The 2023 season will always be memorable for Florida State, and now there is a physical reminder at Doak Campbell Stadium. But not everything was recorded.
The program unveiled a new plaque honoring the 13-1 team near Sod Cemetery outside the stadium, with the names of each player on the team, the scores of each regular-season game plus the ACC championship and the program’s final accolades.
“The Coyle Moore Family Trust honors Florida State University and the achievements of the undefeated 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference championship football team,” the plaque reads.
Only one thing was missing: the result of the Orange Bowl.
In case you needed a plaque to remember what happened in last season’s Orange Bowl, Florida State was completely thrashed by Georgia after a series of shutouts by a team that had been undefeated. The Seminoles were controversially excluded from the College Football Playoff after star quarterback Jordan Travis’ season-ending injury, and the shorthanded program ended its season with a 63-3 loss.
So you can probably understand why the state of Florida doesn’t want those numbers near their license plate.
Few artifacts will better capture how the Seminoles view their 2023 team. Every member of the team and its fans believes they have been robbed of a spot in the CFP. They did the job required and then were punished for their quarterback’s injury. Some even claimed a share of the national championship..
You can feel sympathy for that, but it’s hard to deny that using the word “undefeated” on a plaque that intentionally excludes a 60-point loss is quite a change. The team that suited up against Georgia might not have been the same one that went 13-0, but they were wearing Florida State uniforms in an officially sanctioned NCAA game. Happened.
Of course, plates have never been good at capturing nuances.