First Take guest claims Florida State was ’embarrassed’ in college football opener after ‘crying into the offseason’

COLLEGE football analyst Paul Finebaum ripped into Florida State after Saturday’s 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech.

The Seminoles – who went unbeaten in 2023 before a 63-3 loss to Georgia in the Orange Bowl – fell in a special season curtain-raiser , taking place in Dublin, Ireland.

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The defeat came after the team almost fell apart following last year’s controversial College Football Playoff snub.

Georgia Tech secured the win courtesy of Aidan Birr’s 44-yard field goal, which the Yellow Jacket kicker homered as time expired.

Finebaum, 69, appeared on First Take on Monday to discuss the shocker.

And when asked whether by Molly Qerim whether it’s a “big deal,” he gave an affirmative response.

“Because Florida State is a team that was crying all the way into the offseason how it got snubbed last year,” the veteran sportscaster explained.

“And then it went out and lost by 60 [to Georgia] in the bowl game.

“They needed to get back some public attention – and they failed to do it.

“Instead, they, really, were embarrassed by a good team but by no means a great team.

“They got outplayed across the board.”

FSU quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who transferred from Oregon State in the offseason, endured a tough Seminoles debut

The California native went 19-for-27 for 193 yards.

He attempted mostly shorter passes in Dublin.

Head coach Mike Norvell defended his new QB after the game – but admitted he wanted him to be more “explosive” on the field.

“I thought DJ did some good things,” Norvell told reporters.

College football's 2024 shake-up

Oklahoma and Texas switching from the Big 12 to the SEC is one of the biggest changes to college football in recent times.

And that has set off a chain reaction which has left the Pac-12 conference decimated.

The Pac-12 has lost 10 of its 12 members and is down to just Oregon State and Washington State.

Four of those teams are headed for the Big 12 – Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.

Another four are going to the Big 10 – Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.

And the other two teams, California and Stanford, will join the ACC conference.

No teams have left the SEC, Big Ten or ACC.

“I thought that was a really great job there in that fourth quarter drive.

“Had some fourth-down calls, had some tougher situations, and I thought he delivered that moment.

“There’s a couple of drives in the third quarter, there’s some opportunities that we’re going to be able to grow from and at the end of the day we have to be more explosive.”

Uiagalelei finished the 2023 season with 2,638 passing yards, and 21 touchdowns. and seven interceptions.

Meanwhile, Norvell also emphasized the limited number of possessions with each team having just seven drives during the game.

“The importance of every snap in that game was monumental,” he said.