On Sunday, Dec. 3 at noon, the College Football Playoff (CFP) committee released the final four teams that would be in the CFP. In the number one spot are the undefeated Big 10 champions Michigan Wolverines, at the two spot undefeated PAC 12 champions Washington Huskies, at the third spot 12-1 Big 12 champions Texas Longhorns, and controversially at the fourth and final spot the 12-1 Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama being announced at the four spot brought shock and controversy across the college world as the committee decided to leave out undefeated 13-0 ACC champions The Florida State Seminoles. No power five undefeated conference champion has ever been left out of the college football playoff in its 10-year reign.
This decision made by the committee would bring disgust and heartbreak to many Florida State fans and fans across the sport in general. The biggest question is, how do you leave an undefeated power five conference champion out of the playoffs and put a one-loss team ahead of them?
The answer is simple. Florida State started 11-0 looking strong to be a lock for the CFP, however in a heartbreaking turn, star QB Jordan Travis went down with a season-ending injury in the game against North Alabama. Travis was one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football and was the heart and soul of the Seminoles offense. Backup QB Tate Rodemaker would be the replacement for Travis following the injury. Rodemaker would lead the Seminoles past their rival the Florida Gators 26-15 in the last game of the regular season. Heading into the ACC championship it was announced that Rodemaker would be out after taking a brutal hit from 2 Florida defenders the week before and the Seminoles would be down to their true freshman 3rd string QB Brock Glenn. Brock Glenn would pass for only 55 yards in his first career start but would ultimately lead the Seminoles to a 16-6 victory against Louisville to win the ACC championship and complete their undefeated season.
The Seminole’s would have proven themselves going 13-0, however in a weak ACC conference. The Seminole’s best wins would be an 8-4 Clemson Tigers, a 9-3 LSU Tigers, and a 10-2 Louisville Cardinals. Florida State’s SOS ( strength of schedule ) would only be ranked 55th in the country.
The Alabama Crimson Tide suffered a tough loss to ranked opponent Texas (3) in week three at home by double digits. This loss would make it very difficult for Alabama to make the playoffs considering all the good teams in contention this year. Alabama would prove to be much better throughout the rest of the season and star QB Jalen Milroe would show great improvement. The Tide would face the 6-5 Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl for their last game of the regular season. It would take a miracle on 4th and 31, where Alabama wide receiver Isaiah Bond caught a touchdown pass from Milroe late in the 4th quarter that would lead to the Tide winning and would keep their CFP hopes alive. Alabama would be set to play the number one team at the time the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC title game. Georgia won back-to-back national championships and was on a 29-game winning streak at the time. The Crimson Tide would end up beating the Bulldogs in a thrilling 27-24 victory and would be crowned the SEC champs. This win proved to be the way that the Tide would make the playoffs.
The Tide have proved themselves to be a team that had a great case to make the playoffs. Their best wins would come against the number one team in the country, the Georgia Bulldogs, the 10-2 Ole MissRebels, and the 9-3 LSU Tigers. Their SOS would be ranked fourth in the country.
The Crimson Tide and the Seminoles both had good cases to be chosen at the four spot. However, I think it’s not even a debate. Does the team that just beat the number one team in the country for the past two years and won their conference championship deserve the spot, or does the team that went undefeated in the weak ACC deserve to be, with a 3rd string quarterback? The answer was simple.
It is clearly stated in the criteria for the college football playoff committee they are to put the four best teams in the playoffs, not the four most deserving. While it is obvious that Florida State is a very deserving team, they are not one of the four best. It is also stated the unavailability of key players or coaches plays a role in factoring in who they put it. Star QB Jordan Travis was the biggest factor in what led to Florida State being left out of the college football playoff. If Travis never goes down, then it’s pretty obvious that they make the playoffs with no question. They are a completely different team than they are with Travis, so the committee got this one right. It’s heartbreaking to the Florida state team and all the players but at the end of the day, the right call was made. You have to put Alabama in. No matter who they decided to put in the four-team playoff, somebody was gonna be left out that deserved to be in. For example, Georgia 12-1 could still have made a case to be in after being ranked number one all season long and then suddenly dropping out of the top four coming off a loss by only three. The CFP committee has never been faced with such a unique situation this year as in every other year it was a pretty clear picture of who was going to be in. If the main goal of the college football committee truly was to put the four best teams in the CFP then putting the Tide in ahead of the Seminoles was the right call to make.
