NOW we’re getting somewhere.
Instead of being angry at the process, aggravated with the College Football Playoff committee, Florida State University officials, coaches, players, and even fans can put the blame where they really SHOULD put it: on the heads of Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Jim Phillips, who conspired with the Big Ten and the Pac-12 to prevent the expansion of the playoff to 12 teams THIS SEASON, ironically resulting in Florida State being left out of the playoff.
That’s right. Phillips and the other commissioners’ twisted logic was to “punish” the Southeastern Conference for allowing Texas and Oklahoma to join the SEC by preventing the playoff from expanding to 12 teams this season.
???
ESPN reported on Tuesday, courtesy of a story by Andrea Adelson, that Florida State’s future with the ACC is cloudy after missing the playoff (Sources — Florida State discussing future in ACC after CFP snub).
In the story, Adelson wrote this passage, a reminder of how serious things were even before the playoff snub, even before the season began: “The shifting collegiate landscape over the past two years has only exacerbated those concerns, as the ACC has fallen further behind the SEC and the Big Ten. Florida State is not the only ACC school that has considered its options. Seven universities — Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, Miami, Virginia Tech, Virginia and NC State — had conversations about their long-term futures in the spring.
“During a board of trustees meeting in August, Florida State president Richard McCullough made it clear the school would “very seriously” consider leaving the league if things did not change.”
Adelson does note that any current conference member-school would have to challenge the grant of rights to leave the conference, and that runs a long time – through 2036 – and that allows the ACC control over broadcasts of all sports. In addition, there’s an exit fee of $120 million.
The Seminoles, of course, finished the 2023 season 13-0, after beating Louisville in the ACC Championship Game, but without Jordan Travis, who tore ligaments in his knee in the penultimate regular season game against North Alabama.
And here are simply the facts, whether anyone wants to read them or not, in black and white: Travis completed 207-of-324 passes (64 percent) for 2,756 yards, 20 touchdowns and just two interceptions all season. He also ran for seven touchdowns.
But there’s more to it than that.
The Seminoles’ schedule reads this way: when they played LSU, in the season’s first game, they beat the Tigers 45-24, on a neutral field. They beat Clemson at Clemson on Sept. 23, 31-24, in overtime. They beat then-number 16 Duke in Tallahassee, 38-20, on Oct. 28. And they beat Miami, also in Tallahassee, 28-20, on Nov. 11.
Without Travis, they struggled to beat a bad Florida team, 24-15, in Gainesville on Nov. 25, and to beat Louisville, 16-6, in the ACC title game on Dec. 2, a game in which the Seminoles had 55 passing yards.
Duke finished 7-5. Clemson finished 8-4. LSU finished with three losses. And one of those losses was also to Alabama.
Florida State’s best win was LSU. Alabama’s third-best win was LSU.
The Seminoles had the 55th-best strength of schedule. Alabama’s strength of schedule was FIFTH. The Crimson Tide played and defeated No. 15 Ole Miss (who finished ranked higher than that ranking), No. 17 Tennessee, No. 14 LSU, and No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game – a team that had won 29 straight games.
So while there is outrage among Florida State fans for missing the College Football Playoff, let’s place the outrage where it belongs: at the feet of ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, and at the feet of the Big Ten and the Pac-12, because if not, Florida State would have not only gotten in, it would have gotten in at number five or number six, easily, and there would have been six or seven more after it, as well.
Being “undefeated” is only a part of the process of getting into the CFP. After all, if winning your games were the entire recipe, should Liberty be in the playoff?
Only the top four get in. By definition, someone is going to be left out every single year. In 2022, it was Alabama, getting passed in favor of TCU.
Here’s hoping Florida State fans recognize there was no grand conspiracy keeping them out of the playoff. Nick Saban wasn’t meeting with Paul Finebaum, Kirk Herbstreit and the powers-that-be at ESPN. How ridiculous! The ACC Network is ALSO an ESPN entity!
And for those jumping on the ESPN-kept-FSU-out conspiracy because of Alabama-SEC fatigue, shame on you. It’s a premise that’s asinine on its face, and from the heart of ignorance.
There is one thing that cannot be avoided: Florida State will meet another SEC team in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, one that believes (rightfully or not) that it, too, should have been in the playoff: the two-time defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs.
And that will produce a result that no one will be able to argue.
