This sport’s identity crisis has existed since the inception of the College Football Playoff a decade ago, but never before have we had to come to terms with it the way we did on Sunday.
That identity crisis? Whether the teams that play for the national championship should be the best or the most deserving. In the nine years before this season, the best and most deserving seamlessly became one, resulting in cut-and-dried decisions on which teams would make the field.
In the final season of the four-team era — before it expands to 12 in 2024 — the CFP committee was charged with a very difficult decision that was guaranteed to result in a worthy team feeling cheated. The committee, for the first time, was actually going to have to choose what it values more — the teams that earned it or the teams that look the best on TV.
Florida State, the most deserving, became the first unbeaten Power 5 conference champion left out of the field. The Seminoles were the ones left feeling cheated.
And with that one decision, the committee didn’t just choose teams in a given year. It revealed to the world the ugly truth about college football — this sport is a beauty contest where decisions on which teams can win the national title are sometimes made as much in a cozy hotel boardroom in Grapevine, Texas, as they are on the actual field.
The Playoff field is as follows: 1. Michigan, 2. Washington, 3. Texas, 4. Alabama.
Michigan and Washington made it through the season unscathed. Texas lost a nail-biter in its rivalry game to Oklahoma, and the Longhorns, wait for it, beat Alabama.
We wouldn’t be having this discussion if Florida State’s star quarterback, Jordan Travis, didn’t break his leg two weeks ago. But the Seminoles team that just beat Louisville 16-6 in the ACC Championship Game was relying on a third-string quarterback. The win was far from impressive.
The committee, knowing it was going to unjustly break someone’s heart, decided to break Florida State’s. In that room on Saturday night, the committee members decided the Seminoles weren’t good enough for us.
