‘Florida State deserved better’: FSU, ACC react to Seminoles being left out of playoffs
A few hour had passed and Mike Norvell still couldn’t shake the feeling of disappointment that had been handed to his team Sunday afternoon. Norvell’s Florida State Seminoles completed a perfect regular season, capped by their first Atlantic Coast Conference championship since 2014 with a 16-6 win over the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday.
Their reward? Being left out of the College Football Playoff after entering the week in the four-team field. The Seminoles were ranked No. 5 in the final CFP poll and will instead play No. 6 Georgia in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30 at Miami Gardens’ Hard Rock Stadium. The Big 10 champion Michigan Wolverines, Pac-12 champion Washington Huskies, Big 12 champion Texas Longhorns and Southeastern Conference champion Alabama Crimson Tide took the top four spots in the College Football Playoff rankings.
When the final playoff spot revealed Alabama had jumped FSU, Norvell sunk his head into his hands at the team’s watch party. “I just hurt for the players,” Norvell said of what he called an “emotional day” for him and the team. “To be honest with you, that was one of the tougher moments I had to experience, just for all that they’ve done. You talk to a team about responding to adversity, getting up and going to give all they that you can to be able to find a way to win a college football game, it’s hard to do, especially when you face of the adversities that we’ve had this year whether it’s injury or just different things to overcome.” The Seminoles overcame any and all issues thrown at them on the field.
The only thing they couldn’t overcome: A 13-person selection committee. FSU (13-0) became the first undefeated conference champion from a Power 5 conference to be left out of the playoff field. “I know firsthand how hard it is to have an undefeated season. It is hard,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart, whose team won each of the past two national championships and had a 29-game win streak snapped in the SEC Championship Game against Alabama to drop five spots from No. 1 to No. 6 in the final poll. “It’s hard to win games in any conference. It’s hard to win games repeatedly and he had a perfect season and won every game. That’s really hard to do.”
Boo Corrigan, athletic director at NC State and the chairman of the 2023 CFP selection committee, said on ESPN after the playoff field was revealed that while FSU had a perfect record, the Seminoles as they are now are “a different team than they were through the first 11 weeks” of the season following a season-ending injury to star starting quarterback Jordan Travis late in the regular season to injury. Backup Tate Rodemaker also went down in the regular-season finale against Florida, leaving the Seminoles to play third-string quarterback Brock Glenn in the ACC Championship Game. “Coach Norvell, their players, their fans [had] an incredible season,” Corrigan said, “but as you look at who they are as a team right now without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic that he brings to it, they are a different team. And the committee voted Alabama four and Florida State five there.”
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