SEC commish: Georgia deserved to make the playoff in 2023 but ‘you didn’t see us jumping up and down and complaining’ – MASHAHER

It sure appears that Greg Sankey noticed the frustration from Florida State after the Seminoles were excluded from the College Football Playoff at the end of the 2023 season.

By now, you know the story. Florida State capped a 13-0 season with the ACC title but missed out on the College Football Playoff largely because starting QB Jordan Travis was injured in the penultimate game of the regular season. The FSU offense didn’t look nearly as good without Travis, and Florida State dropped to No. 5 in the final CFP rankings.

The playoff snub led to a lot of consternation in Tallahassee as the Seminoles felt they got a raw deal as one-loss Alabama made the playoff after an upset of Georgia in the SEC title game.

Sankey, however, feels that Georgia deserved to make it in the playoff too. And made it clear in an interview on Jacksonville’s 1010 AM on Wednesday at SEC media days that he felt the SEC wasn’t very loud about Georgia’s exclusion from the playoff. And though Sankey didn’t mention FSU by name, it’s hard not to think of the Seminoles when reading or hearing his comments.

Of course, Florida State and Georgia met in the Orange Bowl as a consolation prize of sorts. And the game did not go well for the Seminoles, though it wasn’t totally a fair fight. The Bulldogs beat Florida State 63-3 in a game that many of FSU’s star players missed after opting out following the playoff exclusion.

Thankfully, we won’t have to discuss whether or not the fifth and sixth-best teams in the country are worthy of the playoff in 2024. This fall is the first for the expanded 12-team playoff and both Florida State and Georgia are favored to be a part of the playoff again this season. The Bulldogs are the national title favorite at BetMGM at +300, while Florida State is the favorite to win the SEC and +150 to make the playoff field.