to Clemson felt like a pleasant surprise, the fact that Saturday’s defeat stings is a sign of progress. Expectations are higher.

Which means the fall is, too.

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