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MIAMI GARDENS – Calling the Orange Bowl painful to watch from the Florida State football perspective is an understatement.
We watched the two-time defending national champion and arguably the best team in college football with a nearly full roster play the junior varsity team for the Seminoles on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
The result, FSU football took its worst loss in program history, a 63-3 loss to a vengeful Georgia squad.
On one point, we need to be honest.
This was not the same Seminole team that took the field all season.
Nearly 30 players opted out or were injured. The Bulldogs on the other side did not have nearly the same attrition to core players, as FSU was without 14 starters in total.
So it’s fair to say FSU finished 13-1 this season with a major asterisk next to the loss.
This wasn’t a referendum on their season.
Saturday’s loss does not mean the team did not belong in the College Football Playoff field.
That’s ridiculous.
“This is a championship-level team,” head coach Mike Norvell said. “You go back and watch 13 games and that’s what you saw. I am fully confident in what the team did throughout this year and what they could have achieved.
“That was not the path that was set out for us, so obviously I’m proud of the guys that competed tonight and the way that they — how they’ve responded.”
At the same time, it’s fair to be embarrassed by the performance and separate it from the hurt of the opt-outs.
There is no sugarcoating the worst loss since a 59-10 loss to Clemson in 2018. There is no sugarcoating the fact the Seminoles gave up the most points in an Orange Bowl since Clemson gave up 70 points to West Virginia in 2012.
It’s an embarrassing loss that does raise some questions about FSU, despite a 13-0 season and the ACC Championship. Even with the many opt-outs, FSU looked unprepared at times and that is…
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Author : Tallahassee Democrat
Publish date : 2023-12-31 10:11:55
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