Smart: After CFP slight, UGA will ‘be up’ for FSU

Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior WriterDec 3, 2023, 06:43 PM ET

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• ACC reporter.
• Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
• Graduate of the University of Florida.Georgia coach Kirby Smart stated Sunday that he feels his team was worthy of to make the College Football Playoff, and felt sorry for Florida State, his group’s opponent in the Capital One Orange Bowl, because the Seminoles got excluded, too.During an Orange Bowl Zoom call with both coaches, Smart was

  asked whether his group would be facing a”hornet’s nest”in a highly motivated Seminoles team, which finished 13-0 but ended up being the very first unbeaten Power 5 champion to finish outside the top 4.”I empathize with any person that goes unbeaten and doesn’t get in

  ,” Smart stated.”I personally feel like we deserved to be in. We’ve got a truly good football team, and we’re considered No. 1 in the country all year, then stop working. We have a hornet’s nest around here, too, of players that are dissatisfied. That works both methods.”The bright side is we got each other to go play.

  I understand they’ll be up for us and we’ll be up for them. You worry a lot more when you have a matchup that they may not look forward to. I have actually found out that.”The defending nationwide champs went into Saturday ranked No.

  1 but lost to Alabama 27-24 in the SEC championship game and dropped to No. 6 in the final ranking. Florida State beat Louisville 16-6 in the ACC national championship and dropped one spot, from No. 4 to No. 5. On the other hand, Texas and Alabama went up in the rankings to No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Smart likewise explained that Georgia has felt the sting of finishing just outside the top 4 more times than it would

  like. Georgia and Ohio State have actually completed ranked 5th or 6th 3 times each, the two only programs to complete fifth or sixth multiple times. It previously occurred to Georgia in 2018 and 2019, before the Bulldogs were finally able to get in– and win the previous 2 national championships while doing so.”I can’t envision it being undefeated,”Smart said.”However it is difficult when you complete fifth or sixth due to the fact that there’s constantly a case for being in it, and we’ve existed.”Both coaches were asked about whether they were looking forward even more to a broadened 12-team playoff next season due to the fact that of the dissatisfaction they felt Sunday.”

  You look at this Georgia group– I’m going to say it for Coach Smart– you go unbeaten throughout the regular season, you lose in the conference championship game by one rating, which be the end of your opportunity to win a championship game, it’s difficult,”Florida State coach Mike Norvell said.”For us, we go undefeated throughout the season. We achieved the things that we did. You attempt to teach players about reaction. You try to teach players about consistency, things that you wish to see them grow and integrate in.”Understanding that next year it will be a broadened opportunity when teams contend at this level that both of our programs have been able to accomplish this year, there will still be that opportunity. But it is what it is this year.

  We can have our disappointments. I respect the chance we have. Of all the games that are out there in this bowl season, there’s not one that will be more exciting or most likely more expected than having these two teams. “