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After Missing Out on Playoffs, FSU Seminoles and Georgia Bulldogs to Meet in Orange Bowl

Each team entered the final week of the college football season in position to make it to the College Football Playoffs (CFP) and a chance to win the national championship. Instead, “the Florida State Seminoles (FSU) and the Georgia Bulldogs — the top two teams left out of the four-team playoff field — will compete in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium.”

This year is the 10th and final year of the four-team version of the College Football Playoff. With FSU and Georgia, numbers 5 and 6 in the rankings, out of the championship competition, two events reportedly occurred  that had not previously happened.

FSU (13-0) became the first undefeated conference champion from a Power 5 conference to be left out of the playoff field. The Seminoles won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship with a 16-6 win over the Louisville Cardinals. That achievement, evidently, was “insufficient to convince the committee to keep them in the top four.” Boo Corrigan, athletic director at North Carolina State and the chairman of the 2023 CFP selection committee, rationalized his committee’s decision by citing injuries to the FSU team: “they are a different team.”

FSU athletic director Michael Alford released a lengthy statement Sunday that, in part, said the committee’s decision “has forever damaged the credibility of the institution that is the College Football Playoff.” Alford elaborated his disdain for the committee selection. “And, saddest of all, it was self-inflicted. They chose predictive competitiveness over proven performance; subjectivity over fact. They have become a committee of prognosticators. See related post: ‘Florida State deserved better’: FSU, ACC react to Seminoles being left out of playoffs

Background reporting informs that Georgia became the first team in the College Football Playoff era to be ranked No. 1 in the second-to-last poll of the season to not make the playoffs. “The Bulldogs (12-1) entered the SEC Championship a perfect 12-0 and on a 29-game win streak before losing to Alabama 27-24 on Saturday.”

Kirby Smart says ‘no question’ Georgia belongs in College Football Playoff after loss to Alabama. As quoted, Smart also reminded the committee that in the CFP era, “no team at the top of the playoff ranking has fallen out of the playoff by losing a conference championship game.”

Georgia is making its fourth Orange Bowl appearance and first since a 34-11 win over Michigan on Dec. 31, 2021, when the game was a College Football Playoff semifinal. The Big 10 champion Michigan Wolverines, Pac-12 champion Washington Huskies, Big 12 champion Texas Longhorns and Southeastern Conference champion Alabama Crimson Tide took the top four spots in the College Football Playoff rankings, as announced Sunday afternoon.

D&B Staff

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