FSU players ‘still thinking of’ playoff snub

David Hale, ESPN Personnel WriterJul 22, 2024, 04:14 PM ET

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• College football reporter.Joined ESPN in 2012. Graduate of the University of Delaware.CHARLOTTE,
• N.C.– Florida State assisted open the ACC’s annual kickoff

occasion Monday, hyping the Seminoles’ potential for a big 2024 season, however the after-effects of last year’s playoff snub in spite of a 13-0 record was still at the leading edge of everyone’s minds.” We’ll be 50 or 60,”stated defensive lineman Patrick

Payton,” and still thinking of it. “Florida State ended the 2023 season with a 13-0 record after a 16-6 win in the ACC national championship against Louisville, expecting a quote to the College Football Playoff. But with star QB Jordan Travis injured, the playoff committee handed the final playoff area to one-loss Alabama instead, demoralizing the team, head coach Mike Norvell said, and leading to a variety of opt-outs for the team’s Orange Bowl appearance, which the Seminoles lost 63-3 to Georgia.Editor’s Picks 2 Related”I tell people all the time, if we ‘d have lost the [ACC] national championship, I think a bulk of those guys would’ve played,”Norvell stated. “It was a hard circumstance to need to go through.”Norvell took issue with criticism that the opt-outs– 20 in all, including a host of stars such

as Keon Coleman and Jared Verse– signaled a culture problem within the group’s locker room, saying the bowl game ought to do nothing to ruin the story surrounding in 2015’s team. “I appreciate the legacy that team left and it was a special tradition,”Norvell stated.”They were a present for college football and a gift for Florida State. It was really impressive. They revealed their culture and character throughout the journey. They did it for 13 games.”Norvell regreted the after-effects of the ACC title game, with the team commemorating the win just to be entirely demoralized simply hours later on when the playoff matchups were announced. However Norvell said that much of the players who pulled out returned for pro days and workouts, including a number of who spent recently in Tallahassee before moving on to NFL camps.”It’s their home, their family,”he stated.”They’re forever Seminoles, but it was a regrettable ending to an extremely special season.”FSU’s ongoing complaints about the playoff snub appeared to have rubbed SEC commissioner Greg Sankey the wrong method, nevertheless. Sankey told a local radio station last week that he believed Georgia was the team with the most legitimate complaint about being neglected of the playoff but”you didn’t see us jumping up and down and complaining and hanging championship game banners.”Florida State didn’t hang any banners, and Norvell was quick to note the flaw in Sankey’s logic comparing the 13-0 Seminoles to a 12-1 Georgia group that lost the SEC title game to Alabama. “I don’t disagree that Georgia was among the top 4 groups if you’re

evaluating off talent and capability, but they also earned their loss,” Norvell stated.”That was part of the result of what happened on the field. When you look at our group and what it was, we controlled the things we might control, we sadly had an injury, however we had a group that responded to it. Everybody can have a viewpoint of what happened. I don’t disagree they was among the four finest groups, but what occurred on the field kept them out of the playoff.”Need to Florida State win the ACC again this year, it won’t have to sweat out a playoff invite. The ACC’s champion is guaranteed a berth. However that security does not indicate FSU will be pleased with an ACC title. They want to leave no doubt about their success this time around, defensive deal with Josh Farmer said.”If we’re way much better than a group, “Farmer said,” we’re going to put it on the scoreboard. Not just beating them by a little however really beat them.”Included offensive lineman Darius Washington: “All that [playoff] stuff is over with now and we have a whole brand-new group to worry about. What happened last

year injured us, but if we keep whining about it now, it ain’t going to [assist us]”