Warchant TV: Georgia 63, Florida State 3; Mike Norvell Orange Bowl postgame press conference with full transcript

Faced with mounting attrition all the way up until kickoff, No. 5 Florida State (13-1, 9-0) and its depleted roster provided little resistance in a 63-3 loss to SEC runner-up No. 6 Georgia (13-1, 8-1) on Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Afterwards, a visibly shaken Florida State head coach Mike Norvell expressed the emotions of the loss and lead up to the game saying, “tonight was a very difficult night.”

“It’s been a very difficult month to be honest with you. But I’m proud of this football team, and I’m proud of the work they put in.”

The 60 point margin of defeat is the largest in program history and most lopsided loss in bowl history.

A full transcript of the press conference is below.

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MIKE NORVELL: First off, tonight was a very difficult night. It’s been a very difficult month, to be honest with you.

But I’m proud of this football team. I’m proud of the work they’ve put in, proud of what they’ve shown throughout the course of a season. To do some of the things that they were able to accomplish, they overcame a lot of adversity, they fought, they worked, they invested on and off the field.

It’s a special group. It’s a group that will be remembered.

Tonight, I didn’t do a good enough job of being able to help showcase all of who they are, and I take full ownership for all things that happened there on that field tonight.

But when you come back to this season, it’s because of them. It’s because of their work. It’s because of their heart, their spirit, the belief that they had in each other. For the third time in school history, to be 13 wins, to be able to win the ACC Championship, and against a lot of odds of things that happened and things that occurred, and those guys just — they did respond and in a special way.

For the guys that played tonight, and this was their last game, what warriors. Kalen DeLoach, D’Mitri Emmanuel, Casey Roddick, James Rosenberry. There’s a good number of guys that battled tonight and that chose to come out here and compete.

It’s a special, special group of young men that I had the opportunity to coach this season.

Even though tonight was a disappointing result, this is a

special season that will be remembered in Florida State history, and it’s because of the young men.

Q. Coach Norvell, if you could for a moment talk about what this team means to the fan base in Tallahassee that hasn’t seen a team reach the levels this team did in 10 years and just the impact it has on current FSU fans, the ones who saw that team from back then, and so on.

MIKE NORVELL: This team, it’s a special team, and it’s one that — like I said, they were champions on the field, but they also lived it off the field. Highest ever team GPA in a fall semester, pushing 2.95 I think it was, pushing 3.0. The service that they do in the community. They do it right.

I believe that’s what’s allowed them to have this success.

We’ve had to overcome a lot of adversity throughout the years, and a lot of guys that have been on that journey, and they did it the right way. They have set a foundation for where we’re going.

Even though tonight was a disappointing performance, we have a special, special foundation that’s been laid, and there is an expectation, and I know how our guys will respond. We have guys that were thrust into action tonight that really haven’t got as much work. There was plenty opportunities for growth.

But this team and what they did and what they stood for, what they represented, they appreciate our fan base. They appreciate all Seminoles that have come before them, past players. They’re grateful to help Florida State, and they will forever be Seminoles.

That group that played their last game and are moving on to the next step of their life, they’re going to have life lessons that are going to allow them to achieve all things that are in front of them.

We are definitely grateful for this team and for the fan base and all that we represent within our university because it is a special place, and it’s because of the people.

Q. Given the roster situation that you guys had, what can you take away from this performance tonight, good, bad, or ugly?

MIKE NORVELL: I mean, a lot of guys got the most extensive work that they’ve had in this season. We had a lot of young players that kind of got, like I said, thrown into it, and you get to see kind of where you are. There was some communication issues. There were some things that — technique and fundamentals where we can be better.

Obviously things kind of started to snowball on us there throughout the course of the game, and what are the things that we can do to get that right because we’ve lived it throughout the season. They’ve seen it happen with maybe more experienced players, but now it’s on them to be able to take those steps.

We’ve seen it in challenging moments, and we’ve seen it done at an elite level. I think being able to have that opportunity for some young guys was big. We had some guys that were out due to injury. It was kind of just a perfect storm of challenge.

We’ve been used to challenges, and we’ll learn from this experience and we’ll grow from this experience and we’ll be better as we continue to grow as a program.

Q. Kalen, can you take time to reflect on your four years at Florida State and what it’s meant to you?

KALEN DeLOACH: Five.

Q. Five, sorry. And what it was like to play against Warren Brinson and Kamari Lassiter, two guys you grew up with?

KALEN DeLOACH: My experience here at Florida State, just being here when we wasn’t where we at now, just to see the growth and the guys that bought in from day one.

I’ve been there the whole time, so to see the growth, the buy-in, I’m going to remember that forever, because a lot of guys made sacrifices to go out there each and every day to be their best every day. They’ve pushed every day to be their best.

I’m thanking them guys every opportunity I get for just — just giving me the best season I’ve ever had so far in my life. Just the experiences and everything I got to go through, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Playing against those guys from Savannah, it means a lot, because we showcase that the kids from our city, we can make it. You can do it on the biggest stage there is, and I just feel like we gave those kids hope.

So just to continue to do that and continue to push forward each and every day, it’s a blessing.

Q. Mike, given the perfect storm you talked about and the way that you were snubbed, was there ever a thought as a program, we’re just not going to go play this, just opting out as a program?

MIKE NORVELL: No. I mean, it was hard choices for a lot of the young men that were on our team. We were hurt. I think that’s — when you do the things that our guys did throughout the year and the way that they responded, the way they fought, the way that they just pulled together, it hurt when we were not selected.

It was, like I said, the most challenging month I’ve ever had in my coaching career because you feel for your players.

As you sit there and you go through it, like I said, there were some tough choices that individuals made, and ultimately I had talked to them about the opportunity, and obviously there’s guys like Kalen that came out here and gave all that they had through the finish and I’m grateful for that.

I’m grateful for the guys that have been on the journey throughout the season, and I’m grateful for the guys that were a part of this team and quite a few of them that didn’t play tonight. They did so much. I hate that I didn’t get one more game with them. That’s probably the thing that probably hurts as much as anything.

There are going to be times in life where you do all the things right and it doesn’t go your way. Maybe you’re not selected where you want to be selected. Maybe you’re not chosen. Maybe you find unexpected adversity. But it’s the response that’s going to showcase the identity of who you are and what you’re about.

These guys have responded, and they’ve learned a lot of great lessons and they’re going to carry them throughout their lives. But we had an opportunity to come compete, and we came and we competed. It didn’t go obviously anywhere near the way we wanted it to, but there will be experiences that we learn from tonight that will build individuals and collectively a group as we move forward.

I’ve said it since I got here, I thank God for every challenge because he’s blessed us with opportunity. Tonight we faced a lot of challenges, but I know the opportunities moving forward and what we’re going to do with them.

It’s because of these guys and their willingness to continue to push, and it’s something that we’re going to absolutely do as a program.

Q. As decimated as the roster was, what is it like to walk out there and try to compete with Georgia as shorthanded as this team was?

MIKE NORVELL: I cannot — I’m disappointed in the outcome and I’m disappointed in the things that showed up, but I didn’t do a good enough job in having this team ready to go and perform better than what we did.

But I told them this morning, and it’s been throughout this journey, yeah, it’s hard. It was hard to practice. It was hard to do everything in this last month.

But when you’re willing to say yes, you’re willing to stand up, you’re willing to push forward, I still had ultimate belief that we would find ways to be able to make the plays, and there were some missed opportunities. There was a play, things that we had to have happen right there early, and we knew. We knew that it was a tall task. I said that yesterday.

But I believe in the way I coach, and obviously a lot of things I wish I could have done better to help this team and put them in a better position.

Q. Mike, obviously this isn’t a fair representation of the team you guys had for those first 13 games, but would you have been — how close to full strength would you have been? Would guys have played had you have been in the playoff, or would guys have missed a playoff game because of surgery, et cetera?

MIKE NORVELL: There would have been guys that due to injury would have been out or extremely limited, but obviously if you’re in a playoff you have a couple more days, and we have a couple guys that were on the trip this week.

They pushed to do all they could to play, and unfortunately they couldn’t. I think if we would have had a couple more few of them back at least in some limited capacity.

But this is a championship-level team. You go back and watch 13 games and that’s what you saw. I am fully confident in what the team did throughout this year and what they could have achieved.

That was not the path that was set out for us, so obviously I’m proud of the guys that competed tonight and the way that they — how they’ve responded.

Obviously we’ll get better from it. But yeah, it’s something we’ll never know.

Q. Coach and Brock, for you to have Jordan Travis on the sidelines for you after everything that he’s meant to this program, what did that mean? And for you, Brock, what was it like having his mentorship and having him on the sidelines cheering you on and supporting you?

BROCK GLENN: Jordan has been awesome from the moment I stepped in here in January. He took me in, literally like my older brother. That’s how I view him. We’ve grown an unbelievable bond together. I know I can go to him for anything.

I know that everybody on the team feels the exact same way. That’s the type of guy he is. That’s the type of leader he is. You saw he left it all out there on the field this whole year. Outstanding player and even better person.

I’m just thankful that I was able to get to build a relationship with him and having him out here with me has been awesome and truly helpful.

During the week in practice, after the practice he’d come up to me and tell me what he say, how I could do things better, and I tried to apply that to the best I could.

Even out here in the game, going to the sideline after a drive, he was in my ear constantly giving me encouragement, constantly giving me advice. He’s helped me tremendously.

MIKE NORVELL: Yeah, Jordan, guys like Jordan, Kalen, those guys meant everything to this program because they were here when we came in the door and they said yes. They said yes, and we laid out every challenge you could imagine. I mean, I just love watching them grow.

Jordan, for all the things that he had to go through, probably times where he doubted himself, all of what he could be, and to see him go and accomplish all that he could, ACC Player of the Year, all the things on the field, finished fifth in the Heisman, pretty special, what he did between the white lines for this program.

But he impacted this program so much more when he was off the field because what you see is what you get, and his heart, his care, just his passion for this place and passion for the people that he got to be able to do it with, he’s one of the all-time great Florida State Seminoles.

I am blessed that I got a chance to coach him. I’m blessed I got a chance to coach Kalen DeLoach, Tatum Bethune, guys with all different journeys. You see the impacted thatthey’ve made, and it’s pretty special.

Q. Brock, obviously coming into the season third string, you don’t necessarily expect to be thrust into a situation like this, but you stay prepared for it. How do you take the lessons from a night like tonight where maybe not everything goes right and use those to learn in the future and continue to improve as a quarterback?

BROCK GLENN: Everything this program is built on is continuing to be our best and growing, and when we face adversity to keep climbing and fight it and to learn from it.

In the ACC Championship I had some mistakes, and I went back and I reflected, and I tried to — I did everything I could to go back and fix the things that I missed on or messed up on, tried to speed up my process.

I think there’s a lot to learn from in this game, as well, that I’m going to go back and reflect, and I’m just thankful for these seniors and what they’ve done for this team.

It’s a true brotherhood. I really can’t put it into words. It’s a true brotherhood. We all love each other. We’re super thankful for each other, and this program is only going to go up from here. They built this thing up. The seniors, Coach Norvell, they brought this program to the top of the top, and it’s only going to go farther from there.

Q. Coach, there’s obviously different levels of investment across college football. Is there anything that can be done via NILs, collectives to provide some incentives so maybe players don’t opt out of the bowl games that aren’t going to be a part of the playoff going forward and keep the bowl system healthy?

MIKE NORVELL: I think every situation is different. Ours was unique, something that’s never happened in college football. Ultimately I think there was a lot of things that made it extremely challenging.

But at the end of the day, I think you continue to reflect, you continue to look at it — we have an expanded playoff coming here in this next year that will provide more opportunities for teams to compete for championships when they earn it on the field, and that’s something that I think is probably a good thing for players because it’s a lot for them.

We went 13 weeks throughout this season, and it’s a physical task, especially with what we faced and winning every one of them and rising up, guys that played hurt, guys that played through every different piece of adversity that could be thrown at them.

When you overcome that and still have a little — still have the disappointment of not getting to compete for it all, I think that definitely affected some of our situation.

I fully believe that if we probably would have come up short in the championship game, it might have been even a little different. But ultimately this team did all that I asked them to, and they are forever champions. I told them in the locker room, this game will not define the season. But from now until forever they’re going to walk into Doak Campbell Stadium they’re going to see the 2023 ACC Championship and they’re going to know they were 13-0 and unconquered throughout that time.

We faced adversity tonight, obviously faced our challenges, obviously didn’t play to the level to what we’re capable of, but we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to continue to move forward.

And when it comes to bowl season, when it comes to choices that people make, obviously there’s a lot of people out there that will have their opinion, but I do think that the expanded playoff and opportunities for teams that earn it to go compete for it all will definitely help.

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Despite the end of its 19-game winning streak in the 2023 Capital One Orange Bowl vs. Georgia, Florida State finishes the 2023 season as champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 13-1 mark; it’s most wins since the 2014 national semifinalist team.

The accomplishments helped earn Mike Norvell the distinction of winning the Bobby Dodd Trophy, awarded to the head football coach whose program embodies the award’s three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity, while also having success on the playing field throughout the season.

Florida State will open the 2024 season at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland vs. Georgia Tech on Aug. 24 in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.

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