2023 Orange Bowl

The 2023 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 2023, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The 90th annual Orange Bowl featured the Florida State Seminoles from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Georgia Bulldogs from the Southeastern Conference (SEC)—teams selected at-large by the College Football Playoff selection committee. The game began at 4:00 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN.^[4][5] The Orange Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by bank holding company Capital One and was officially known as the Capital One Orange Bowl.

The 60-point victory for Georgia set a new record for the largest margin of victory in any bowl game at the FBS level (or its historical predecessors), surpassing the prior record of 58 points, which had been set by Georgia the previous season in the 2023 CFP National Championship game.

The game featured the Florida State Seminoles from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and the Georgia Bulldogs from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). This was the 12th all-time meeting between the Seminoles and the Bulldogs; entering the game, Georgia led the series, 6-4-1.^[6]

Georgia entered the season as two-time defending national champions, looking to add a third championship to become the first FBS college program to three-peat since Minnesota from 1934 to 1936.^{[n 1]} They earned strong wins over No. 20 Kentucky, No. 9 Ole Miss, and No. 18 Tennessee by margins of 51–13, 52–17 and 38–10, respectively. The Bulldogs were riding a 29-game winning streak, which started in the 2021 Orange Bowl, heading into the SEC Championship Game. However, the Bulldogs lost to No. 8 Alabama, 24–27, which caused them to finish with a record of 12–1. Subsequently, the Bulldogs were not selected for the College Football Playoff.

Georgia entered the Orange Bowl ranked sixth in each of the major polls.

Florida State entered the season with high expectations after a 10–3 record last season, finishing No. 11 in the AP poll. After an assertive 45–24 win over No. 5 LSU to start the season, the Seminoles went on to win all of their regular season games. However, during their game against North Alabama, starting quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury.^[7] Since he was in his senior year, it also marked the end of his college career.

The Seminoles entered the ACC Championship Game with a 12–0 record and ranked at No. 4 in the CFP rankings. The team defeated No. 16 Louisville by 16–6. However, the Seminoles were placed at No. 5 in the final playoff rankings, becoming the first undefeated champion from a Power Five conference to be omitted from the playoffs in the CFP era (since the 2014 season). The final CFP rankings, which saw Alabama move up four spots to displace Florida State from a CFP semifinal berth, caused significant controversy. The Selection Committee cited the loss of Travis as a main reason why Florida State was left out of the playoffs. The committee factors player availability into its selections.^[8]

Florida State entered the Orange Bowl ranked fourth in the AP poll and fifth in the CFP rankings.

• Emerson, Seth (December 30, 2023). "Georgia took the Orange Bowl seriously, but it was embarrassing for college football". The New York Times. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
• Thames, Alanis (December 30, 2023). "No. 6 Georgia beats down No. 4 Florida State in Orange Bowl in matchup of teams missing out on CFP". The Boston Globe. AP. Retrieved December 31, 2023.

• Game statistics at statbroadcast.com