Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama were selected to the College Football Playoff on Sunday, making Florida State the first unbeaten Power Five conference champion to be excluded from the four-team field.
The final season of the four-team playoff before it expands to 12 next year presented the CFP selection committee with its toughest decision in the history of the current postseason system.
The Seminoles (13-0) lost star quarterback Jordan Travis to a season-ending injury two weeks ago, but continued to win with a backup and then a third-string quarterback as they won the ACC championship. But the committee is instructed to judge the teams for what they are heading into the playoff and decided FSU without Travis are not among the best four in the country.
“Florida State is a different team than it was the first 11 weeks,” the CFP selection committee chairman, Boo Corrigan, told ESPN. “As you look at who they are as a team right now, without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic he brings, they are a different team and the committee voted Alabama four and Florida State five.”
That has created unprecedented controversy and steered the committee to Alabama, who upset Georgia to win the Southeastern Conference championship, and Big 12 champion Texas, who beat the Crimson Tide on the road in September.
“The consequences of giving in to a narrative of the moment are destructive, far reaching, and permanent. Not just for Florida State, but college football as a whole,” FSU athletic director Michael Alford said in a statement. “The argument of whether a team is the ‘most deserving OR best’ is a false equivalence. It renders the season up to yesterday irrelevant and significantly damages the legitimacy of the College Football Playoff. The committee failed college football today.”
The SEC had never missed the playoff. Alabama, who are in for the eighth time, kept that streak alive.
Texas would have been just the second Power Five team with only one loss to be left out. Instead, the Longhorns will be making their first appearance in the CFP, in their last season as a member of the Big 12. Texas move to the SEC next year.
Big Ten champion Michigan are making their third straight appearance in the CFP, still looking for their first playoff victory.
Washington are in the CFP for the second time, breaking the Pac-12’s playoff drought after six years, and doing so the year before they leave the conference for the Big Ten.
Florida State, who were No 4 in the previous CFP rankings, appeared to be on the way to a second playoff appearance in mid-November when the trajectory of their season changed drastically. Travis suffered a serious injury in the first quarter against North Alabama and was lost for the year.
“Their exclusion calls into question the selection process and whether the Committee’s own guidelines were followed, including the significant importance of being an undefeated Power Five conference champion,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement on Sunday. “My heart breaks for the talented FSU student-athletes and coaches and their passionate and loyal fans. Florida State deserved better. College football deserved better.”
The Seminoles beat rival Florida last week with backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker playing. Then Rodemaker missed the ACC championship against Louisville with a concussion. Florida State stayed unbeaten with a strong defensive performance, but scored only one touchdown.
Source: The Guardian
