Mike Norvell admits watching FSU be left out of CFP was one of the toughest moments he's experienced

As the College Football Playoff expands to a 12-team format in 2024, Florida State will forever go down as the only undefeated Power Five conference champion to miss out on the CFP.

Footage inside the FSU watch party documented head coach Mike Norvell’s immediate reaction to the heartbreaking news that Alabama was in and the ‘Noles were out. Norvell put his head down and was silent in the aftermath.

He has since revealed what was going through his mind after learning of his team’s fate.

“I was just hurt for our players to be honest with you,” Norvell said on Sunday. “It was one of the tougher moments I’ve had to experience just for all that they’ve done. You talk to a team about responding to adversity, getting up and going to give all that you can, to be able to find a way to win a college football game. Like Coach Smart said, it’s hard. It’s hard to do, especially when you face some of the adversities that we’ve had this year, whether it’s injury or different things to overcome. It’s all part of it.

“As we tell our team all the time, Your truest identity shows up in times of great adversity. We faced it. They put it on display. So that was really that feeling in the moment.”

Instead of being invited to the Rose Bowl to play No. 1 Michigan, Florida State has the opportunity to take their aggression out on another team that feels like they deserved into the CFP this year — Georgia.

The two-time reigning national champions were not awarded the opportunity to defend their title after losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship game. Florida State, in a way, was probably rooting for the Dawgs because if Georgia would have won, the chances of Florida State making the final group would have been much greater that it turned out to be.

Regardless of the ‘what if’s’ and the now impossible scenarios, Norvell is putting the committee’s decision behind him after releasing a strongly-worded public message directly toward the CFP selection committee. Specifically, he pointed out that this will be the one and only time this could happen to a team with Florida State’s resume.

“Knowing that next year it will be an expanded opportunity when teams compete at this level that both of our programs have been able to accomplish this year, there will still be that avenue,” Norvell said. “But it is what it is this year. We can have our disappointments.

“Like I said, I respect the opportunity we have. Of all the games that are out there in this bowl season, there’s not one that will be more exciting or probably more anticipated than having these two teams.”

Instead, both Florida State and Georgia will have to accept their fate and battle one another in the Capital One Orange Bowl. The opening kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 30 live on ESPN. Georgia has opened as a 14.5-point early favorite in the contest.”