The Florida State Seminoles had their best season in years. Coming on a tumultuous decade for the program that has seen a lot of controversy since its appearance in the 2014 College Football Playoff, Mike Norvell’s team navigated through an injury-filled season. Florida State went 13-0, one of only three teams to go unbeaten on the year. Without their star quarterback Jordan Travis, the Noles fended off Louisville to win the ACC Championship Game. After all I have told you, it would be reasonable to assume that the ACC Champions would be headed to the College Football Playoff to continue their bid to become National Champions, correct? Wrong. An undefeated Power 5 Champion would be missing the playoff for the first time in the competition’s history.
But why would a seemingly deserving team be left out after an incredible season? The answer is a word that has struck fear into opponents since the beginning of the college sport: Alabama. In what could be qualified as a less-than-conventional season for Saban and co., the Tide outgunned the No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs in a thrilling SEC Championship game to secure their 3rd SEC title in 4 years. Alabama became known as College Football’s golden standard in the 20th Century because of its consistent display of dominance and the plethora of NFL talent recruited by Saban.
However, this Alabama team was not the Alabama of old. In the second game of the season, both sides of the ball for the Tide looked unpolished and inept on the way to a shocking 34-24 defeat at home against Texas. The Longhorns pulled away early in the 4th quarter, thanks to a costly interception by QB Jalen Milroe. That ghastly performance was followed by a sluggish effort against mid-table Group of 5 team South Florida, who would go on to finish 6-6 in a weak American Athletic Conference. While Alabama would not lose another game, they would continue to put up shaky displays in games against Texas A&M, Arkansas, and most notably Auburn. While no 11-1 season in the SEC conference can be considered terrible, it was far from the standard that the Bama fans had come to expect in previous years.
Heading into the SEC Championship game, No 1. Georgia seemed to be favored by many to continue their unbeaten run and return to the College Football Playoff. Unfortunately for Kirby Smart, however, he was unable to shake free from the shadow of his former mentor Saban, as the Alabama of old returned to defeat the Bulldogs 27-24.
With wins against 4 ranked SEC opponents including the No. 1 ranked the country, Bama’s case for yet another appearance in the CFP would be unquestioned in any other year. Yet this year was not much like any other year. 7 Power 5 conference teams remained with only one loss, making the life of the committee members difficult. By the end of conference championship weekend, 3 teams had viable reasons to believe that they deserved the last 2 spots in the CFP.
Ultimately, the committee decided that it was Alabama and Texas who would be continuing their postseason in championship contention. In the eyes of fans and analysts everywhere, a disservice was done to the staff and players at Florida State. Analysts like Booger McFarland of ESPN believed that the only reason the Noles were left out was because of the loss of star QB Jordan Travis. Travis stated via social media “I wish my leg broke earlier in the season so y’all could see this team is much more than the quarterback.”
In my eyes, the problem with this year’s playoff speaks to the sport as a whole. The subjectivity of the committee leaves for the possibility for teams like Florida State to be mistreated by the system. While Alabama may be the better team on paper and the field, they failed to complete the task of going undefeated. No other major sport’s playoffs are decided by a committee, and it is hard to argue with the fact that college football is a major sport in its own right.
