Florida State won ACC title in Charlotte. Will Seminoles reach College Football Playoff?

It wasn’t pretty, but Florida State capped an undefeated season with an ACC championship Saturday.

The Seminoles’ 16-6 win over Louisville at Bank of America Stadium featured just 55 passing yards by third-string freshman quarterback Brock Glenn. But the defense for Florida State, the nation’s fourth-ranked team, was stellar, recording seven sacks and holding the Cardinals without a touchdown.

Florida State (13-0, 9-0 ACC) is trying to advance to the College Football Playoff for the first time in 10 years. The announcement, perhaps the most compelling and unpredictable in the history of the playoff, will come Sunday at noon on ESPN.

“We’ve done it at home, we’ve done it on the road, we’ve done it with a backup quarterback, and now we’ve done it with a true freshman quarterback,” Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell said postgame. “This team just continues to find ways to make it happen.”

It’s the 16th ACC title for Florida State, which joined the conference in 1992. While Clemson boasts an ACC-best 21 titles, the Seminoles’ 16 since 1992 are the most of any school in that stretch (The Tigers have won eight during that span).

Glenn, a true freshman, made his first career start for the Seminoles. Backup Tate Rodemaker, who suffered a concussion last week at Florida, warmed up in full pads alongside Glenn but was in sweatpants on the sideline when the game began. Star Jordan Travis, voted this year’s ACC Player of the Year, is out for the season with a leg injury, and many Seminoles warmed up in t-shirts dedicated to him.

Glenn, a former four-star recruit from western Tennessee, completed 8 of 21 passes for 55 yards. Louisville (10-3, 7-2 ACC) signal caller Jack Plummer, a senior who previously played at Purdue and California, threw for 111 yards on 14-of-36 passing.

“You’ve got to play better on offense, so that starts with me as the head coach,” Cardinals first-year head coach Jeff Brohm said postgame. “I do think our guys wanted to win. They were up to the challenge, as far as facing an undefeated team in a championship game. And we had some moments.”

How it happened

A low-scoring affair, both teams totaled fewer than 80 yards of offense during a first half that featured 11 punts.

Louisville got on the board with a field goal on its first drive of the second half, and Florida State responded with a 73-yard rush from running back Lawrance Toafili — who was voted the game’s most valuable player after finishing with a game-high 118 yards — that set up the game’s first touchdown.

“It actually just opened up — it was a perfect block,” Toafili said. “The linemen, the running back in the backfield blocked for me too. It was really just me running.”

Leading 10-6 with roughly 11 minutes left in regulation, the Cardinals swarmed Florida State punter Alex Mastromanno and tackled him 11 yards shy of the first-down marker. The miscue gave Louisville the ball at the Seminoles’ 12-yard line — and the drive ended on its third play with a goal-line interception by linebacker Tatum Bethune.

Redshirt senior defensive tackle Braden Fiske led the way for Florida State’s defense, making nine tackles and a career-high three sacks.

The playoff picture

Florida State is one of three undefeated teams, along with Michigan (which beat Iowa in Saturday’s Big Ten championship) and Washington (which won the Pac-12 title over Oregon on Friday night).

Georgia, which won the past two national championships, had its 29-game win streak snapped with a loss to Alabama in Saturday’s SEC championship game.

So, the Seminoles are an undefeated conference champion, but their quarterback situation has their playoff hopes in question.

Still, it’s been a standout year for Florida State, which started it with a 21-point win over Heisman favorite Jayden Daniels and fifth-ranked LSU. Its offense was strong all year, with its lowest point total in any game before Saturday being 24 points.

“It’s entertainment and something to be able to have those conversations, but I don’t think there is a conversation,” Norvell said. “I don’t think there is a conversation. This is a team that is well-deserving. This is a team that has earned it. This is a team that has shown up consistently and proven that they have what it takes to win.

“I don’t want to hear about the schedule. We actually scheduled a tough non-conference. We put ourselves out there.”