This past Saturday, December 2nd, 2023, the Florida State Seminoles beat the Louisville Cardinals 16-6 in the ACC football championship. This victory over Louisville completed FSU’s perfect season, securing them a spot in the college football playoff. Or at least they thought.
The college football playoff consists of the top four teams in the country, making it a very tall task to get in, typically more than one loss or one bad loss puts you out of the playoff picture. Well, that wasn’t the case for Florida State; the undefeated ACC champs were left out of the picture. The whole season FSU remained a top 4 team in the country but the rankings turned into chaos as #8 Alabama beat the back-to-back national Champions #1 Georgia in the SEC championship. Georgia’s loss knocked them out of the college football playoff contention, leaving it up to five teams.
The college football playoff committee was given the hefty challenge of deciding who gets left out. The five contenders were Michigan (13-0 Big Ten champs), Washington (13-0 Pac 12 champs), FSU (13-0 ACC champs), Texas (12-1 Big XII champs), and Alabama (12-1 SEC champs). The social media world turned to chaos once the rankings released mid-day on Sunday December 3rd, 2023, FSU got hosed. The reason the committee gave for leaving them out was that they are a different team without star quarterback Jordan Travis, who suffered a severe leg injury a few weeks prior.
Jordan Travis and Seminole fans are devastated over being left out, as there is absolutely nothing more they could’ve accomplished this season. Upon receiving this news, Jordan Travis tweeted, “Devastated. Heartbroken. In so much disbelief rn, I wish my leg broke earlier in the season so y’all could see this team is much more than the quarterback. I thought results matter. 13-0 and this roster matches up across any team in those top 4 rankings. I am so sorry. Go Noles!”.
Seminole fans are not the only ones upset about FSU being left out of the playoff; Michigan fans are enraged. With FSU being left out of the playoff, that means #1 seed Michigan will now play the best college football program ever, Alabama, in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Some may question why this is such a problem. The answer to that question is Alabama plays in the South Eastern Conference (SEC), the best conference in college football. Along with that, their only loss was to #3 Texas, and they took down the back-to-back defending National champion Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC championship.
With loads of controversy over these playoff decisions, fans will only be more invested in these New Year’s six games. New Year’s Day will be a great day of football.
