Georgia football coach Kirby Smart gets painfully honest on Florida State’s CFP snub
Georgia football head coach feels sorry for Florida State after they were shockingly snubbed from the Playoff.
On Sunday, Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart and his Bulldogs saw their chances at a championship three-peat come to an end when they were left out of the College Football Playoff Committee’s final four. Georgia went undefeated this regular season; however, Smart and his team came up just short in the SEC Championship against the Alabama Crimson Tide, and the field was simply too deep this year for the Bulldogs to overcome any slipups.
Now, Georgia will prepare for an Orange Bowl matchup with Florida State football, who was shockingly also excluded from the Playoff despite finishing the season at an undefeated 13-0. Replacing the Seminoles in the top 4 was Alabama, who had arguably the best win of the season against Georgia but also lost a game this year, which Florida State did not.
Recently, Smart got one hundred percent honest on why he feels for Florida State head coach Mike Norvell and his team after the brutal snub.
“I empathize with anybody who doesn’t get in [with an undefeated record],” said Smart, per Brendan Sonnone of Noles 247 on X. “I empathize for our guys, too.”
While Smart obviously meant well with his comments, it would actually be impossible for him to empathize with someone in Florida State’s position because it’s quite literally never happened before, at least not to a Power Five team. The hard truth is that in any other year, both Florida State and Georgia football would have likely gotten into the Playoff with no questions asked.
In 2023, however, it wasn’t in the cards.
Everything Kirby Smart, Mike Norvell said at Orange Bowl press conference
The Bulldogs head coach was joined by his counterpart from FSU to preview the Dec. 30 bowl game.
The Georgia Bulldogs came up just short of another College Football Playoff berth. Instead, the Bulldogs are set for a marquee bowl game against another team that just came up short of the playoff.
No. 6 Georgia (12-1, 8-1 SEC) will face No. 5 Florida State (12-0, 9-0 ACC) in the 2023 Orange Bowl. The bowl will be played on Saturday, Dec. 30 in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. The game will kick off at 4 p.m. ET and be televised on ESPN.
“On behalf of our team and especially our seniors, we are looking forward to the opportunity to play in the Capital One Orange Bowl,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said in a statement. “Playing in a city and game with such rich tradition will be a rewarding experience, and it represents a great challenge playing a team like undefeated Florida State, which has proven to be one of college football’s most accomplished programs. It also presents a great opportunity for our fans, who have been so supportive of our team throughout the season at home and on the road. We had the opportunity to play in the Orange Bowl a couple of years ago and know firsthand how welcoming the people of south Florida can be.“
Georgia took care of business throughout the 2023 regular season and held the No. 1 spot in the CFP rankings for three weeks. The Bulldogs’ reign at the top ended on Sunday, one day after Georgia couldn’t pull off a fourth-quarter comeback and fell to then-No. 8 Alabama 27-24.
Florida State, meanwhile, established itself as a championship contender early in the 2023 campaign. The Seminoles blew out then-No. 13 LSU 45-24 in Week 1 then took down Clemson 31-24 three weeks later. Florida State went undefeated in the regular season despite losing starting quarterback Jordan Travis to a season-ending injury in Week 12 then beat No. 14 Louisville 16-6 in the ACC championship game despite backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker being unavailable due to a concussion.
This is the 12th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and the Seminoles and the second during bowl season. Their most recent meeting came in the 2003 Sugar Bowl, when former Florida State offensive coordinator Mark Richt got the upper hand on mentor Bobby Bowden in a 26-13 victory for the Bulldogs.
Smart and Florida State head coach Mike Norvell spoke to media members on a Zoom call on Sunday afternoon. Below is what Smart and Norvell said in full:
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