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Friedlander: Florida State’s Orange Bowl embarrassment was ugly and predictable, but it doesn’t prove anything
It didn’t take long.
Less than a quarter into the 90th Orange Bowl, the “I told you so” posts began popping up on social media. They only increased in frequency as Georgia’s lead on a team disguised as Florida State continued to grow.
It was 42-3 by halftime, 56-3 after 3 quarters, and 63-3 once all was said and done.
At least it wasn’t a shutout.
Boo Corrigan and his College Football Playoff selection committee were so worried about potential blowouts in the semifinals of their invitational tournament that they soiled one of the most storied games on the postseason schedule by creating a mismatch of epic proportions.
While doing a tremendous disservice to a group of players, a coaching staff, a program, and a conference that deserved better.
In at least one respect, the “I told you so” crowd did get it right. The lopsided result was entirely predictable. Only not for the reason they’d like to believe.
The FSU team that took the field at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday wasn’t anything close to resembling the one that would have suited up for a semifinal matchup against either No. 1 Michigan or No. 2 Washington.
Yes, I know that virtually every team playing in a bowl not associated with the Playoff has had to deal with opt-outs and transfers. It’s the world of college football in which we now live. Even Georgia had a few.
None of them, however, had to deal with the volume and the quality of departures as the Seminoles.
FSU might not have been “the same team” after star quarterback Jordan Travis suffered his season-ending leg injury in the next-to-last regular season game — the excuse the committee used to keep them out of the top 4 on Selection Sunday. But this version wasn’t even the “same team” as that.
Fifteen of 22 starters, and upwards of 25 players in all, responded to the Playoff snub by either opting out in preparation for the NFL Draft, entering the transfer portal, or electing to get a head start on their rehabs by having surgical procedures.
Because of that attrition, the Orange Bowl wasn’t a referendum on whether FSU should or should not have been selected for the Playoff. It was the college equivalent of an NFL exhibition game in which 1 team fielded a lineup full of practice squad players and undrafted free agents while the other went with most of its starters.
Although Mike Norvell’s team, in its traditional garnet and gold uniforms with the flaming spears on the helmets, looked a lot like the Seminoles who won their 13 previous games without a loss, it might have been more appropriate to call them the Owls.
And not because it bore more of a resemblance to 6-6 Rice in the First Responders Bowl than an undefeated Power 5 conference champion in a New Year’s 6 game.
Why then the Owls?
Because of the sound all but the most hard-core FSU fans inevitably made as they went through the depth chart for the expected mismatch.
Starting at defensive end instead of Jared Verse, Gilber Edmund.
Who?
Starting at running back in place of Trey Benson or Lawrance Toafili, Caziah Holmes.
Who?
Playing receiver instead of Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson, Destyn Hill and Darion Williamson.
Who?
And that was only the tip of the iceberg. But you get the point.
Even Tate Rodemaker, Travis’ top backup and a much more experienced, viable option than true freshman Brock Glenn, said thanks but no thanks and skipped the game.
An emotional Mike Norvell reflects on tonight’s game and the historic season the Seminoles put together bringing Florida State back. #Noles pic.twitter.com/EUZ67p31RC
— Logan B. Robinson (@LogansTwitty) December 31, 2023
It would be easy to slam all the opt-outs for being selfish or for quitting on their teammates and school for not bothering to play. As many on social media already have. But who can blame them?
They’ve been told in no uncertain terms by the committee and the television network that pulls its strings that their season means nothing. That winning every game on their schedule, including the final 2 in the face of adversity, isn’t as important as having a brand name that moves the ratings needle.
If you’re really looking for someone to fault for the fiasco that took place in Miami on Saturday there’s plenty of blame to go around. Starting with Auburn coach Hugh Freeze.
We wouldn’t be having this debate if his Tigers had stopped Alabama on a 4th-and-31 play in the final seconds of their regular season finale. If they had, Georgia and a fully-stocked FSU might very well be playing in the Sugar Bowl on Monday with a trip to the national championship game on the line.
Even Georgia coach Kirby Smart was left to wonder what might have been in his postgame comments Saturday.
“People need to look at what happened tonight,” he said. “And they need to fix this.”
Theoretically, it will be fixed next year when the Playoff expands to 12 teams and the champions of what’s left of the Power 5 will receive automatic bids into the bracket. But that will be too late for an FSU team that will forever be remembered for what it didn’t get the chance to accomplish more than for all that it actually did.
Maybe the committee was right. Maybe the Seminoles weren’t good enough to win the championship. Then again, maybe they were.
We’ll never know.
And nothing that happened on Saturday will change that. No matter how many times anyone says “I told you so.”
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.