Orange’s taste not as sweet to Noles, Bulldogs
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Football players for both Florida State and Georgia have said all the right things this week.
They’re happy to be in South Florida. They’re aware of the Orange Bowl’s rich history. They’re eager for the opportunities that await them during Saturday’s game in Miami Gardens, a 4 p.m. matchup that will be televised by ESPN.
What’s unsaid by both teams is this: “But ...”
Let’s be honest. Neither the Seminoles (13-0), who are No. 4 in the AP Top 25 but were fifth in the College Football Playoff committee’s final rankings for the four-team field, nor Georgia (12-1), ranked sixth in both cases, really wanted to be here.
The reason is obvious. They’d rather be at the Rose Bowl or the Sugar Bowl, competing in Monday’s CFP semifinals with a chance to make the national championship game in Houston a week later. However, Georgia lost a game, Florida State lost a quarterback, and here they are, set to face off in an Orange Bowl that oddsmakers believe will be a rout for the Bulldogs to enjoy.
“There’s going to be times in life where things don’t go the right way or the way that you expected them to go or maybe even what you’ve earned. You don’t always receive the reward for that,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell said Friday, the same day he was announced as the winner of the Dodd Trophy, a national coach of the year award.
“But you do control the response and what you do with it, where you go, and the attitude which you bring,” Norvell added. “… I know we’re going to go out tomorrow and we’re going to fight with everything that we have.”
This is the reality for the Seminoles: They’ll never know what might have been.
What if quarterback Jordan Travis didn’t get hurt during the 11th game of the season? What if the CFP committee gave the Seminoles, who beat nonconference rival Florida to close the regular season and Louisville to win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, a spot in the semifinals? If Travis, one of the most
dynamic playmakers in college football this season, didn’t break his leg, Florida State surely would have been more attractive to the CFP committee — and if an invitation was issued, the Seminoles surely wouldn’t have had about two dozen players either opt out of the postseason or begin the process of transferring elsewhere.
“I understand their frustration,” Georgia defensive lineman Mykel Williams said. “You go 13-0 and you win your conference championship, hey, you expect to be in. I completely understand their frustration.”
There is also frustration for Georgia, winner of the past two national championships, though the Bulldogs’ omission from the CFP field is easier to explain. Losing the Southeastern Conference title game to Alabama, 27-24, snapped a 29-game winning streak and doomed Georgia’s hopes, even though no team had ever fallen from No. 1 to out of the top four in the final week of the rankings for the CFP, which debuted in the 2014 season. Georgia coach Kirby Smart lobbied for a berth, but some players said this week they figured what was coming — or more specifically, what wasn’t coming — on that Sunday afternoon when bowl pairings were announced.
“I kind of knew, honestly,” quarterback Carson Beck said. “In my heart, I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re probably not going to get in.’ … That was our playoff game. Two (highly ranked) teams in the SEC championship, the team that wins is probably going to get in, and we ended up losing that.”
There are credos that both teams have been repeating often the past few days.
“All we have is all we need,” said Florida State quarterback Brock Glenn, the former thirdstringer who has the task of taking over behind center with Travis still injured and Tate Rodemaker, who started the past two games, having entered the NCAA transfer portal.
“Prove them wrong or prove them right,” Georgia linebacker Chaz Chambliss said.
The Bulldogs want to show the committee and everyone else they are still elite, though the Florida State team that will take the field at Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, will not be the same one that took the field in the first 13 games of this season.
Injuries, opt-outs and transfers left a series of massive holes on the depth chart. The players responsible for almost all of the passing, rushing and receiving yards for Florida State in 2023 won’t play in the Orange Bowl. Georgia has experienced some roster reduction, but most of its key players will take part.
Hence the three-touchdown spread that FanDuel Sportsbook has put on this game.
“I think finishing is important,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “I don’t think enough people talk about it, and everybody says this is what you should do, this is what you should do. For kids that love football, they want to play football. This is the Orange Bowl. You’ve got an opportunity to go play in the Orange Bowl, and that’s not given to everybody.”
Said Florida State defensive coordinator Adam Fuller: “Our guys have done everything we’ve asked them to do.”
Georgia leads the all-time series with Florida State 6-4-1, but these programs haven’t met since Jan. 1, 2003, when the Bulldogs beat the Seminoles 26-13 in the Sugar Bowl. This will be the third consecutive series meeting that’s a bowl matchup, with the most recent regular-season pairing occurring in 1965.
Georgia is seeking a third straight season of at least 13 wins, while Florida State is seeking the second 14-0 record in program history. The Seminoles went 14-0 in the 2013 season, when they beat Auburn to win the final national title of the Bowl Championship Series era.
Florida State is one of four remaining unbeaten teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season; Michigan and Washington are both in the CFP field but in separate semifinals and Liberty plays in the Fiesta Bowl, also on Monday, so the Seminoles could wind up as the only 14-0 team. It is possible, though it seems unlikely, for voters in the AP Top 25 to vote Florida State No. 1 in the final poll after the CFP title game on Jan. 8.
Glenn gave a simple answer this week when asked if the Seminoles have talked about the chance to lay claim to a split national championship if they beat Georgia: “Absolutely.”