Sunday's reveal of the College Football Playoff field broke hearts across Tallahassee, as Florida State was left out after a 13-0 season.
An undefeated Power Five team would ordinarily be a playoff lock, but a season-ending injury to QB Jordan Travis two weeks before the reveal endangered Florida State's hopes. Despite winning that game against North Alabama, beating Florida the next week, and then winning the ACC championship against Louisville, the committee decided the Seminoles just weren't as strong of a team without Travis under center.
This will be the last time an unbeaten Power Five team misses the playoff, as the field is set to expand to 12 next season. Because the Power Five will shrink to a Power Four and the top four conference champions will each receive a bye, Florida State would almost certainly be a top-four seed under the new format.
MORE: Why Florida State missed the College Football Playoff
For now, the Seminoles are left with the emptiness of knowing they did what was asked of them 13 times and still came up short. Here's a look at other instances of undefeated teams missing the College Football Playoff.
Undefeated teams to miss College Football Playoff
Florida State is the first undefeated Power Five team to miss the College Football Playoff since its inception in 2014.
The Seminoles' scenario is one that would have been considered unrealistic in most years, but they faced a devastating combination of a season-ending injury to QB Jordan Travis and an unusual number of qualified teams near the top of the rankings. At the same time, Florida State fans will point to the inaugural year of the playoff, when one-loss Ohio State was inserted into the field despite being down to third-string QB Cardale Jones.
That Buckeyes team, however, won the Big Ten championship by 59 points. Florida State's ACC championship victory was much less convincing, albeit without injured backup QB Tate Rodemaker, who would likely be ready to play for Seminoles' bowl game.
MORE: ACC, Florida State blast 'unfathomable' decision by CFP committee
As unprecedented as Florida State's situation is, the Seminoles are far from the only unbeaten FBS team to miss the College Football Playoff. It happened on six occasions before 2023, though all other undefeated teams who missed the playoff were Group of Five schools (Liberty also met the same fate this year). Three of the instances came during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, which factored into an unusually high number of unbeaten teams.
The most infamous case was UCF, which went undefeated in both 2017 and 2018. The Knights claimed a national championship after the 2017 season, which saw them finish 13-0 just two years after going 0-12. Still, the history books will show Alabama won the College Football Playoff that season.
Four years later, the committee included a Group of Five team for the first time, ranking unbeaten Cincinnati No. 4.
Here is a complete look at unbeaten FBS teams that missed the College Football Playoff
| Season | School | Final CFP ranking |
| 2016 | Western Michigan | No. 16 |
| 2017 | UCF | No. 12 |
| 2018 | UCF | No. 8 |
| 2020 | Cincinnati | No. 8 |
| 2020 | Coastal Carolina | No. 12 |
| 2020 | San Jose State | No. 22 |
| 2023 | Florida State | No. 5 |
| 2023 | Liberty | TBD |
What bowl game will Florida State play in?
Florida State will face Georgia in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. The Seminoles and Bulldogs were ranked No. 5 and No. 6 in the final CFP rankings, respectively.
Florida State has five Orange Bowl wins in its history, most recently winning the game under Jimbo Fisher in 2012 and 2016.
MORE: Tracking college football bowl selections
The next task for Mike Norvell after a trying handful of weeks will be to rally his players from the extreme disappointment of missing the playoff and prepare them to face the back-to-back national champions. Meanwhile, Kirby Smart will have to do the same with a Georgia team that certainly didn't expect to be in this position.
