Keon Coleman blames Georgia for Florida State missing CFP, Orange Bowl no show

Keon Coleman knows about as much about making the College Football Playoff as he does getting drafted in the first round. Close but no cigar. While that is very Columbus of him for the new wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, he is still well-thought-of in Tallahassee. I thought hurricane season was over, but here we are. Coleman had the stones to blame Georgia for Florida State missing the playoff.

He went on Robert Griffin III's podcast to spout out all kinds of drivel about how the Florida State Seminoles coulda, shoulda and woulda made the playoff. While his argument can be justified if you think a one-loss Big 12 champion Texas Longhorns team didn't belong, this is still rich of Coleman after his Seminoles got absolutely spanked in the 2023 Orange Bowl by some hungry Dawgs, 63-3.

Here is what Coleman had to say to Griffin about Georgia costing Florida State a shot at the playoff.

"If you would have won [against Alabama], you would have found out who was better between Florida State and Georgia. You would have played us in the ‘matter bowl.’ In a bowl that mattered. We’re not going to play y’all in a bowl that don’t matter. That’s a waste of time."

Georgia already played its Matter Bowl five years ago by losing to Texas in Sugar Bowl. Kirby Smart was never going to let his players mail it in again in a New Year's Six bowl like Mike Norvell's sure did.

“If y’all would have won [against Alabama] and did what y’all were supposed to do, y’all would have would have had to see us. We would have been doing that [Tomahawk Chop] the whole time. All of that barking, we would have put a spear straight through you. Ain’t no barking, that’s dead. You would have found out, but the world may never know because Georgia decided to lose [to Alabama]. We should question their toughness to Bama. How do y’all keep choking?”

Georgia has lost four games since COVID, three of which were to Alabama, once in Tuscaloosa and twice in Atlanta. Had Georgia have made the playoff, it would have three-peated as national champs.

Coleman could not have gone to a better team than Buffalo, a team that defines close but no cigar.

Keon Coleman blames Georgia for Florida State missing out on the CFP

Okay, let's just say Amarius Mims doesn't get hurt in the first half vs. Alabama. Let's say Jalen Milroe's fourth-down conversion to Isaiah Bond was ruled incomplete. Georgia only lost to the greatest college football coach of all time's team by three points in a neutral-site affair. Had Georgia beaten Alabama to get to 13-0, the Dawgs would have been the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.

Assuming Coleman's logic is correct, these would have been the teams making the playoff last year.

1. Georgia Bulldogs: 13-0 (SEC Champions)
2. Michigan Wolverines: 13-0 (Big Ten Champions)
3. Washington Huskies: 13-0 (Pac-12 Champions)
4. Florida State Seminoles: 13-0 (ACC Champions)

While I agree with Coleman that this would have been the top four has the SEC Championship Game result been different, yeah, good luck beating Georgia in this spot. It wouldn't have been a 60-point, soul-crushing embarrassment in Miami, but it would have been raining sugar in New Orleans, as the Dawgs would have gone on to face Michigan in the national championship in Houston in the end here.

The thing that I cannot get past is even if the Dawgs were to face the Noles in the national semifinals, how is Florida State beating Georgia? The Seminoles would have had Tate Rodemaker going up against Carson Beck. The Dawgs would have also had a fully healthy Mims, Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey on offense. Those top-34 picks did not factor in the Dawgs absolutely pantsing the Noles.

You have to have a little more self-awareness than this. I think the four teams that made the playoffs last year are still thanking their lucky stars that Georgia didn't make the four-team field. Did Alabama get lucky in Atlanta? I wouldn't go as far as to say that. But one thing I will say is Alabama, Michigan, Texas and Washington would have all respected Georgia. Florida State got stuffed into a locker, man.

Could you imagine if Coleman spouted out that nonsense if he got drafted by the Atlanta Falcons?