Despite painful loss to Georgia Tech, Florida State's sky isn't falling

Because it is played only once a week, football has the most knee-jerk reactions of any sport. Emotions and outlooks ebb and flow with each game as college football fans live or die one Saturday at a time. Unfortunately for Florida State fans, the 2024 season might appear suddenly bleak following the season-opening 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland. However, because of the new College Football Playoff format, the sky isn't necessarily falling in Tallahassee.

Yes, the Seminoles are going to drop out of the CFP projections and discussions for the time being. That's the punishment teams suffer when losing a nationally televised game to a 10.5-point underdog.

However, there is still plenty of time for FSU to climb back into the playoff discussion. That's the benefit of losing early in the season rather than in November.

Remember, plenty of teams have suffered early-season losses only to fight their way back to national relevance. For instance, last season, Oklahoma State dropped a home game to South Alabama 33-7 before rebounding to go 9-3 in the regular season (7-2 in Big 12 play) and reach the Big 12 Championship Game.

How about the 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes? Ranked No. 5 in the nation to start the year, they lost their first home game of the season to an unranked Virginia Tech team. Still, that year, the Buckeyes went on to claim the National Championship in the first edition of the four-team playoff format.

Even the 1998 Florida State team that played for the BCS National Championship in the 1999 Fiesta Bowl had to overcome early-season adversity. That year, Bobby Bowden's No. 2-ranked squad was drubbed at unranked N.C. State, 24-7 in the second game of the season. However, the Seminoles wouldn't lose again until meeting Tennesse in the season's final game.

The good news is that the Seminoles still have a chance to play their way back into the playoff picture. Though the loss to Georgia Tech makes winning the ACC tougher, a conference championship will still send Mike Norvell's team to the playoff and that was the goal of the season all along.

According to the ESPN.com Matchup Predictor, FSU is currently favored in each of this season's remaining games except for the November 9 contest at No. 7 Notre Dame. Therefore, if the Seminoles can rebound and take care of business, they would likely find themselves playing in the ACC championship game with a spot in the CFP on the line.

Of course, to do that, Norvell is going to have to find a way for his team to improve upon what it put forth on Saturday. He acknowledged that following the loss.

"We've got to take a step as a football team," he said, "and not let this one game define what the outcome of our season will be. You know, we get to respond and here in a week from now, we get to play another ACC opponent and, you know, we gotta go get better."

Yes, FSU fans should be disappointed by what transpired in Dublin. But losing to a sneaky-good Georgia Tech team by three points is not the end of the world.

There are still plenty of opportunities for the 'Noles to pick up some impressive wins against name-brand programs such as Clemson, Miami, Notre Dame, and Florida while also taking down some under-the-radar programs such as SMU and Memphis, both of which could find themselves ranked by season's end.

So breathe, FSU fans. It's going to be ok. Yes, this loss will sting for a while and yes, your program is going to be the butt of plenty of jokes this week (that's especially true of QB D.J. Uiagalelei).

However, the 2024 college football season is about unprecedented opportunity. That's great news for the Seminoles as one loss is no longer going to put an end to a contender's National Championship hopes, regardless of how many Chicken Littles might be running around northern Florida right now.