ATLANTA — Florida State's Mike Norvell has won the Dodd Trophy as national coach of the year after leading the Seminoles to a 13-0 record.
The No. 4 Seminoles will play No. 6 Georgia in Saturday's Orange Bowl.
The award announced Friday honors scholarship, leadership and integrity, as well as success on the field. First-year coaches and winners of the award the last two years are not eligible.
"The values of athletic success, academic excellence and character represented by this award align with what we emphasize in our program," Norvell said in a statement. "Those characteristics have been on display through some truly challenging circumstances this season, but I am so proud of how our team responded each and every time."
Norvell led the Seminoles to their first Atlantic Coast Conference championship since 2014.
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Norvell is the second Florida State coach to win the Dodd Trophy, following Bobby Bowden in 1980.
Norvell had 35 players named academic All-ACC for the 2022-23 academic year. This team had scored a 983 Academic Progress Rate (APR), tied for the 23rd highest mark among FBS schools.
The Dodd Trophy, named in honor of former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd, is presented annually by the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The winner is selected by a panel consisting of all previous winners, national media, a member of the Dodd family and a College Football Hall of Fame member.
Tulane coach Willie Fritz won the 2022 award. Cincinnati's Luke Fickell won in 2021.
Michigan's Nugent, Texas' Worthy say they will be full go
LOS ANGELES — Michigan and Texas both expect to have key players who were limited in their conference championship games healthy for the College Football Playoff.
Michigan center Drake Nugent sprained his ankle in the win over Ohio State on Nov. 25. The Stanford graduate transfer wasn't at his best against Iowa in the Big Ten championship game a week later and said he probably would not have been able to play a week after that.
The last time Texas played, star receiver Xavier Worthy injured his right ankle in a Big 12 title game blowout of Oklahoma State.
Worthy said Friday he is ready to go for the third-ranked Longhorns' Sugar Bowl matchup with No. 2 Washington in New Orleans.
