By Scott Salomon
You can bet that former Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden shouted a few “Dadgummits” from the heavens above Saturday afternoon as he watched his once-proud program, that he built from scratch, get embarrassed 63-3 by Georgia before a live national-television audience in the 90th Orange Bowl Game in Miami Gardens.
The purpose of this column is not to knock the job that current coach Mike Norvell did this season, or on Saturday for that matter. I throw no shade Norvell’s way. He was a man among men on Saturday and through the whole playoff selection fiasco.
The problem Saturday was that the Seminole head coach can only coach the players that show up and show out. Against Georgia on Saturday, basically no one showed up to play for the Seminoles that would give the team a chance to win the game. Norvell was a victim of his own success and a victim of players being selfish brats.
The fact of the matter is that many of the Seminoles starters quit on their coach, their teammates and their fan base.
Trey Benson, Keon Coleman, Johnny Wilson and every one else that opted-out of the Orange Bowl, I am talking to you. The NFL should draw negative inferences from your opting out and giving up on your teammates and your stock should plummet.
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Can an NFL team count on you, when you bail on your teammates before the biggest game of the year? At first blush, I would think not.
Kirby Smart came to Norvell’s aid after the game and spoke out against the players that opted out.
“It’s really unfortunate for those kids on that side of the sideline that had to play in that game that didn’t have their full arsenal,” Smart said. “And it affected the game 100 percent.“
The opt outs came when Florida State was omitted from the College Football Playoff. I guess the players felt that there was nothing to play for. I surmise that they do not know anything about pride of winning, sportsmanship and an opportunity to defeat the current two-time champion Georgia Bulldogs.
You can bet that if Florida State was involved in the Playoff and was scheduled to play Monday, those players would be on the roster and getting ready to play. The problem, as I see it, is that the prize was not big enough for them and since they could not win a national championship, they would give up.
What a bunch of gutless, heartless players. Their names should be removed from the record books at Florida State and they should not be welcomed back on the sidelines for any game that Norvell is serving as the head coach. They stabbed Norvell in the back and did not fight for him when he needed them the most.
“People need to see what happened tonight, and they need to fix this,” Smart added. “It needs to be fixed. It’s very unfortunate that they, who have a good football team, are in the position that they are in. Everyone can say it’s their fault. Everybody can say that we had our guys and they did not have their guys. I can listed to all of that, but college football has got to decide what they want.”
It should be noted that Georgia played without 19 players who either opted out or entered the transfer portal. They also played without one of their superstars as tight end Brock Bowers did not dress due to an injury. They also had six other players out with injuries.
Norvell was somber after the game, but answered every question like a man. Too bad not enough of his players saw what a man looks like when adversity strikes.
“Tonight was a very difficult night. It’s been a very difficult month to be honest with you,” Norvell said. “But I’m proud of this football team, and I’m proud of the work they put in. … It’s a group that will be remembered“.
Mike Norvell, Brock Glenn and Kalen DeLoach take the podium. pic.twitter.com/o3G5FrPvef
— Adam Lichtenstein (@ABLichtenstein) December 31, 2023
Unfortunately, those that will be most remembered were the ones that never put the pads on Saturday.
