FSU football: Kirby Smart sent a shot at FSU in final 2022 Coaches Poll?

FSU football wrapped up its best season on the field since 2016. The Noles finished No. 11 in the final AP Top 25 poll and No. 10 in the final Coaches Poll.

When we look at final advanced metrics (after bowl games) like FEI, the Noles finished as the No. 9 team in the country.

If we look at a grand composite ranking of all the advanced metrics, the Noles finished as the No. 12 team in the country.

That’s in large part because SP+ rankings have been way off all year, and something I’ve been vocal about over the couple of months.

Kirby Smart’s vote is near the middle in the graphic below.

Nevertheless, I think it’s obvious FSU should be around the No. 10 mark to end the season based on their record and advanced metrics. That’s why I found it weird that back-to-back national championship-winning coach Kirby Smart ranked the Noles the lowest of all the coaches at No. 18.

Who knows, maybe Kirby had some grad assistant that doesn’t know anything to fill out the ballot and send it in with his name on it. However, FSU started appearing top five in several way too early 2023 preseason polls over the past week or so.

Was this Kirby Smart sending a shot to either FSU or the ACC as a whole? How can he put LSU at No. 12 when they lost to FSU head-to-head and to a God-awful Texas A&M team? Maybe he believes, like most SEC fans, that the conference is that much better than the others.

However, it’s not like they ran some unreal gauntlet of a schedule. They played five ranked teams out of 15 games, and only three of those teams were from the SEC.

I’m not saying Georgia wasn’t the best team in country because they were, but putting FSU at No. 18 when nearly everyone else and the advanced stats has them much higher seemed odd.