FSU HC Mike Norvell responds to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, says Georgia were "one of four best teams" but also "earned their loss"

FSU Seminoles coach Mike Norvell responded to some comments SEC commissioner Greg Sankey made last week during the SEC media days. Sankey reopened the discussion regarding the previous year's snubbing of FSU by the CFP committee, saying:

“Georgia was one of the best four teams and didn’t get in (the Playoff), but you didn’t see us jumping up and down and complaining and hanging national championship banners.”

While the statement might have been borne out of a desire to stand by a member school, it could easily be interpreted as a jibe towards the Seminoles. This was especially considering how FSU was kept out of the playoffs, with them being the first-ever undefeated Power Five champion not being selected for the playoffs. Norvell used his own press conference during the ACC media days to reply to Sankey's comments:

"I don't disagree that Georgia was one of the top four teams if you're judging off talent and ability but they also earned their loss, that was part of the result of what happened on the field. When you look at our team and what it was, we controlled the things we could control, we unfortunately had an injury, but we had a team that responded to it.

"Everybody can have an opinion of what happened. I don't disagree they were one of the four best teams, but what happened on the field kept them out of the playoff."

The reply was a polite one, all things considered.

Why was Mike Norvell's FSU kept out of the 2024 CFP?

Mike Norvell's Seminoles were one of the favorites for the national title almost all season long after they defeated then-No. 5 LSU. They were ranked No. 8 and the victory made them jump to the No. 4 spot. They never dropped lower than No. 5 the rest of the year. At the end of the round of conference championship games, they were the undefeated ACC champions and the No. 4 team in the nation.

However, in Week 11's victory over North Alabama, starting quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending leg injury. That made them drop momentarily to the No. 5 spot ahead of their Week 12 game against Florida. While a victory over the Gators made them return to the No. 4 spot, confidence in the Seminoles by the experts wasn't the same again. Experts openly expressed their view, that without Travis, the Seminoles weren't the same team.

Alabama's victory in the SEC championship game over the top team in the nation, the undefeated Georgia Bulldogs, created mayhem for the committee. Georgia was out of contention, but Alabama had one defeat. To make matters worse, the defeat was against the Texas Longhorns, another Power Five champion with one defeat. The obvious picks for the playoffs were Michigan and Washington, the undefeated champions of the Big Ten and Pac-12 respectively.

That left two spots and three contenders: Texas, Alabama and FSU. A lackluster offensive performance in the Pac-12 championship game victory over Louisville sealed the fate of the Seminoles. Despite its undefeated record, FSU was left out in favor of the 12-1 Texas and Alabama.