Biggest blowouts in Orange Bowl history: Where Georgia-Florida State ranks among most lopsided games

There was plenty of talk of how Florida State was wrongfully excluded from the College Football Playoff with the unfortunate injury to star quarterback Jordan Travis.

But the Seminoles did not resemble anything close to a team that could compete in the race for the national championship as the Bulldogs put up almost too many bowl game records to count with their 63-3 victory.

Here's how Georgia accomplished that goal and how the victory compares to other notable Orange Bowl wins throughout the history of its existence.

MORE: Jaxson Dart stats from Ole Miss' win over Penn State

Biggest blowouts in Orange Bowl history

Georgia 63, Florida State 3 — 60 points (2023)

Georgia put together one of the most complete performances in college football history in all three phases of the game, very much looking like a team in the running to be the sport's next dynasty team after winning two consecutive national championships, despite falling just short of the College Football Playoff this season.

Powered by strong performances from players like quarterbacks Carson Beck and Gunnar Stockton, who combined for 299 passing yards and four touchdowns, and running back Kendall Milton, who carried the ball nine times for 104 yards and two touchdowns, the Bulldogs posted 673 yards of total offense.

That led to a new Orange Bowl record with an impressive average of 9 yards per play. With the win, the Dawgs have posted both the largest margin of victory in the Orange Bowl ever and the largest margin of victory in a bowl game by any team in the history of college football.

That tops their own former record when they defeated TCU, 65-7 on Jan. 9, 2023 in the national title game.

Here's a look at some of the most notable stats from Georgia's latest victory.

Alabama 61, Syracuse 6 — 55 (1953)

Alabama's win over Syracuse previously marked the largest margin in Orange Bowl history, now ranking second of all time in this category. It trails Georgia's margin of victory by five points.

It was called one of the worst mismatches in college football at the time, something that was easy to see in the final score as the Crimson Tide scored nine touchdowns in their rout of the Orange.

WVU 70, Clemson 33 — 37 (2012)

The win over the Tigers in which the Mountaineers hung 70 points remains the most points ever scored by the winner of the Orange Bowl in the history of the postseason game and the most points combined between two teams. WVU put up 589 yards of total offense to Clemson's 443 yards.

Both records remain as Georgia came up a touchdown shy of tying the points scored record as well, though the Seminoles' lack of scoring meant it came up well short of the 103 combined points from 2012.

WVU quarterback Geno Smith had an explosive performance in that game as he completed 32 of 43 passing attempts for 407 yards with six touchdowns, adding touchdown No. 7 on the ground.

Biggest blowouts in college football history

That record now belongs to Georgia's beatdown of Florida State on Saturday. Previously, the record belong to Georgia the last time it played in a postseason game, when it faced TCU in last season's national championship, during which the Bulldogs trounced the Horned Frogs by 58 points. 

Former walk-on quarterback Stetson Bennett IV was perhaps the most notable player of the game for Georgia, showing huge year-over-year improvement from a mental processing perspective in addition to timing and decision-making, among other things.

Bennett completed 18 of his 25 passing attempts for 304 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 scores on the ground. Georgia totaled 589 yards of offense in that game to TCU's 188. The Horned Frogs averaged just 3.7 yards per play.

When I spoke with Bennett ahead of that season, he had a message that has fully resonated with the way Georgia keeps reloading and maintaining success.

“There will be people that say like they do every year “they lost those guys and they lost those guys” or that “they’re not going to be that” so we’re determined to go out there and say ‘yeah, we love those guys. We’re who we were last year because of those guys.’ But we have this whole year since they’ve left to develop those new guys and do something special.”

Here's a look at the other top blowouts in bowl game history: