Florida State coach Mike Norvell ripped the College Football Playoff committee’s decision to exclude the Seminoles from the top four teams selected to compete for a national championship in January.
FSU (13–0) went undefeated this season, despite losing star quarterback Jordan Travis to a season-ending leg injury against North Alabama on Nov. 18. On Saturday, the Seminoles defeated Louisville (10–3) in the ACC championship game using third-string quarterback Brock Glenn.
The CFP committee had FSU as the first team out of the playoff bracket, behind No. 4 Alabama (12–1), No. 3 Texas (12–1), No. 2 Washington (13–0) and No. 1 Michigan (13–0). With the release of Sunday’s rankings, the Seminoles became the first undefeated Power 5 program to not earn a spot in the top four teams since the four-team format started in 2014. Norvell said he was “disgusted” and “infuriated” with the committee’s decision to take away an opportunity that FSU “earned on the field.”
“What is the point of playing games?” Norvell asked in a statement. “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.
“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 hurting for our players who have displayed a tremendous amount of resilience and response this season.”
Florida State will face Georgia (12–1) in the Orange Bowl at 4 p.m. ET on Dec. 30.
