The final College Football Playoff rankings are here, and Florida State was the most notable and vocal team left out of the final four. Understandably, the Seminoles are not pleased as Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama will have a chance to play for a national championship.
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Florida State head coach Mike Norvell put out a scathing statement regarding the committee's decision, and he didn't hold back:
Statement from FSU head coach Mike Norvell: pic.twitter.com/c2LRxrEl8R
— Richard🇬🇾Johnson (@RJ_cfb) December 3, 2023
"I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee's decision today to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided they knew better than the results of the games. What is the point of playing games? Do you tell players it is okay to quit if someone goes down? Do you not play a senior on Senior Day for fear of injury? Where is the motivation to schedule challenging non-conference games? We are not only an undefeated P5 conference champion, but we also played two P5 non-conference games away from home and won both of them. I don't understand how we are supposed to think this is an acceptable way to evaluate a team," Norvell wrote.
"I'm hurting for our players who have displayed a tremendous amount of resilience and response this season. What happened today goes against everything that is true and right in college football. A team that overcame tremendous adversity and found a way to win doing whatever it took on the field was cheated today. It's a sad day for college football.
"I'm proud of the work we have put in and the players I have the privilege to coach. We have one more opportunity to define this 2023 team in the Orange Bowl, and I believe in how our team will respond."
Norvell also looked disgusted when he found out FSU wasn't in the top four:
You can tell just how upset Mike Norvell is for his players in this video.
All they did was win every game on their schedule.
An unforgivable and incompetent decision by the CFP that clearly just absolutely devastates this team: pic.twitter.com/bOabfKhRHJ
— Zach Blostein (@ZBlostein247) December 3, 2023
Of course, many believe Florida State isn't one of the top four teams in the country, and clearly the committee didn't think so either. And despite the undefeated record, the Seminoles looked awful with a third-string quarterback against Louisville Saturday night. Texas winning the Big 12 Championship Game convincingly and Alabama taking down No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game sealed FSU's fate.
It's unfortunate that Jordan Travis went down with injury, but the committee's job is to determine the best four teams right now. Without Travis at the helm of the offense, FSU clearly isn't one of those four. And going undefeated and winning your conference is not some sort of automatic qualifier, even though this is the first time an undefeated P5 conference champion will miss the playoff. Plus, if Washington lost Michael Penix Jr. to injury or Michigan lost JJ McCarthy, we would absolutely be talking similarly about those team's chances.
Norvell never once in his statement says he believes his team is a top four team right now, because he'd be lying through his teeth. He instead references "resilience" and points to his team's non-conference wins. The only problem is the FSU team that beat LSU earlier this season would have no shot against LSU right now with backup Tate Rodemaker throwing passes. And the rest of the ACC and Florida State's regular season schedule was laughable.
The only thing that doesn't make sense is putting Florida State ahead of Georgia, who was ranked sixth. Using the eye test logic that got Alabama in, Florida State should be ranked below Georgia.
Regardless, this is the last year college football fans will have to argue over four teams, as next year we get the expanded 12-team format. But for now, Florida State fans feel cheated. Even if they know they're not a top four team.
