Kirby Smart discusses matchup between two college football giants in FSU, Georgia

While both teams had designs on making the four-team College Football Playoff field, Georgia and Florida State will settle for a titanic matchup in the Orange Bowl. It’s one that Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart had no trouble selling.

Speaking on a teleconference with reporters and his counterpart, Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell, after the matchup was announced, Smart lauded the history and recent success of both programs. He assured his team will be up for the matchup, despite missing out on the CFP.

“This should be a great matchup,” Smart said. “Two giants in college football across history and recently. And I always worry about, when you get in bowl games. the matchups you get to have. So this matchup is really exciting and I know our players are pumped and excited when they found out today who we get to play and the Orange Bowl is one of the best bowls we’ve ever been to in terms of the sunshine and the beach and getting to enjoy it and being in sunny south Florida, so major congratulations to FSU and coach Norvell and his staff. But also to the Orange Bowl committee and the people that host the Orange Bowl, our players are looking very much forward to it.”

Florida State, sitting at 13-0 and champions of the ACC, was controversially left out of the CFP field on Sunday, instead opting to elevate 12-1 and SEC champion Alabama — which just gave Georgia its first loss — into the field.

Smart raved about what it means to have gone undefeated and how impressive an achievement it is for Florida State. And having gone 15-0 in 2022, he’d know.

“I don’t think there’s another team that we would love to be able to compete against than Florida State. I have so much respect for Mike, his staff, the job he’s done there. I grew up going to Tallahassee every day of my life from where I grew up in south Georgia. What he’s done with that Florida State program is just incredible. I know first hand how hard it is to have an undefeated season. It is hard. It’s hard to win games in any conference, it’s hard to win games repeatedly, and they had a perfect season and won every game — that’s really hard to do. So a lot of kudos and congrats to he and his staff and his team and his players with all they’ve overcome and the team he’s assembled,” Smart said.

So while it might not be the CFP as both teams had dreamed of all season long, Smart can rest assured that his team and its counterpart provide all the billing needed for a massive Orange Bowl showdown.

“Looking forward to an incredible environment. Although, obviously, our players are very disappointed today with the outcome of our game last night, we are looking forward to this opportunity,” Smart said.