Smart regrets FSU opt-outs after UGA’s blowout

David Hale, ESPN Staff WriterDec 30, 2023, 09:40 PM ET

Close

• ACC reporter.Joined ESPN in 2012. Graduate of the University of Delaware.MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.– The 2 top-ranked teams outside the College Football Playoff faced off in the Capital One Orange Bowl, however just sixth-ranked Georgia looked the part Saturday– and that led to some frustration from Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart.Georgia destroyed No. 5 Florida State 63-3 in what was the largest margin of triumph in bowl history, topping the Dawgs’58-point win over TCU in

  last season’s championship game game. However the lopsided rating was due, in part a minimum of, to a host of opt-outs and injuries for the Seminoles. “Individuals require to see what happened tonight, and they require to repair this,” Smart said, regreting the flood of opt-outs and portal entries on teams playing in non-playoff bowl games.”It needs to be fixed. It’s extremely regrettable that they have a great football team and an excellent football program, and they’re in the position they’re in.”Editor’s Picks 2 Associated The Seminoles played without their leading 2 quarterbacks, top 2 running backs, leading 2 receivers, starting tight end, 3 beginning protective linemen, 2 of 3 starting linebackers and 3 starting defensive backs. They were down 29 scholarship players in all.FSU head coach Mike Norvell highly intimated that the College Football Playoff committee’s decision to leave a 13-0 Seminoles team out of the playoff in favor of 2 one-loss groups– Texas and Alabama– motivated a significant number of his team’s opt-outs.

  Florida State beat the Louisville Cardinals 16-6 in the ACC national championship with third-string quarterback Brock Glenn at the helm of a lackluster offense, and the committee utilized that performance– and the injury to star quarterback Jordan Travis that preceded it– as rationale for keeping an undefeated Power 5 group from the playoff.”Every situation is different,”Norvell stated.”Ours was distinct, something that’s never happened in college football. Ultimately, I believe there was a great deal of things that made it exceptionally challenging. I totally believe that if we would’ve come up short in the [ACC] national championship,

  it might’ve been a little bit various. “It was hard choices for a lot of the young men that were on our group. We were hurt. … When you do the things that our guys did throughout the year and the manner in which they responded, the method they combated, the way that they simply gathered, it hurt when we were not chosen.

  “Florida State defensive take on Braden Fiske, who missed the game with a foot injury he stated he had been attempting to rehab throughout December, said the Seminoles were purchased the Orange Bowl and didn’t anticipate to be blown out. But it was impossible to overlook the sheer

  volume of missing out on production from a team that went unbeaten in the regular season.For his part, Smart stated the effect of the opt-outs was significant, and even with a broadened playoff following year, the bowls outside the playoff threat becoming glorified skirmishes.”You can say it’s their fault and they need to fix their own issue,”Smart stated.”We had our guys, and they didn’t have their guys. College football needs to choose what they desire. I know things are changing. But there’s still going to be championship game outside of those. Individuals require to decide what they want and what they want to get out of it, since it’s truly regrettable for those kids on that sideline that had to play in that game and didn’t have their full toolbox. And it affected the game, 100 percent. “Smart praised his own team’s buy-in, that included decisions by a variety of key seniors to play. Georgia did not have any official opt-outs, though numerous stars, including tight end Brock Bowers, missed the game due to injury.” The game mattered just because, if you’re a competitor, then every game matters– every chance you get to go out there and play with individuals you like,”Georgia defensive back Kamari Lassiter said.Norvell took duty for not having his group completely prepared to play Georgia, but he likewise acknowledged that with a lot of unskilled players on the field, FSU succumbed to many communication issues and had serious issues with basics and technique.It’s up for debate how various things would’ve been for the Seminoles with Fiske, Jared Verse, Keon Coleman, Trey Benson and others, however Norvell stated he didn’t desire the last score of the Orange Bowl to be what defined this FSU group.

  “Eventually, this team did all that I asked to, and they’re forever champs, “Norvell said.”We went 13 weeks throughout this season, and it’s a physical task, particularly with what we faced and winning every one of them and rising, guys that played hurt, guys that played through every different piece of adversity that might be thrown at them.” When you get rid of that and still have a little– still have the disappointment of not getting to complete for it all, I think that absolutely impacted some of our circumstance.”