One of the biggest non-College Football Playoff bowl games this season is the Orange Bowl between Georgia football and Florida State football. Both of these teams were ranked in the top four going into conference championship weekend, but neither the Seminoles or the Bulldogs made the playoff. The difference: Georgia lost in their conference title game. Florida State didn't.
Now these teams are meeting up in the we don't want to be here bowl. Both Georgia football and Florida State football were so close to making the playoff, but they fell just short. Still, the Orange Bowl is a great bowl game, and the Seminoles have a chance to finish 14-0 while the Bulldogs have a chance to get to 13 wins. It's still a big game, but because of opt outs, it might not be a good game.
Florida State will be missing just about every important player on their team because of opt outs and injuries (mostly opt outs). Because of that, Georgia is favored by 20 points in this game. The Bulldogs have some players leaving for the NFL, but they will have most of their team playing in this game. These guys don't want to go out with a loss in the SEC title game, and head coach Kirby Smart said that the decisions to play were contagious.
“The leaders of the team spearheaded that,” Kirby Smart said Friday, according to an article from ESPN. “I stayed out of it. I met with each player who was draft-eligible and the seniors, and I was very honest. Then they had to make a decision with their family. But they want to go out on top. They don't want their last Georgia outing to be the SEC championship.”
Unfortunately for Georgia, they are dealing with some injuries, and that could leave some players on the sidelines for the Orange Bowl.
“We've had a lot of guys who weren't able to practice during this bowl run,” Smart continued.
At the end of the day, Georgia has had a great season, and they have the opportunity to play in a great bowl game. These players want to finish what they started and end the season on a high note.
“They want to finish together,” Smart said. “I think finishing is important, and we don't talk enough about it. Everybody says, ‘This is what you should do.' Kids who love football, they want to play football. And it's the Orange Bowl. That's an opportunity that's not given to everybody.”
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they will likely be without offensive line coach Stacey Searels. He recently came down with an illness and ended up in an Athens, Georgia hospital.
“He's moving around the hospital, but I don't think he's going to make it down for the game,” Smart said. “But he's up and moving and recovering, and his wife, Trish, said he's ornery as hell.”
For the most part, Georgia will have a pretty full team for the Orange Bowl, and they are expected to win big over Florida State. The game will kickoff at 4:00 ET on Saturday from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, and the game will be airing on ESPN.
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