No. 5 Florida State’s Orange Bowl defeat by No. 6 Georgia didn’t offer much in the way of positive takeaways.
The Seminoles, still fresh off getting left out of the College Football Playoff as an undefeated Power Five conference, suffered a deluge of opt-outs for the Orange Bowl against a Georgia team that was similarly angry at being left out of the final four-team playoff. What resulted was a demoralizing 63-3 loss that ranks as the most brutal in college football bowl history.
Regardless of the circumstances of the Seminoles’ loss, coach Mike Norvell managed to put things in perspective for a team that, despite its lackluster ending, put together a season that overall was worth remembering. FSU went 13-1 and won the 2023 ACC championship, even after starting quarterback Jordan Travis went down with injury late in the season.
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As unveiled in Florida State’s cinematic recap of the Orange Bowl, Norvell had perhaps the best response he could have given, given the circumstances: an impassioned, emotional message of appreciation and support for his players.
“Whatever the reason, why things happen, I don’t know all the time,” Norvell told his players. “And neither will you. Because in life there’s a lot of things you cannot explain, you cannot put your finger on. But ultimately, you’re always going to have a choice. You’re going to have a choice about what you want to do, how you want to do it. What you want it to look like.
“I’ve told you since the very first day that I came here: Hard work does not guarantee success. It doesn’t. And it never will. But that absolutely will put you in the best position to be able to achieve it. I think that’s one thing that we’ve seen throughout the course of this season, is we’ve got some…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/florida-states-mike-norvell-gives-224449715.html
Author : Tallahassee Democrat
Publish date : 2024-01-03 22:44:49
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