The 2023 season will always be a memorable one for Florida State, and now there’s a physical reminder by Doak Campbell Stadium. But not everything was recorded.
The program unveiled a new plaque honoring the 13-1 team near the Sod Cemetery outside the stadium, featuring the names of every player on the team, the scores of every regular-season game plus the ACC championship and the program’s final accolades.
“The Coyle Moore Family Trust honors the Florida State University and the achievements of the 2023 unconquered Atlantic Coast Conference championship football team,” the plaque reads.”
There was just one thing missing: the score of the Orange Bowl.
In case you needed a plaque to remind you what happened in last season’s Orange Bowl, Florida State got completely thrashed by Georgia after a bevy of opt-outs from 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 up finishing its season shorthanded with a 63-3 loss.
So you can probably understand why Florida State doesn’t want those numbers anywhere near its plaque.
Few artifacts will better capture how the Seminoles view their 2023 team. Every member of the team and its fanbase believes they were robbed of a CFP berth. They did the work required, then got punished for their quarterback getting hurt. Some went as far as claiming a share of the national championship.
You can have sympathy for that, but it’s hard to deny that using the word “unconquered” in a plaque that purposefully excludes a 60-point loss is quite a swing. The team that suited up against Georgia might not have been the same as the one that went 13-0, but they were wearing Florida State uniforms in an officially sanctioned NCAA game. It happened.
Of course, plaques have never been great for capturing nuance.
