Florida State has every right to be furious with the CFP. How does the snub affect their football future?
When the College Football Playoff announced the four teams contending for a national championship, America became outraged. While we’ll dive into that in a minute, these are the top four teams: Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama. Now, while many will not find issue with the first three, Alabama’s selection angered many in and out of SEC country. Florida State, despite winning the ACC championship and going undefeated, did not earn a coveted spot.
No Noles?
If you watched the Seminoles the 2023 season, they played like a top-four team. With an explosive offense and smothering defense, Florida State looked like a lock. However, Jordan Travis’ season-ending injury derailed the plans. Yet, the Noles kept winning and handling business. You’d think that an undefeated conference champion of a Power Five school would feel like an automatic spot. Granted, Alabama won the SEC, the most difficult conference in FBS football. Meanwhile, Alabama lost a game to Texas, a team in the CFP. Florida State ran the table, and they could not get a seat at the table. If you listen to many, a one-loss P5 champion should never outweigh and next year the expansion to twelve teams solves this. Save that for next year, FSU isn’t concerned with the future. It’s right now and in all honesty, FSU was robbed. CFP Chairman Boo Corrigan explains:
Obviously when the conversation is Florida State versus Alabama, you’ve got a team that’s played multiple top-15 opponents. You mentioned, of course, the injury to Jordan Travis. Did you feel like Florida State was given enough of an opportunity to kind of earn its way back after that injury, or was that something that once that happened and they had sort of a poor offensive performance, it was over?
BOO CORRIGAN: No, not at all. I think what we were looking at, and again, like the previous question, and I don’t know if you heard it or not, it doesn’t happen just in isolation. It happens, as well, when other teams around them are doing. But in the eyes of the committee, Florida State is a different team without Jordan Travis. 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 4 and Florida State at 5.
Loophole Problem
Lost in the hubbub over the FSU snub, the College Football Playoff committee anticipated it and tried to protect itself from accusations of wrongdoing with this. Basically, the fifth bullet point allows the committee to move through the voting process, attempting to place the four teams they feel are the four best in the country. In that loophole, the CFP attempted to gain itself grace. In contrast, teams could start to conceal health of star players. Not mention, will players downplay level of injuries to stay on the field. No championship is worth the health. As a result, watch for extra scrutiny to be paid to every muscle pull, knee strain or and ligament/bone related injuries. Again, Boo Corrigan:
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Do you worry that by setting a precedent that once a player goes out that you’re kind of incentivizing teams to mislead or hide information that might hurt them in the committee’s eyes?
BOO CORRIGAN: That’s not a topic that ever came up. So, no.
Curtains For ACC?
If you read FSU’ s responses, one from the athletic director, the other from the head coach. In college football, the prevailing notion that the NCAA favors the SEC looms large. Florida State’s reactions seem like a school ready to bolt for the SEC. Before they pack those bags for the Southeastern Conference, one large hurdle stands in the way. First, the grant of right agreement that the ACC holds over its member schools. In plain language, if Florida State wants to leave, they would pay and exit fee and forfeit their TV rights in their new conference until 2036. Under those circumstances, FSU would need to pay at least nine figures to the conference. Ever wonder why the ACC welcomed Cal, Stanford, and SMU? Those additions prevent dissolution and hundreds of millions of dollars lost.
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Advice for FSU Administration
In all candor, there is a sizable finance gap between the ACC and the Big 12/SEC. If Florida State stays in the ACC and is still smarting from the sub, they have exactly one path forward: money. People who want to uphold the fictional thought that FBS football operates on a pure level. Stop lying. Money makes the sport go. Equally important is the NIL cash. Florida State is a historically dominant football school. They must raise money, a lot of it, to return, outraise their rivals by a great margin. Monetize every single aspect of the football brand. First and foremost, create a football-only collective. Hit up those alums weekly. Additionally, pressure the ACC for an even larger cut. Snubbing requires compensation.
Overview
Florida State should be in the College Football Playoff. Period. They did what the committee asked of them. By finishing undefeated with a title, FSU becomes the first undefeated P5 championship team to not grab a playoff spot. The committee chose completely incorrectly. There are no stats and metric other than that zero in the FSU loss category that explains this travesty. Regardless of whether next year sees this problem erase.