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The best thing for Mike Norvell and the Florida State Seminoles is for this year to start. No one outside Tallahassee wants to hear complaints about getting robbed of a College Football Playoff spot.
It happened. It sucked. And Georgia dragged them by their skulls in the Orange Bowl for everyone to see.
David Hale of ESPN asked Norvell about SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s comments on Georgia being a top-four team but missing out on the playoff last year. Everyone knew Georgia was a top-four team, but they lost the one game they couldn’t afford to lose—against Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.
Just when I thought Norvell would admit defeat and move on, he went on another rant. “I don’t disagree that Georgia was one of the top four teams, if you’re judging off talent and ability, but they also earned their loss,” he said. “That was part of what happened on the field.”
Florida State controlled what it could control until everyone opted out of the bowl. “When you look at our team and what it was, we controlled the things we could control,” Norvell continued. “We unfortunately had an injury, but we had a team that responded to it.”
It left a rancid taste in everyone’s mouth about Florida State’s place in college football.
Asked Mike Norvell about Sankey's comments that UGA was a top 4 team that didn't make the playoff but SEC didn't complain…
Norvell: "I don't disagree that Georgia was one of the top four teams if you're judging off talent and ability but they also earned their loss. That was…
— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) July 22, 2024
How Florida State handled getting snubbed by the Selection Committee and its desire to break away from the ACC has been abysmal damage control. They failed miserably.
It took an unprecedented series of events for this to happen, yet why doesn’t Florida State get this?
Before diving deeper, let me be clear: I’m thrilled we now have a 12-team playoff format with only five automatic qualifiers. The winners of the five best conferences should get into this expanded postseason format.
Let’s look back at the six teams still in the playoff mix come last Selection Sunday. Big Ten champion Michigan and Pac-12 champion Washington were shoe-ins because they were both 13-0 and Power Five conference champions.
Texas was a one-loss Power Five champion out of the Big 12. The Longhorns had a great win over Alabama in non-conference play. Their only loss was to Oklahoma at Red River.
Alabama leapfrogged both Florida State and Georgia to the No. 4 spot because they had the best win of anyone in the country. Their only loss was to Big 12 champion Texas earlier in the season.
Factor in starting quarterback Jordan Travis going down vs. North Alabama during cupcake week, and that changed everything. His injury altered perceptions of Florida State football; with Tate Rodemaker and then Brock Glenn under center, it was undeniably a different team.
For my money, Michigan, Texas, Georgia, and Florida State were last season’s four best teams in some order.
As a UGA alum, I would’ve liked to have been in the playoff too, but I understand why it didn’t happen.
