Georgia state lawmaker demands Orange Bowl between Florida State, Bulldogs gets added to CFP

Georgia state senator Colton Moore, following in the footsteps of Florida attorney general Ashley Moody and other state politicians to his south, has written an open letter demanding the College Football Playoff selection committee adopt the Orange Bowl between Florida State and Georgia as an additional CFP game. Both the Seminoles and Bulldogs were left out of the four-team field as the No. 5 and No. 6 teams, respectively.

However, unlike Florida State, Georgia did not go undefeated in 2023 and lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, resulting in the Crimson Tide vaulting past both teams into the No. 4 ranking. It’s a perceived injustice that Moore is apparently fighting back on.

“Your mandate is to send the four best teams in the country to the Playoff, and instead you have created a political mess with a decision based in bias to weaker conferences and teams who want nothing to do playing the Georgia Bulldogs,” Moore said, in part, in his letter.

People of Georgia demand the @NCAA and @CFBPlayoff include @OrangeBowl in the College Football Playoff: @UGAAthletics vs @Seminoles

UGA is in the top 4 teams in the USA. @SEC @ACC @NCAA@ronDesantis @ScottforFlorida @BrianKempGA@espn @KirkHerbstreit @finebaum pic.twitter.com/R0kjrT9OWz

— Sen. Colton Moore (@realColtonMoore) December 14, 2023

Moore did not provide a plan or mechanism for incorporating two more teams and an additional bowl game into the playoff in his letter. Instead, he mostly laid out a case that Georgia is one of the four best teams and why the Bulldogs shouldn’t have been excluded.

Moore’s arguments for why the Bulldogs are a Top 4 team in the country included the following: finishing first in the SEC in defense, ranking in the top four in efficiency and in the ESPN Football Power Index (FPI), UGA’s 29-straight wins prior to losing to Alabama, the possibility that Kirby Smart will eventually be in the Hall of Fame, that the Bulldogs were chasing a chance at history with a potential third-straight national championship and that Georgia has delivered blowouts in the last two CFPs.

“People of Georgia request you allow The Orange Bowl to be activated as a College Football Playoff game and therefore delay the national Championship by one week or otherwise make accommodations,” Moore said to conclude his letter.

On Tuesday, Moody — the Florida attorney general — announced that the Florida AG’s office was demanding an array of information and communications from the CFP selection committee relating to Florida State’s snub. Moody’s move followed more than a weeks worth of political bluster and clamoring from politicians throughout the state about Florida State’s exclusion from the College Football Playoff.

But until Moore’s letter on Thursday, the Georgia contingent has been mum about being left out of the playoff — or at least weren’t willing to go the lengths that Moore went in his missive. Moore aired the possibility of even contesting the national championship, given the exclusion of Georgia.

The Bulldogs and Seminoles are slated to play in the non-playoff Orange Bowl on Dec. 30 at 4 p.m.