Sports

College Football: Florida Loses To Florida State, No Chance At Playoffs

Published on: November 29, 2015 at 8:49 AM
By Dustin Murrell

When the No. 14 Florida State Seminoles football team beat the No. 10 Florida Gators 27-2 on Saturday, they effectively ended whatever chance their in-state rivals had at making this year’s College Football Playoffs. It also marked the third straight year that the Florida State University squad upended the Florida crew in their annual showdown (and their third straight win in Gainesville).

While they may have won four games in a row before the Saturday game against FSU, the Florida Gators didn’t have easy wins against their last three opponents, including a 2-point win over Vanderbilt, a 10-point victory over South Carolina, and a 6-point win over Florida Atlantic. To get their fifth consecutive win, they were going to have to turn things up against FSU — and that just never happened.

Responding to questions about FSU’s star tailback Dalvin Cook , and how the Gators would bounce back from this loss, Florida head coach Jim McElwain had the following to say, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

“We just gave [Cook] that many opportunities. I mean, our defense is as a good as any in the country. And they played well enough today to win. It’s a team game, in all three phases you’re responsible. We didn’t take advantage of what they were giving us… I think it’ll be interesting in the building of this program, how we handle disappointment like this and how we rebound. It’ll tell a lot about a lot of our guys, tell a lot about the guys who are going to be coming back and what kind of roles they’ll play and really kind of about who each one of us are.”

After suffering their second loss of the season three weeks ago to Clemson , the Seminoles have been fighting back. They followed that loss by doubling North Carolina’s score (34-17) a week later, and then proceeded to destroy Chattanooga by quadrupling their score on November 21 (52-13). A record-setting attendance at the Swamp (90,916) witnessed FSU keeping Florida to their lowest score of the season.

It has been more than 25 years since the Gators football team suffered a complete shutout, and the Seminoles almost handed them one on Saturday. In fact, the FSU defense never let Florida score. With just under nine minutes to play, it was a fumble recovered in the end zone by Seminoles quarterback Sean Maguire that resulted in a safety (and Florida’s only two points of the game) that prevented the dreaded goose egg. Not much else went right for the Gators, however.

As tough as it is to lose at home to your in-state rivals, the Florida Gators don’t have time to feel bad about their loss. Next week, as the Boston Herald noted, the Southeastern Conference championship game features No. 2 Alabama vs. Florida in Atlanta. The one-loss Crimson Tide look to get past the Gators as they hope to get back into the College Football Playoffs. Last year, they lost to Ohio State in the Sugarbowl, thus being eliminated in the semifinals.

The Seminoles, on the other hand, must now await their bowl game assignment. They won’t be competing for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, but will likely end up competing in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve, also in Atlanta.

You can watch the Florida Gators battle the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 5 at 4:00 p.m. EST on CBS for the SEC Championship. The Florida State Seminoles football team await their assignment for a bowl game. It is likely that you’ll see Florida State University in the Peach Bowl, which is scheduled for 12:00 noon EST on December 31.

[Image via Twitter ]

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