Georgia’s record 63-3 Orange Bowl rout of FSU ‘Semi-noles’ an embarrassment to college football | Opinion

Funny now, or sad maybe, but it looked like such a great or at least interesting matchup ... on paper.

Then came the spontaneous combustion. That paper imploded into flames Saturday night and Miami’s 90th Orange Bowl game had itself an epic stinker of historic proportion.

Because college football happened. And should be embarrassed by it.

The No. 6-ranked Georgia Bulldogs crushed the No. 5 Florida State Seminoles, 63-3, in a matchup that found both teams bitter about not being in Pasadena or New Orleans preparing for a Monday night College Football Playoff semifinal game.

Don’t take it personally, Miami. Not your fault, men and women in those orange jackets that, if worn out in public in any other context would subject the wearer to likely ridicule.

The OB got the top two available teams, at least according to the rankings.

The problem was, these weren’t the Seminoles.

These were the Semi-noles.

FSU was a depleted shell of the team that carried a 13-0 record into Saturday and yet somehow was rightly a 23 1/2-point underdog when the bowl kicked off at Hard Rock Stadium.

The result, even the lopsidedness of it, did not really surprise.

The 60-point margin was the largest in OB history, topping the 55 points to cap the 1952 season when Alabama beat Syracuse, 61-6. Georgia just missed the most points ever by a winning OB team. That was after the 2011 season when West Virginia clubbed Clemson, 70-33.

The narrative entering this matchup was how both the Bulldogs and Noles “deserved” to be one of the four teams in the CFP champion round.

This marks the last season for such a heated argument, because starting next season the CFP will balloon from four teams to 12. Can you imagine any real controversy over the complaining two-loss team left out at 13th.

Yeah, me neither.

In this case, it was arguable. Georgia and especially FSU both got crazy-unlucky.

Georgia lost to Alabama for the Southeastern Conference title to deny the Dawgs the CFP and sent ‘Bama on instead. But Nick Saban’s Tide never would have gotten there without a miracle finish against Auburn on a late 4th-and-31 completion.

FSU won the Atlantic Coast Conference title despite a season-ending injury to quarterback Jordan Travis, but the CFP selection committee justifiably knew that a Noles team without its star QB was not one of the four best teams in the nation -- which Saturday night’s OB result proved beyond all rationale debate.

Florida State entered the OB feeling like the undefeated, scorned team that should-a been in the CFP final four.

Georgia exited the OB with fresh proof that it probably is one of the best four college teams in America.

The controversy entering this game was that the CFP got it wrong to not include FSU. And maybe even one-loss Georgia.

The controversy after this game should be that college football’s bowl system has a huge problem that likely isn’t going away, but rather seems to be only accelerating.

It isn’t just the unfortunate, team-changing injuries such as the one to FSU’s star passer Travis that directly, explicitly cost the Tallahassee school a chance to play for a national championship.

It is the ravages of the transfer portal that can dramatically alter teams’ roster between the regular season and bowl season. It also is more and more top players opting to sit out the bowl games and their risk of injury because the riches of the NFL Draft became paramount.

Not sure there is a solution but this is ruining the integrity of the college bowl system -- at least all but the final three games constituting the CFP.

All teams suffer these things now.

Heck, it’s a big reason why the OB’s hometown Miami Hurricanes lost their lesser bowl game, 31-24, to Rutgers (!) to end Mario Cristobal’s second season an unflattering 7-6.

And how about the crowd Saturday, huh?

Georgia fans preferred to be elsewhere.

FSU fans were bitter in thinking they deserved to be.

And Miamians attending the local bowl were still trying to fathom losing yet another bowl game, and this one to a Rutgers team they’d been 11-0 against going in.

Georgia was hurt somewhat by the transfer portal and NFL opt-out ... but FSU was devastated.

It’s why a 13-0 team was a 23 1/2-point underdog. That’s unheard of. The betting line opener at 13 and skyrocketed. It meant so much money was rolling in on Georgia that sports books were begging folks to bet on the the Noles.

So what looked to be a great matchup, “on paper,” left us all scrambling to see what have been the biggest routs in the OB’s history.

Worth reminding, this is a major bowl game. Top tier. The OB in its history has been the site of 20 national championships, including three of five by the Miami Hurricanes. It is in the College Football Playoff rotation, having hosted three CFP semfiinal games and due to host another in 2024.

But this one, when 42-3 at the half, had us researching the biggest margin in OB history and the most points ever by the winning team.

Dawgs coach Kirby Smart eased up on the gas pedal (somewhat) in the second half, and good for him.

The 90th OB became an uncomfortably large rout because Georgia was a legit representation of its team from this season.

FSU by contrast was down to its third-string QB in freshman Brock Glenn, was missing its top two running backs, its top three receivers and several starters on defense.

Blame the transfer portal, NFL opt-outs and one devastating injury for the Orange Bowl seeming to have a great matchup, “on paper,” that turned out to be an epic embarrassment on the field.

The College Football Playoff goes on Monday with Michigan vs. Alabama and Texas vs. Washington.

Georgia built a case Saturday night in Miami that maybe it was good enough to be one of those final four teams, after all.

The strong case Florida State once had just unraveled spectacularly.

The unbeaten Seminoles led by Jordan Travis had an argument.

The Semi-noles who just got embarrassed had nothing close.