Should Florida State claim a national championship if it finishes the season as the only unbeaten Power 5 team in college football? Some Seminoles players think so.
“It’s only right,” linebacker Kalen DeLoach said Thursday, per ESPN’s David Hale. “Nothing else needs to be said if we’re the only undefeated team.”
Freshman quarterback Brock Glenn, who is starting the Orange Bowl against Georgia due to Jordan Travis’s season-ending injury and Tate Rodemaker’s opt-out, “absolutely” believes the Seminoles (13–0) should be viewed as national champions in such a scenario.
FSU coach Mike Norvell doesn’t want the attention of his players to be on claiming a national championship. Instead, he wants the focus to be on playing the best football they can in a game against a 12–1 Bulldogs team.
“You’ve got to control what you can control on the field,” Norvell said. “We were not presented the opportunity to go play in the College Football Playoff, but we’ve got a chance to compete against Georgia in the Orange Bowl. That would be an incredible feat for our football team to go 14-0 with the things we’ve had to face, and right now that’s the focus and all we’ve talked about.”
Florida State was left out of the College Football Playoff field despite its undefeated record and ACC title. It’s the first time in CFP history that an undefeated Power 5 conference champion was left out of the four-team field.
Despite the feeling of being snubbed, Florida State wants to finish the season right and make its claim as the nation’s best team with a 14-0 record.
