The College Football Playoffs are set. Second-seeded University of Washington takes on number three University of Texas, and top-seeded University of Michigan goes up against University of Alabama.
However, there is one team that should no doubt be in this playoff. The Florida State University Seminoles went 13-0, making the team the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champions.
Alabama was ranked eighth in the Associated Press (AP) Poll when they beat then top-ranked Georgia, 27-24. The Seminoles? Fourth.
Why would the College Football Playoff Committee make this decision?
Florida State’s head coach, Mike Norvell, said in a statement: “We are not only an undefeated [power five] conference champion, but we also played two [power five] non-conference games away from home and won both of them. I don’t understand how we are supposed to think this is an acceptable way to evaluate a team.” He added, “What happened today goes against everything that is true and right in college football.”
Florida State fans and athletes are just as mad. There are two reasons the committee made this decision, both of which are not viable reasons for leaving an undefeated team out of the playoff.
The first reason is that Florida State’s quarterback, Jordan Travis, was injured in a game against North Alabama on Nov. 18. While this is an incredible loss to Florida State, FSU has a backup quarterback who goes through (maybe not as rigorous) practice.
Tate Rodemaker, the backup quarterback for FSU, has already proven himself to be a fantastic quarterback for the Seminoles. Rodemaker won two games for FSU. He threw 217 yards against North Alabama and 134 against Florida.
And while in the ACC championship game, FSU stayed on the ground for most of the game. They still found a way to win with their amazing defense and offensive line. The game is not determined by one position.
But things like injuries are something that the committee looks at, and sadly it was terrible timing for the Seminoles.
Another reason that the committee possibly made this decision: the fan base. Alabama has one of the largest fan bases in the whole of college athletics, with nearly 5.34 million fans around the country, according to Sports Illustrated.
When it comes to fan bases, money becomes a standing point when it comes to making such a hard decision like playoffs.
Many hope that the committee doesn’t look or think about money when making the decision. It is human nature to want to make money. If Alabama was in the college football playoff, the NCAA would get a much larger viewership for their games.
It seems that FSU just did everything that it could. Some will argue that their strength of schedule wasn’t as difficult as Alabama’s, but at the same time that isn’t Florida State’s fault. The ACC and the NCAA both chose their schedule.
When a team goes undefeated in a season, wins their conference championship and doesn’t make it to the playoffs, it feels like all their hard work was for nothing. But with an unfortunate injury, and a much larger fan base for another team, the committee decided to leave FSU out.
This year, 2023, is the last year of the four-team college football playoff. Next year, they will move to a 12-team playoff. If only it were this year, they could have prevented this outrage.
