Georgia coach Kirby Smart did not sound too pleased with how Saturday’s Orange Bowl went for his Bulldogs and Florida State.
While Georgia blasted Florida State with a comfortable 63-3 victory, Smart called for changes within college football that would prevent an understaffed team like Florida State having to compete in a game like this.
He told reporters that it wasn’t fair that Florida State had to play under these circumstances, with the team suffering a flurry of opt-outs and transfers after missing out on the College Football Playoff’s final four despite a perfect season.
“People need to see what happened tonight, and they need to fix this,” Smart said after the game. “It needs to be fixed.”
Tell us how you really feel, Coach!
Kirby Smart shares serious words on necessary changes in college football… pic.twitter.com/zeLDR7QlDE
— DawgsHQ (@DawgsHQ) December 31, 2023
Bowl games like the Orange Bowl can be ultimately meaningless for the teams playing in them outside of a temporary celebration and bragging rights for the immediate future, and that can deeply affect teams like Florida State.
Florida State didn’t have much to play for after such a dramatic omission from the College Football Playoff, and it’s understandable a lot of their players wouldn’t want to risk injury if they were declaring for the NFL Draft or planning on playing for another team next season.
To Smart, this model is unsustainable, even with the pending changes to expand the College Football Playoff to more teams. If games like this keep happening, he’s only going to have a stronger point than he already does.
