FSU Validates CFP Committee, UGA Hangs 60 On’em in Orange Bowl

When I’m wrong, I’m wrong. And, boy, was I wrong.

As I write this, #5 Florida State (13-0) is getting passed around in the Orange Bowl by the #6 Georgia Bulldogs (12-1). It is currently 56……scratch that……63-3 in favor of UGA. There also happens to be 12:11 left in the fourth quarter, so it could get very well get worse before it gets better.

Basically, my defense of FSU being in the College Football Playoffs just blew up in Miami, and I fully expect to hear about it.

For those of you living in a cave with no wi-fi, the CFP committe made an incredibly controversial decision when it left out an undefeated conference champion (ACC) in FSU of the College Football Playoffs, instead choosing two one-loss teams (but conference champions); Texas (Big12) & Alabama (SEC). How could that have happened? How could the CFPC pass on a team who succeeded in achieving every prerequisite for making the CFP? The Orange Bowl answered all those questions.

It started when ACC Player of the Year, FSU QB Jordan Travis, obtained a devastating season-ending injury just before the ACC Championship Game. While FSU ended up defeating the Louisville Cardinals, it was an ugly game for the FSU offense by college football standards.

Even if their defense balled out, littered with future-NFL talent, the CFPC saw what I desperately wanted to ignore; their defense, while extremely talented, and their season, while extremely impressive, could not & would not make QB3 Brock Glenn magically become Jordan Travis. In other words, they were not the same undefeated juggernaut from three weeks before.

As a result, FSU dropped from a Top 4 team to #5 (outside of the CFP), receiving an invitation to a New Year’s Six Bowl Game, the Orange Bowl. Many purists of the game, like myself, saw this as an absolute travesty. How could a team, who did everything that was asked of them, not be rewarded for achieving ALL their goals? How could they tell ALL future college athletes that no matter the merit, we can move the finish line as we see fit?

Let’s be clear; that is exactly what happened.

Instead of a motivated FSU, the Orange Bowl received a Seminole roster that had all their stars opting-out to prepare for the NFL Draft; after all, they had nothing to play for. Some entered the transfer portal, like QB2 Tate Rodemaker, but most were focused on their paper after getting the CFPC shaft.

In opposition, Georgia had a roster that had minimal opt-outs, and it showed.

63-3 is the worst loss in Bowl Game history. Georgia beat their own record from last year, owning TCU in the National Championship Game 65-7.

So, as I admitted before, I am wrong. Yes, we could assume that the score would’nt have been as lopsided if all the stars for FSU decided to lace-up (instead of going lace-front), but it looked like FSU had no chance of winning against real contenders, either with Brock Glenn or Tate Rodemaker. It would have been a hard-ask for the FSU D to pitch shutouts against the best college football had to offer.

I’m a man, and can admit when I’m wrong. I’m also a know-it-all/ego-maniac and will use the opt-outs as my “what if” justificaiton for them getting in.

Unless Doc Brown pulls up in the Delorian and takes us back to November so we could pull Jordan Travis out of the play that ruined FSU’s season, we will never know how far the 2023 FSU Seminoles could have rode.

It was clear that FSU was not the same team; not even close. The ACC Championship game was more than enough information to bench FSU from the starting line-up of the CFP. It seems like the CFPC made the right decision, as well as a few of my critics. Hopefully, a situation like this will never happen again. And it shouldn’t, because of another correct decision by the CFPC. Next year, the College Football Playoffs will be expanded to 12-teams.