MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Georgia football coach Kirby Smart didn’t need to do much to convince his players of the importance of the Orange Bowl.
“As long as winning matters, we’re going to compete like hell at Georgia,” Smart said.
The Bulldogs entered Saturday’s matchup against Florida State essentially at full strength. The Seminoles, who were missing at least a dozen of their key contributors because of opt-outs and players in the transfer portal, did not.
The result was what you might expect: No. 6 Georgia crushed previously undefeated Florida State 63-3 in the Orange Bowl in a matchup of teams that missed out on the College Football Playoff.
The Seminoles (13-1), No. 4 in the AP Top 25, were fifth in the final CFP rankings, the first team left out of what will be the last edition of the four-team bracket before it expands to 12 next season. Georgia (13-1), the Southeastern Conference runner-up, faced a Florida State team far different from the one that won the Atlantic Coast Conference title earlier this month.