The four teams participating in the upcoming college football playoffs were announced Sunday, Dec. 3. The undefeated Atlantic Coast Conference champions, the Florida State Seminoles, were somehow left out, with the Alabama Crimson Tide, Texas Longhorns and Michigan Wolverines advancing. There are faults in the College Football Playoff committee, as FSU should have gotten into the playoffs for their undefeated record and victory in the championship game.
People across the internet speculate that the reason for them being left out of the playoffs is because their starting quarterback, Jordan Travis, broke his leg in a 58-13 win against the University of North Alabama Lions. Despite losing Travis, the Seminoles went 2-0 with two different QBs playing in those games. In those two games, they beat the Florida Gators in an away game and top-15-ranked Louisville in the ACC championship.
“In the eyes of the committee, Florida State is a different team without Jordan Travis,” committee chairman Boo Corrigan said. “One of the things we do consider is player availability, and our job is to rank the best teams, and in the final decision looking at that, it was Alabama at four and Florida State at five.”
Changing the rankings simply because of one injury on a team of 22 starters is simply a form of corruption. The situation highlights that the committee is only doing the rankings for more views and entertainment, as people would assume a backup quarterback-led Florida State would not be able to compete against the other three playoff teams.
“What is the point of playing games? Do you tell players it is okay to quit if someone goes down?” Seminoles Head Coach Mike Norvell said.
The Seminoles did everything they possibly could to secure a playoff spot, but somehow it was not enough. A similar situation occurred in 2017, when the University of Central Florida Knights went undefeated and did not make the playoffs. The difference is that the Knights are not in a power five conference, while the Seminoles are. Similar to FSU, the Knights did not have a highly ranked schedule. The Knights got to crown themselves co-national champions after winning their bowl game 34-27 versus the Auburn Tigers, finishing the season undefeated.
Prohibiting an undefeated power five conference champion from playing in the playoffs not only discredits the ACC as a conference but also goes to show how much of a money grab the playoffs are.
The playoff committee consists of 13 members that are selected from a list of over 100 candidates submitted by the power five conference commissioners. The committee had a decision to make: put FSU in the playoffs because they deserve it or keep them out. Keeping the Seminoles out of the playoffs takes away the players’ chance to play on one of the biggest stages in all of college football.
The Seminoles have a tough task if they want to finish the season undefeated and crown themselves national champions. They play the one-loss Georgia Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 30. The Bulldogs have been widely regarded as the best team in all of college football for the past two years, winning two consecutive national championships. However, some still want justice for FSU.
Per The Athletic, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is asking for $1 million dollars in Florida’s budget to let FSU sue the committee that chose to have the Seminoles left out of the playoffs.
DeSantis is only making this suggestion for now, as the official budget will not be set until January. It will be interesting to see if Florida does actually sue the committee, but it is hard to disagree with DeSantis’ reaction.
Whether the Seminoles decide to take action against the committee or not, it does not change the fact that FSU got robbed of a chance for their players to shine on the brightest stage with everyone watching. This will be a topic discussed and debated for years to come, and this situation will undoubtedly become infamous.
