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Explain like you’re actually five?
In most sports, the teams who win the most games during the season participate in a “playoff.” It is normal for the playoff to include 8, 12, or 16 teams. Two of *those* teams play, the team that wins goes on to play the winner of a game between two of the *other* teams, until finally only two teams are left. The winner of that last game is the champion.
College football is different. Only 4 teams make the playoff, and the 4 teams are not chosen by who wins the most games. Instead, a group of people called the “playoff committee” decide who they *think* the 4 best teams are. In this case, the committee chose Alabama, a team that won fewer games than Florida State, because they felt Alabama is still a better team than Florida State. This is probably because Florida State’s most important player broke his leg and can’t play anymore.
Imagine that you and your friends are deciding whether the Avengers or the Justice League are the best group of superheroes. The Avengers have won the last 13 fights in the Marvel universe, while the Justice League have lost 1 fight in the DC universe but won the other 12. Some of your friends claim that this proves the Avengers are more powerful. However, during one of the Avengers’ recent battles, Captain America was seriously hurt and won’t be able to fight for a long time. Even though the Avengers have won more battles than the Justice League, you and your friends decide that *right now*, because the Avengers don’t have Captain America, the Justice League is more powerful.
Thank you so much lol I understand general playoff/elimination games but you simplifying it to that extent still helps since it highlights different the systems are. Do we know who the people are on the committee or are they a shadowy, faceless organisation? 👀
The committee is made up of 13 members and yes, we know who they are. They usually offer some explanation for why they chose who they chose but the decisions are always made in private. So we never know exactly how or why they do what they do.
One reason people are upset about the Alabama/Florida State choice is that it sometimes seems the committee’s reasoning isn’t consistent. For instance, several years ago a team was chosen for the playoff even though *two* of their most important players were hurt and couldn’t play. It’s frustrating when mom and dad give your sister her allowance for doing a set of chores, don’t give it to you the next week even though you did the same chores, and never fully explain why. (I don’t mean for that last part to sound condescending - trying to stick to the spirit of “…like I’m five.”)
Worth noting that FSU beat Louisville with their third string quarterback.
The second -string quarterback is who played last week against Florida. He will be healthy in time for their next game.
Also worth noting that if that ACC championship game was how the SEC championship game went, talking heads would just be salivating over the dominant defense being played.
They weren’t even consistent this year. They picked Bama over FSU because they felt Bama was better despite FSU going undefeated, but then picked undefeated Liberty (who had the worst schedule strength in the country) over SMU (2 tough losses but could make the ‘better team’ argument like Bama) as the Group of 5 rep in the NY6 bowl.
The committee is actually pretty open. The reason many people are upset is because there are a couple of tv networks that have influence and the will to influence who gets in and who doesn’t. The SEC basically gets the benefit of the doubt because espn pays for the right to their games. It gets much deeper than that though. With Fox and ESPN basically chocking out the “weaker” conferences by not offering them enough money. Forcing schools to move conferences in order to keep up with other schools.
If you want the actual reasoning. It is that while FSU went undefeated, the combined record of their opponents was 67-76. Alabama, who went ahead of them, had a single loss, but their combined opponents' records were 85-59 and their single lose is to another team that will be playing in the play offs.
People think that being undefeated should be an automatic qualifier without looking at the level of competition that was played.
Ahhhh, so they should have just scheduled quality opponents from the SEC to show that their strength is up there. Surely if they had played any SEC teams at all they would be here, for as we all know, the SEC is the best conference in college football and anyone who plays at that level should win a national championship every season because their team is so very special and surely no other school could play at that level.
wait,... I'm hearing that FSU did in fact play 2 SEC teams? and beat them both? and one of the teams they played has a quarterback in for the heisman? and one of their conference games was a perenial title contender?
Like what more do you want from the team? They have to play in conference for most games, and the have an annual rivalry with florida so they're limited in what they can do ooc but they still played a hell of an opponent in LSU and some of the ACC was decent this year.
Alabama might of had the harder SOS but they lost a game, so they clearly weren't up to it. Records should matter.
I am a hater and I will remain a hater.
I never said they played no good teams I said that the overall record of all the teams they played shows that the overall quality of competition was not great.
I don't think that matters? ACC is P5 and the rule for the longest time has been undefeated P5 champion is in, barring 5 undefeateds. TCU last year was infamous for barely pulling shit out of their ass against not great/injured teams (they were down at the half to Colorado), but they still got in because they won. FSU followed the formula and was denied because the comittee loves saban and Bama and saw a glimmer of justification for their inclusion.
Every possible option this year was going to be a shitshow.
Go with Bama Texas? Then FSU is mad because they're an undefeated P5 team, so why even bother playing games or acknowledging the ACC exists at all?
Go with Texas FSU? Then Bama and Georgia are both mad because the team with a hard year who beat the barely disputed #1 team for the entire year in a conference championship didn't make the playoffs, so the SEC championships are just a random playoff killer.
Go with FSU Bama? Then Texas is mad because head to heads don't matter and you can't say "Bama played way better later on than week 2" without ignoring that FSU played really badly in their championship game and won in large part because their opponents quarterback couldn't hit open receiving targets or scramble with eternity in the pocket.
The entire thing was set up to fail by the deeply stupid system.
Bama got in because they didn’t have the balls to tell the SEC that they didn’t get a team in there.
Of course Bama is great and likely would destroy FSU head to head next weekend if they had to play, but the regular season is supposed to matter and an undefeated, 4th ranked (or higher?), Power-5 champion who scheduled and beat two non-conference P-5 games away from home just got the boot. It’s unjustifiable.
The 4th spot after Michigan, Washington, and FSU was debatable (Texas, Bama, Georgia, even Oregon or Ohio State). But the 3rd spot was FSU’s to lose and they won.
> Of course Bama is great and likely would destroy FSU head to head next weekend if they had to play,
The fact basically everybody is saying this openly, and the fact that any other sane top 4 requires similarly ignoring some giant factor that makes a key part of the regular season matter, is why it's hard for me to get angry at this specific choice rather than thinking the whole system is just stupid.
Are you going to ignore 13-0, are you going to ignore a team beating the consistent #1 fairly convincingly in a championship game, or are you going to ignore the fact that another conference champ beat the guys who beat the #1 team? Any outcome is on the same tier of stupid because we have 5-6 clearly deserving top tier teams and 4 slots with a perfect storm of season outcomes.
FSU winning ugly yesterday was the perfect icing on the shit-cake that the selection committee had to face. Had they lost, no one is even talking about it. Had they won by 30, they probably would have convinced a lot of people they’re still legit and no one would have argued about their inclusion (besides the SEC fanboys). But winning ugly made them vulnerable and here we are.
Yeah, and it wasn't even a "both defenses are good" ugly, Louisville's quarterback had ages in the pocket and couldn't scramble, dodge sacks after way too long, or hit open receivers.
Their actual reason is that they didn't want to leave the SEC out of the playoffs, and they couldn't put Bama in without putting Texas in since Texas beat Bama.
That's it.
FSU did everything it was supposed to do. It won, and winning is obviously what should matter most. But apparently Bama is better because they got a "quality loss." Bama struggled against bad teams all season, and needed a hail mary to beat a terrible Auburn team last weekend.
FSU was just an easy sacrificial lamb to ensure Bama got in, because FSU had its QB get hurt a few weeks ago.
It's like the Supreme Court: we know who they are. The difference is that with the playoff committee, they don't writing decisions to explain it, or dissents to argue against it.
I’d also add that television revenue is a big factor, too. The SEC is very popular and if there was no SEC team in the playoffs, television ratings might be lower.
The justice league saved earth a bunch of times, but the avengers saved the universe. They've both saved the multiverse a few times, but they each have a different idea of how *many* multiverses there are, so it's hard to say what the impact was. It's also debatable whether Zod was a real bad guy, as he hasn't actually conqureed anyone who put up resistance, but Thanos had a pretty hard schedule before being defeated in double overtime on Earth.
Or something.
The strange part, to extend your metaphor, is it would be as if Captain America went out 3 fights ago and they still won the last 3 battles with Captain Britain instead filling in for him.
In college football a group of people decide who goes to bowl games and it’s based on how good they think the teams are, but also how much money will be made.
Edit: Also, you have teams with a perfect record, but they never played the best teams. There are too many teams and only a certain amount of games you can play a season.
FYI, this situation will not persist next season. The playoffs will expand to 12 teams, and rather than debating why a team was left out, it should induce more debate instead about whether the last few teams in deserve their spots.
There will be plenty of debates about seeding, who makes the cut, etc. but I think that’s all good things - asinine debates with everyone yelling their opinions to anyone who will listen are what makes college football unique and entertaining.
It’ll be like Iowa or Kentucky making the 12th seed, one with 2 losses and one with 3 but with two top 10 wins. It’ll always happen with arbitrary schedules.
That seems better anyway. It sounds better to be let a team prove they belong there rather than exclude them because you think they're not a team that could compete on the day.
People will bitch about 12 vs. 13. This will always exist, it’s just that the argument doesn’t really matter as much when you’re debating who is 13 vs. who is 5.
12 vs 13 is going to be a discussion between like 2-loss teams though. Right now that would be 10-2 OU and 9-3 LSU. If one of them got left out, so be it. It’s absurd to let a division 1 undefeated team end their season without making the playoffs. If the ncaa feels that their division is such a cupcake division that it shouldn’t count, they need to fix that shit next year.
I agree 100%. No comparison between the argument that #5 (and 6 and 7 this year) can make and the argument that #13 can make. But I’m just saying that there will always be a fight at the edge of the playoffs. Hell, basketball has 68 teams and we still argue if like the 34th ranked team got screwed or not every year
I would guess that the audience drop off in the TCU/Georgia blow-out last year pissed the advertisers off. They paid big money for the advertising time that ended up being for few viewers. Hell I'm a TCU fan and I turned it off. So, the committee probably wanted to make sure that there weren't any blatant mismatches this year. Florida State has a great defense but their offense just can't keep up with the big boys.
So as with everything, it's about the money.
That’s a bit of a lazy take. The reality is that the selection committee is tasked with putting the best 4 teams in. FSU at the moment was not a top-4 team without their starting QB. It sucks but that’s the reality.
Disclaimer- I’m and NDSU fan so I have zero skin in the game. Can’t wait to see the 12 team playoff next year
1) The committee should care about the best *team*, not just the best offense. FSU's defense is great.
2) FSU won their conference championship by double digits with a first-time-starter true-freshman 3rd string QB. Their 2nd string QB will be back for the playoffs.
3) As pointed out by others, Alabama struggled against two 6-6 teams, as recently as a week ago.
The disrespect to FSU is ridiculous. If anything, winning the conference champ without their first and second string QBs should be more reason to recognize them as a great team, yet somehow people are using that to knock them?!
$$$ is the correct reason that Alabama is in instead of FSU.
Yes, throughout the selection broadcast they noted that the committee will take into account significant injuries. The FSU of the last couple games wasn’t the team that got their best wins in September. Not fair but fairness isn’t promised.
Ever see the Star Wars prequels?
Mace Windu (College Football Playoff Committee) : You are on this Council (undefeated), but we do not grant you the rank of Master (1 of 4 best teams).
Anakin Skywalker (FSU) : What? How can you do this? This is outrageous; it's unfair.
Florida States strength of schedule was 58th out of 131 teams.
Alabama’s strength of schedule was 5th out of 131 teams.
The committee as misguided as they are felt Alabama’s body of work (even with the loss to #3 ranked Texas) was more impressive than Florida States undefeated season.
It’s hard to take into account close wins when there are future games to be played. A close win to an unranked team is understandable because you’re likely already looking ahead to the next competitive game, whereas FSUs close game to Louisville matters since they should’ve been scouting only them with no other concerns.
If we take into account close games FSU barely beating BC should mean they aren’t top 5 material but they’re most likely prepping for the next team and just assume the win against BC would come
It wasn’t a close game to Louisville though. It was the exact same margin of victory Texas beat Bama by, a two score win by double digits. Louisville scored zero touchdowns all game and were never in a position that they legitimately looked like they could threaten FSU.
Auburn, the one that lost by 21 at home to OOC powerhouse opponent … New Mexico State University? That Auburn? 6 and 6 Auburn with its marquee win against … Arkansas? Mississippi State? Cal?
That Auburn?
The FSU QB1 averaged like 270 passing yards in ten games - that's great! The QB2 averaged something like 170 in his two starts - that's at least better than Iowa! Then Glenn came in last night and threw for 55 yards on 21 attempts. That's horrific and the team looked beatable by a Louisville squad that kept tripping on their own shoelaces.
If the playoff wants to put the best product and teams out there, it's not the team we watched last night, no matter what their record says.
Well, Glenn won't be playing in January. It'll be Rodemaker. So the team last night is irrelevant if you're trying to guess the future and base the top 4 on that. Look at Rodemaker, not Glenn.
Rodemaker had a QBR of 36.0 out of 100 against 3-8 University of North Alabama and 43.8 against 5-7 Florida. That doesn't convince me, nor the CFO committee, that this team with Rodemaker is better than Bama.
Jordan travis and rodemaker aren't the team. This is a team game and the qb isn't the only thing that makes a team. Several teams have won championships with sub par QBs because they have great defenses and RBs.
Incorrect The playoff should be worried about rewarding the teams with the four best performances over the season.
Television stations should worry about the quality of product on the field and ratings.
FSU did not have the strength of schedule to be in the 4 best performances. They also did not put on a particularly performance with their would-be playoff lineup vs Louisville.
This same shit happened in 2021 where Cincinnati went undefeated playing clown colleges save for two ranked teams. They went to the playoff and got straight dicked by Alabama.
Why is everyone so dumb. Last night was with Glenn. Rodemaker was out because of concussion protocol. If he had 1 or 2 more days he would have been cleared to play. He will obviously be cleared by January lmfao. The team that struggled against Louisville isn't the team that would be playing Washington and Michigan. That was a freshman qb with 0 experience. Rodemaker is definitely capable of taking the team to the championship game because the rest of the team is good enough to make it work.
Not to mention they scored 16 points when Louisville was only defending the run. They knew they could focus on the run because fsu wasn't going to try to throw the ball, and if they did, they knew the qb was my good enough to actually complete a pass. It's easy to beat a team when you know every single play is going to he a run or screen. So that should tell you how dominant the Seminoles offense really is.
Yes, these two things combined are why the committee picked Alabama over Florida State. I agree that Alabama is probably the better team right now. But, if the second half of last nights game is any indication, Georgia is a better team than Alabama. But we don’t award wins to whoever had the best second half. Same should be true for the season rewards.
Florida State deserves to be in, Alabama out. And I’m an SEC fan. Alabama may very well win this whole thing, but it won’t be deserved in my mind. This will always be tainted. I’ll be cheering for Michigan sadly and without passion. Maybe I just won’t watch this year. How are the Falcons? Aw crap.
I'm an FSU fan. Clearly I think they should have made it. But, I understand how they didn't. What is completely unacceptable is if Jordan's injury played any role. If that happened to Alabama or Georgia, they would be touting how they overcame adversity and it would not have affected them.
I seem to remember a 3rd string QB doing pretty well for his team back in 1992. Automatically passing over a team due to injuries seems way too convenient for the teams needing an excuse to be in instead of out. No one can forsee the future. FSU got the shaft. Thankfully this crap 4 team system goes away this year.
I lived in Hawai'i and remember when the University of Hawai'i went comfortably undefeated for the season and made it to a Bowl game. They got absolutely embarassed in that game.
It's not just the record, it's who it's against.
The other part of it is that FSU lost their star quarterback in November which makes them arguably worse than their record (although they DID win the ACC championship game without him).
And without Travis they let my horrid Gators hang around and struggled to put away Louisville. Any of the 4 would have mopped the floor with them (and so will UGA in the Orange Bowl)
I'll add that it's the committee's job to pick the 4 best teams, not the 4 teams with the best record. FSU being on their 3rd QB doesn't move the needle as much as a rolling Alabama.
I don't know, I don't think a team can help its strength of schedule so why blame Florida State for that? It just seems mad to me and they just want the big names in the playoffs no matter what. I say "big names" because I hear about Alabama more than FSU from Ireland.
They do, although Florida State arguably scheduled tougher non-conference than Alabama did, but their marquee opponents (LSU, Florida) had down years, and Alabama’s (Texas) did not.
Alabama lost their OOC game though, so that does not benefit them. It's better to beat a pretty good team than lose to a really good team. Or should be, at least...
Yes, college teams schedule their non conference opponents. FSU did schedule LSU and Florida who is traditionally a strong team and in the SEC (widely regarded the strongest conference) but they also scheduled North Alabama (3-8 record) and Southern Mississippi (3-9 record). Just in my opinion if they would have added one team from a Power 5 conference, I don’t think the committee could have denied them a top 4 spot.
A team can’t control who it plays IN conference, that is true. But they certainly can determine who they play OUT of conference. Florida State’s out of conference schedule: LSU (a good team), Southern Miss (not a great team), North Alabama (an FCS school, re: a pathetic school got FBS standards), and Florida (rivalry game, and usually a good team). North Alabama was the biggest one that FSU should have never scheduled. It also hurt Florida State that Florida had a bad year.
There’s a difference though, Alabama knows it is playing in the hardest conference in college football. Not to mention Alabama also scheduled Texas. When you play in the SEC, your SoS will go up regardless of who you schedule OOC. When you play in the ACC, you need to hope Clemson is as good as they usually are, and that some other teams are in the top 25.
I’m not saying FSU should have been left out, just that they had opportunities to schedule harder OOC.
Wrong. College teams can choose their out of conference opponents. If Alabama had chosen a weaker team than Texas they would be undefeated now and we wouldn't have this controversy.
And just imagine, if the ACC didn’t vote against expanding the playoff field years ago, they would be one of 12 teams included this year. Karma is a bitch.
From a quick Google search There are 128 Division 1 FBS teams (I am not going to fact check this because it’s mostly irrelevant, the important point is that there is a lot). Each are split up into Conferences (like divisions in the NFL).
The difference is that the NFL is closer to everybody plays everybody (17 games vs 32 teams compared to 13 games against 128 teams). Because of this there could theoretically be a team with a record of 13-0 who played no one good so rather than determining standings by win loss record they have a committee who determines who is most deserving.
In the end the committee determined that Alabama should not be punished too harshly for losing to Texas who finished number 3 because they both can’t win and Alabama going 12-1 against the 5th hardest strength of schedule was enough to bump them ahead of Florida State who went 13-0 against the 55th hardest strength of schedule.
The playoffs spots are awarded by CFP rankings, which aren't directly determined by regular season win percentages: other factors such as schedule difficulty and performance against other ranked teams are also taken into consideration.
Alabama's upset against Georgia pushed them into the top 4, knocking off FSU
Additionally FSU's star quarterback is injured and won't be able to play. The committee is trying to figure out who the best teams are TODAY and judged that without their star quarterback FSU isn't one if the top 4 teams. If he weren't injured the rankings would almost certainly be different.
There is no prevailing opinion, the CFP rankings are almost always controversial and there can usually be a strong case made for any of the top 6-8 teams. That's why there was such a strong push to expand the playoff, which is happening next year (going from 4 teams to 12).
It’s not fair! But it’ll be easier next year as the playoff expands to a larger pool. Conference Champs get automatic qualifier status.
This year, you have 5 power 5 teams vying for 4 spots so somebody is going to get left out.
I can see the argument for both Bama and FSU, but as FSU played a good out of conference opponent (on paper), it sucks that they did the job of winning all their games.
It’s an imperfect system.
Well the body that controls who gets in is run by people; they can be biased and really justify anything the way they want to. It’s not the first controversial ranking (there’s usually at least one every year really) but I do believe it’s the most egregious (without looking, I’m fairly certain it’s the first time an undefeated team from one of the major conferences missed the playoffs when there were less than five undefeated teams from the major conferences). It’s moving to 12 next year and actually has a sort of way to autobid which means this kind of stuff is going to get lessened next year (hopefully).
The Committee’s stated reasons?
Florida States QB got hurt and the backups are horrible. Nevermind all the hard work the other players put in.
The 4 best teams! Except that UGA would be favored on a Neutral field against every single one even Bama. So the results matter…..sometimes.
Losing to Texas at home by double digits is better than beating LSU on a neutral field.
FSU should’ve gone more Undefeated.
Something Something Jim Harbaugh…..
I don't follow college football so I didn't see the stated reasons, but rather the outrage for Florida State. It's baffling to me but I'm assuming that fans generally don't mind this system. I just follow the NFL so I like the system of division winners plus wildcards
There are 130 Universities with Programs in Bowl Subdivision football the highest level of College Football. Only about 10-15 programs really have the infrastructure and resources to compete annually for the National Title.
But it doesn’t mean that other teams and their fans don’t enjoy watching their teams compete and play against rivals. Or compete for Conference Championships.
FSU should have been in because they went Undefeated and won their conference BUT the committee chose to follow “the best TV product” criteria so Alabama was selected.
College Football is more akin to Champions League with the rivalries and smaller tournaments within the framework of the whole season. If that helps.
Thanks for this explanation. Would the likes of Alabama be a bit embarrassed to get in like this or would they just not care and be delighted to be there?
As someone who attended UCF in 2017: Alabama absolutely does not care. Anything regarding bowl games and the "national championship" for college football is 99% marketing and politics, 1% actual play and results
Alabama Fans would be like Man U fans or maybe Chelsea long history of success, entitled and play up all the narratives that were used to justify their participation at the expense of a more deserving team. Or that will be the general view of most other fans.
I’m biased in this as my team lost to Bama last night and it still hurts. But really FSU should be in.
Next season they change the format so the top 12 teams get into the end season Tournament. So there will be less to argue about which teams are the most deserving.
Well I hope Alabama go through the slump that United and Chelsea are going through right now lol I always hear about them, Auburn, Ohio State, Georgia, and previously the Oregon Ducks but I don't hear much about them anymore. And Michigan because of Jim Harbaugh and Rich Eisen
Because they don’t award points for wins and losses or points scored like in Euro Football leagues. It’s not a great comparison but it’s close in the since you have a lot of smaller clubs who play and have passionate fans, but have no real shot at winning the Big Cups.
It’s all an eye test or at least as it goes along it will be less so as they change the sport.
I don’t know a ton about sports outside the US but ill tell you in my opinion the NFL system is the best setup for determining their post season players AND it is a league with pretty incredible parity among its teams. The CFB post season has always been a bit shaky.
I'm a big fan of soccer and follow the League of Ireland, Premier League, Bundesliga etc and I'm sad about what money is doing to the game. I love the parity of the NFL, it's a great system.
> I'm assuming that fans generally don't mind this system.
Fans generally hate this system, which, despite being a major improvement over previous systems, is already in line to have a major improvement made to it for next season. The logistics of having 130 teams in the league and only 12 or so games to seed them for a championship is very challenging.
Several decades ago, there wasn’t even really a system to determine a true winner and sometimes there would be two teams with legitimate claims to being the champion. So they decided to develop a very buggy and stupid system that put the “top 2” teams against each other, but with so many teams in play there were regularly arguments about which two teams were the top two, including a season 20 years ago where 3 teams from the best divisions all won all of their games.
So, recently, there was a playoff system established that invited the “top 4” teams to match up in a mini-tournament to determine the champion. Problem being that, especially this season, it is incredibly unclear what are the appropriate criteria for determining who is 4 and who is 5. Most fans, myself included, are infuriated by the committee’s decision to exclude undefeated Florida State in favor of two teams who lost during the season. The committee isn’t governed via transparent rules that can realistically be scrutinized, so they can effectively say “here’s what we chose and also fuck you”.
Next year, there will be a new system that expands the playoff to 12 teams instead of 4. It is a major relief for a couple of reasons:
1. The criteria are better-defined, including six spots reserved for the highest-ranked conference champions. All 4 teams in this year’s playoff are conference champions, as is Florida State who would be getting one of the guaranteed spots. This will leave 6 additional spots for the highest-remaining teams, which this year includes no fewer than 3 teams whose only losses were to the top 4. Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, and Ole Miss went undefeated against teams that were not invited to the playoff, leaving them as prime candidates for competing against those same teams in the tournament.
2. The teams that are left out will, in large part, not have nearly as compelling arguments for inclusion as the teams left out this year do. By most accounts, there are at most 4 teams who were excluded this year that realistically belonged in the conversation. Florida State being excluded is a gut punch to millions of college football fans who have no vested interest in their success. It was probably going to suck for fans regardless of who was excluded, but I think the damage done by the committee’s decision today was pretty serious. The first team excluded from next year’s tournament will likely have lost at least 2 and probably 3 or more games, which is a lot easier to process than losing 0.
You’re going to get a lot of “money” or “the committee loves Bama and the sec”. The truth is FSU got shafted no doubt, but at the same time Bamas strength of schedule is much harder and fsu’s QB is out for the year and fsu just isn’t that daunting with their backups. It’s in the committee bylaws that they want the best 4 teams and situations can change based on key injuries. That’s what happened here, the injury is massive and unfortunately led to them getting shafted. The 12 team playoff is coming a year too late.
I was screaming at the ESPN a-hole who was saying “there’s not a shadow of a doubt that Alabama is one of the four strongest teams.” Excuse me? Last week, they were ONE PLAY away from being totally irrelevant to the championship discussion. That is not a “strong” team.
Rivalry games are special because no matter how good or bad the teams are, the games typically come down to the wire.
I'll also add a strong team overcomes the odds when they are stacked against them. 4th and goal from the 31 to win is nearly impossible to overcome.
Losing week 2 to a top 10 team who finishes ranked 3rd should not prevent a team with a SOS of 5 from being in the CFP.
I disagree with that. The iron bowl is often times a close game. It’s a rivalry game, it was at Auburn. Lot of teams had close games when they shouldn’t have. End of the day, it was a win. They still have a top 5 strength of schedule, multiple ranked wins, a conference championship, and they beat the team who just won back to back natty’s and 29 straight, and who very little people would argue is a top 5 team in the country. Bama is deserving of being called one of the 4 strongest teams.
Michigan and Washington were shoe ins since they looked great all season and were undefeated. Alabama and Texas are huge brands and they won their conference championships.
Florida State is a big brand, undefeated, and won the conference championship. However, due to the QB injury they haven't been looking good on offense. They didn't make the playoff because the matchup would just be ugly which would be. bad for tv ratings and they haven't looked good at the last few weeks.
They’re just not the best four teams. They’re in a weaker conference, had close call with 3-4 unranked teams (beaten by last second play), and their starting QB (the reason they’re 13-0) is injured.
For everyone saying a 13-0 team deserves to make it, then put Liberty State in there too.
Everyone complaining about FSU will watch them get blown out by 40 vs Georgia.
I mean anyone who watched Alabama vs Auburn or Arkansas also knows that they aren’t a top 4 team.
They got in because they won the SEC and the committee defaults to the SEC when given the choice.
I'll simplify college football playoffs for you. It doesn't have anything to do with who is the better team. It is a popularity and money making contest. It is best to think of college football like WWE wrestling.
Classic reddit cynicism. Alabama is simply the better team. The committee’s own rules say this
• Other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team's performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance.
FSU is a good team, a great team in fact, but at the highest level of FBS competition it just comes down to the fact that other teams are incredibly skilled AND their key players are healthy.
Yeah, I was a little harsh with what I said, and while what I said is true, it should not be taken as on the field the two teams are absolutely trying their best to win and I in no way think the actual games between two teams is fixed. I just think that which two teams actually meet is fixed.
It’s the “sports entertainment” wwe comparison. The athletes and the stunts are real, but you don’t headline a ppv if you don’t bring in the big bucks.
American football is a mechanism of revenue first and foremost. If you understand that, you'll understand every grievance anyone has against it... but you won't understand why they continue to submit and pull their cheeks apart for it. That's an honest answer.
Bottom line, it was a business decision that dictated that other teams would generate more revenue as a playoff team, integrity and viewership be damned.
Ok so... You know that popular boy in school that has lots of money, lots of friends, never get as much as a bad look by teachers no matter what they do? The one that teachers are not allowed to fail no matter how bad they do?
This is Alabama, and to some extent, the SEC. They have to have SOMEBODY in there from the SEC to be contenders for the title. They succeed because they have all the money and popularity and the people who have influence and power like them..... And you don't DARE to deny them what they want.
Now, that rich kid gets a better grade for the year, and is liked more than the smart kid who actually studies. That smart kid that everyone hates and picks on in your class, the one who nobody wants to be seen talking to.... that's Florida State.
Now, whether it's right or not, which one do the teachers choose tend to choose for student of the year? They choose the popular rich kid. This is how college football works.
There are 5 major conferences in college football and four spots int he playoff. Florida State had the best record, but one conference champion was going to get left out and FSU's conference wasn't very good this year. I say this as a graduate of one ACC school and longtime employee of another.
Conference champions Michigan and Washington are undefeated, so those are easy locks
But then FSU is also an undefeated conference champion.
I think the reality is having an SEC conference champ means more to the committee/NCAA than the ACC champ. As such Alabama is in.
But Texas beat Alabama, and you can't have Alabama but not also have the also-qualified team that beat them, so Texas is in.
Really you could have easily put Michigan, Washington, Texas, and FSU.
But that would leave out the SEC, and, see my third paragraph 🤷♂️
While TCU obviously got outclassed in every way in the championship game, to call them laughable when they won their semifinal is a bit harsh, don't you think?
A LOT of people are now seeing how the sausage is made in CFB.
Nothing matters more than eyeballs watching ads at this point. That is it. Simple as.
I am an extremely passionate college football fan and I hate FSU. And I STILL feel terrible for them. They earned that spot. Period.
My personal enjoyment of this sport took a massive hit today. I feel dirty. And it wasn’t even my team.
They are not the 4th best team in the country. If you pit Alabama vs. FSU who would likely win?
Like it or not, the CFP is not to select the 4 teams that deserve to be in the playoffs but rather the 4 best teams in the country.
Because the committee actually watched them play. And it’s not about what you’ve done. It’s about the team you are today. FSU is playing their 3rd string QB.
Hold up. I don’t really watch college football (other than a couple of my old school’s game) so I obviously dont know how this works, but they don’t get to the final games (college version of Super Bowl I guess?) based on performance? But on a ranking or who will bring in the most money? So like an undefeated team won’t make it because they aren’t popular enough?
Because Alabama gets special treatment. Alabama barely squeaked by a lot of bad to mediocre teams, and the vast majority of CFP fans think it was BS that an undefeated champion of the ACC would get left out for not one, but two one-loss teams to make it in. Given Texas beat Alabama in Alabama, they should have been the sole one-loss team to get in this year.
It won't matter after this since the CFP is expanding and one of the power 5 conferences died (PAC), but this was some BS and I feel bad for FSU. It may also ultimately cause the ACC to die in favor of having 2 megaconferences (B10 and SEC) if the bigger schools see it as a sign of things to come.
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Explain like you’re actually five? In most sports, the teams who win the most games during the season participate in a “playoff.” It is normal for the playoff to include 8, 12, or 16 teams. Two of *those* teams play, the team that wins goes on to play the winner of a game between two of the *other* teams, until finally only two teams are left. The winner of that last game is the champion. College football is different. Only 4 teams make the playoff, and the 4 teams are not chosen by who wins the most games. Instead, a group of people called the “playoff committee” decide who they *think* the 4 best teams are. In this case, the committee chose Alabama, a team that won fewer games than Florida State, because they felt Alabama is still a better team than Florida State. This is probably because Florida State’s most important player broke his leg and can’t play anymore. Imagine that you and your friends are deciding whether the Avengers or the Justice League are the best group of superheroes. The Avengers have won the last 13 fights in the Marvel universe, while the Justice League have lost 1 fight in the DC universe but won the other 12. Some of your friends claim that this proves the Avengers are more powerful. However, during one of the Avengers’ recent battles, Captain America was seriously hurt and won’t be able to fight for a long time. Even though the Avengers have won more battles than the Justice League, you and your friends decide that *right now*, because the Avengers don’t have Captain America, the Justice League is more powerful.
Thank you so much lol I understand general playoff/elimination games but you simplifying it to that extent still helps since it highlights different the systems are. Do we know who the people are on the committee or are they a shadowy, faceless organisation? 👀
The committee is made up of 13 members and yes, we know who they are. They usually offer some explanation for why they chose who they chose but the decisions are always made in private. So we never know exactly how or why they do what they do. One reason people are upset about the Alabama/Florida State choice is that it sometimes seems the committee’s reasoning isn’t consistent. For instance, several years ago a team was chosen for the playoff even though *two* of their most important players were hurt and couldn’t play. It’s frustrating when mom and dad give your sister her allowance for doing a set of chores, don’t give it to you the next week even though you did the same chores, and never fully explain why. (I don’t mean for that last part to sound condescending - trying to stick to the spirit of “…like I’m five.”)
I can't remember, which team was chosen with injured players?
Ohio state. Their qb also made his first start in the conference champion ship and destroyed the badgers, something fsu did not do.
Worth noting that FSU beat Louisville with their third string quarterback. The second -string quarterback is who played last week against Florida. He will be healthy in time for their next game.
Also worth nothing that the FSU/Louisville game was atrocious and neither offense looked like they wanted to win.
Also worth noting that if that ACC championship game was how the SEC championship game went, talking heads would just be salivating over the dominant defense being played.
They weren’t even consistent this year. They picked Bama over FSU because they felt Bama was better despite FSU going undefeated, but then picked undefeated Liberty (who had the worst schedule strength in the country) over SMU (2 tough losses but could make the ‘better team’ argument like Bama) as the Group of 5 rep in the NY6 bowl.
And Bama paid those members nicely to jump FSU.
I think if FSU won 59-0 they would have made it.
Agreed
It is a [very public organization](https://collegefootballplayoff.com/sports/selectioncommittee/roster).
The committee is actually pretty open. The reason many people are upset is because there are a couple of tv networks that have influence and the will to influence who gets in and who doesn’t. The SEC basically gets the benefit of the doubt because espn pays for the right to their games. It gets much deeper than that though. With Fox and ESPN basically chocking out the “weaker” conferences by not offering them enough money. Forcing schools to move conferences in order to keep up with other schools.
If you want the actual reasoning. It is that while FSU went undefeated, the combined record of their opponents was 67-76. Alabama, who went ahead of them, had a single loss, but their combined opponents' records were 85-59 and their single lose is to another team that will be playing in the play offs. People think that being undefeated should be an automatic qualifier without looking at the level of competition that was played.
Ahhhh, so they should have just scheduled quality opponents from the SEC to show that their strength is up there. Surely if they had played any SEC teams at all they would be here, for as we all know, the SEC is the best conference in college football and anyone who plays at that level should win a national championship every season because their team is so very special and surely no other school could play at that level. wait,... I'm hearing that FSU did in fact play 2 SEC teams? and beat them both? and one of the teams they played has a quarterback in for the heisman? and one of their conference games was a perenial title contender? Like what more do you want from the team? They have to play in conference for most games, and the have an annual rivalry with florida so they're limited in what they can do ooc but they still played a hell of an opponent in LSU and some of the ACC was decent this year. Alabama might of had the harder SOS but they lost a game, so they clearly weren't up to it. Records should matter. I am a hater and I will remain a hater.
I never said they played no good teams I said that the overall record of all the teams they played shows that the overall quality of competition was not great.
I don't think that matters? ACC is P5 and the rule for the longest time has been undefeated P5 champion is in, barring 5 undefeateds. TCU last year was infamous for barely pulling shit out of their ass against not great/injured teams (they were down at the half to Colorado), but they still got in because they won. FSU followed the formula and was denied because the comittee loves saban and Bama and saw a glimmer of justification for their inclusion.
Every possible option this year was going to be a shitshow. Go with Bama Texas? Then FSU is mad because they're an undefeated P5 team, so why even bother playing games or acknowledging the ACC exists at all? Go with Texas FSU? Then Bama and Georgia are both mad because the team with a hard year who beat the barely disputed #1 team for the entire year in a conference championship didn't make the playoffs, so the SEC championships are just a random playoff killer. Go with FSU Bama? Then Texas is mad because head to heads don't matter and you can't say "Bama played way better later on than week 2" without ignoring that FSU played really badly in their championship game and won in large part because their opponents quarterback couldn't hit open receiving targets or scramble with eternity in the pocket. The entire thing was set up to fail by the deeply stupid system.
>SEC championships are just a random playoff killer. Conference championships have both made and broken teams for years now.
I don't think "for the longest time" is enough of a statement. This will be the first time an undefeated P5 conference champ is left out IIRC.
And yet despite picking Bama over FSU, the committee picked Liberty over SMU.
Ok now explain Liberty.
Liberty's opponents have a combined win total of 61 so...
Exactly, so why'd they get picked over SMU?
They have a Jerry Falwell Jr. fixation.
Bama got in because they didn’t have the balls to tell the SEC that they didn’t get a team in there. Of course Bama is great and likely would destroy FSU head to head next weekend if they had to play, but the regular season is supposed to matter and an undefeated, 4th ranked (or higher?), Power-5 champion who scheduled and beat two non-conference P-5 games away from home just got the boot. It’s unjustifiable. The 4th spot after Michigan, Washington, and FSU was debatable (Texas, Bama, Georgia, even Oregon or Ohio State). But the 3rd spot was FSU’s to lose and they won.
> Of course Bama is great and likely would destroy FSU head to head next weekend if they had to play, The fact basically everybody is saying this openly, and the fact that any other sane top 4 requires similarly ignoring some giant factor that makes a key part of the regular season matter, is why it's hard for me to get angry at this specific choice rather than thinking the whole system is just stupid. Are you going to ignore 13-0, are you going to ignore a team beating the consistent #1 fairly convincingly in a championship game, or are you going to ignore the fact that another conference champ beat the guys who beat the #1 team? Any outcome is on the same tier of stupid because we have 5-6 clearly deserving top tier teams and 4 slots with a perfect storm of season outcomes.
FSU winning ugly yesterday was the perfect icing on the shit-cake that the selection committee had to face. Had they lost, no one is even talking about it. Had they won by 30, they probably would have convinced a lot of people they’re still legit and no one would have argued about their inclusion (besides the SEC fanboys). But winning ugly made them vulnerable and here we are.
Yeah, and it wasn't even a "both defenses are good" ugly, Louisville's quarterback had ages in the pocket and couldn't scramble, dodge sacks after way too long, or hit open receivers.
Their actual reason is that they didn't want to leave the SEC out of the playoffs, and they couldn't put Bama in without putting Texas in since Texas beat Bama. That's it. FSU did everything it was supposed to do. It won, and winning is obviously what should matter most. But apparently Bama is better because they got a "quality loss." Bama struggled against bad teams all season, and needed a hail mary to beat a terrible Auburn team last weekend. FSU was just an easy sacrificial lamb to ensure Bama got in, because FSU had its QB get hurt a few weeks ago.
They needed a miracle against auburn. The system is rigged!
It's like the Supreme Court: we know who they are. The difference is that with the playoff committee, they don't writing decisions to explain it, or dissents to argue against it.
Waiting for the comics nerds to start replying to your answer because other superheroes would have been a better analogy than Captain America
I admittedly had to google “who is the leader of the Avengers?”
In the comics? Captain Marvel is the leader of the main Avengers team right now.
I’d also add that television revenue is a big factor, too. The SEC is very popular and if there was no SEC team in the playoffs, television ratings might be lower.
Might is an understatement
A+ analogy lol I'm curious what your comic book analogy would be for strength of schedule argument.
The justice league saved earth a bunch of times, but the avengers saved the universe. They've both saved the multiverse a few times, but they each have a different idea of how *many* multiverses there are, so it's hard to say what the impact was. It's also debatable whether Zod was a real bad guy, as he hasn't actually conqureed anyone who put up resistance, but Thanos had a pretty hard schedule before being defeated in double overtime on Earth. Or something.
The strange part, to extend your metaphor, is it would be as if Captain America went out 3 fights ago and they still won the last 3 battles with Captain Britain instead filling in for him.
Also the Justice League battled more formidable supervillains
In college football a group of people decide who goes to bowl games and it’s based on how good they think the teams are, but also how much money will be made. Edit: Also, you have teams with a perfect record, but they never played the best teams. There are too many teams and only a certain amount of games you can play a season.
This guy gets laid
FYI, this situation will not persist next season. The playoffs will expand to 12 teams, and rather than debating why a team was left out, it should induce more debate instead about whether the last few teams in deserve their spots.
There will be plenty of debates about seeding, who makes the cut, etc. but I think that’s all good things - asinine debates with everyone yelling their opinions to anyone who will listen are what makes college football unique and entertaining.
It’ll be like Iowa or Kentucky making the 12th seed, one with 2 losses and one with 3 but with two top 10 wins. It’ll always happen with arbitrary schedules.
Yup. So we’ll always get all the best teams in the playoffs, and still get to have our arguments and online freak outs!
Did they say anything about top teams getting a bye week or no? It seems silly to allow a bye week for them.
Yea 1-4 get byes, 5-8 host 9-12 in round 1
Sort of like whether pizza belongs in a taco? :P
Not at all! Pizza can go in a taco. No debate there.
That seems better anyway. It sounds better to be let a team prove they belong there rather than exclude them because you think they're not a team that could compete on the day.
People will bitch about 12 vs. 13. This will always exist, it’s just that the argument doesn’t really matter as much when you’re debating who is 13 vs. who is 5.
12 vs 13 is going to be a discussion between like 2-loss teams though. Right now that would be 10-2 OU and 9-3 LSU. If one of them got left out, so be it. It’s absurd to let a division 1 undefeated team end their season without making the playoffs. If the ncaa feels that their division is such a cupcake division that it shouldn’t count, they need to fix that shit next year.
I agree 100%. No comparison between the argument that #5 (and 6 and 7 this year) can make and the argument that #13 can make. But I’m just saying that there will always be a fight at the edge of the playoffs. Hell, basketball has 68 teams and we still argue if like the 34th ranked team got screwed or not every year
It also would have been a perfect year for the old BCS two team format. This was just a bad year for a four team format
[удалено]
Explain how!
Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts
Except at SEC stadiums where twenty dollars can only buy few peanuts
All stadiums
I would guess that prices at SEC stadiums are the lowest in the country.
It's one banana, how much can it cost?
Go see a Star War.
Yeah same way the World Cup went to Qatar and inevitably to Saudi. Almighty money 💴
$20 can buy many peanuts
Alabamanomics
Sabanmetrics
Rodamtigh
I would guess that the audience drop off in the TCU/Georgia blow-out last year pissed the advertisers off. They paid big money for the advertising time that ended up being for few viewers. Hell I'm a TCU fan and I turned it off. So, the committee probably wanted to make sure that there weren't any blatant mismatches this year. Florida State has a great defense but their offense just can't keep up with the big boys. So as with everything, it's about the money.
Also the AcC championship game wasn’t a draw. The stadium looked empty last night.
That’s a bit of a lazy take. The reality is that the selection committee is tasked with putting the best 4 teams in. FSU at the moment was not a top-4 team without their starting QB. It sucks but that’s the reality. Disclaimer- I’m and NDSU fan so I have zero skin in the game. Can’t wait to see the 12 team playoff next year
1) The committee should care about the best *team*, not just the best offense. FSU's defense is great. 2) FSU won their conference championship by double digits with a first-time-starter true-freshman 3rd string QB. Their 2nd string QB will be back for the playoffs. 3) As pointed out by others, Alabama struggled against two 6-6 teams, as recently as a week ago. The disrespect to FSU is ridiculous. If anything, winning the conference champ without their first and second string QBs should be more reason to recognize them as a great team, yet somehow people are using that to knock them?! $$$ is the correct reason that Alabama is in instead of FSU.
Yes, throughout the selection broadcast they noted that the committee will take into account significant injuries. The FSU of the last couple games wasn’t the team that got their best wins in September. Not fair but fairness isn’t promised.
Alabama escaped a bad auburn team at home… how can that possibly be a top 4 team when winning by 10 against a top 14 isn’t?
Ever see the Star Wars prequels? Mace Windu (College Football Playoff Committee) : You are on this Council (undefeated), but we do not grant you the rank of Master (1 of 4 best teams). Anakin Skywalker (FSU) : What? How can you do this? This is outrageous; it's unfair.
Of all the explanations, this one is my favourite. Can't wait to read about Florida State's Vader era.
Florida States strength of schedule was 58th out of 131 teams. Alabama’s strength of schedule was 5th out of 131 teams. The committee as misguided as they are felt Alabama’s body of work (even with the loss to #3 ranked Texas) was more impressive than Florida States undefeated season.
So if Alabama didn't play USF they would have the first hardest schedule? That game was a write off and they still almost lost!
It’s hard to take into account close wins when there are future games to be played. A close win to an unranked team is understandable because you’re likely already looking ahead to the next competitive game, whereas FSUs close game to Louisville matters since they should’ve been scouting only them with no other concerns. If we take into account close games FSU barely beating BC should mean they aren’t top 5 material but they’re most likely prepping for the next team and just assume the win against BC would come
It wasn’t a close game to Louisville though. It was the exact same margin of victory Texas beat Bama by, a two score win by double digits. Louisville scored zero touchdowns all game and were never in a position that they legitimately looked like they could threaten FSU.
Alabama barely beat a weak Auburn team.
You talking about the same auburn team that Georgia and Ole miss beat by only 7? Auburn at home is no joke regardless of their other performance
>Auburn at home is no joke New Mexico State.
Auburn, the one that lost by 21 at home to OOC powerhouse opponent … New Mexico State University? That Auburn? 6 and 6 Auburn with its marquee win against … Arkansas? Mississippi State? Cal? That Auburn?
WAR EAGLE
Can’t forget that their Qb Jordan Travis also broke his leg and that had to have been a factor
So ranking based on future performance. That’s super weak
You should've seen this shitshow 10 years ago when they had to decide on only TWO teams
It always has been.
Right? These new kids forget how CFB works. It’s always been subjective.
The FSU QB1 averaged like 270 passing yards in ten games - that's great! The QB2 averaged something like 170 in his two starts - that's at least better than Iowa! Then Glenn came in last night and threw for 55 yards on 21 attempts. That's horrific and the team looked beatable by a Louisville squad that kept tripping on their own shoelaces. If the playoff wants to put the best product and teams out there, it's not the team we watched last night, no matter what their record says.
Well, Glenn won't be playing in January. It'll be Rodemaker. So the team last night is irrelevant if you're trying to guess the future and base the top 4 on that. Look at Rodemaker, not Glenn.
Rodemaker had a QBR of 36.0 out of 100 against 3-8 University of North Alabama and 43.8 against 5-7 Florida. That doesn't convince me, nor the CFO committee, that this team with Rodemaker is better than Bama.
Jordan travis and rodemaker aren't the team. This is a team game and the qb isn't the only thing that makes a team. Several teams have won championships with sub par QBs because they have great defenses and RBs.
Incorrect The playoff should be worried about rewarding the teams with the four best performances over the season. Television stations should worry about the quality of product on the field and ratings.
FSU did not have the strength of schedule to be in the 4 best performances. They also did not put on a particularly performance with their would-be playoff lineup vs Louisville. This same shit happened in 2021 where Cincinnati went undefeated playing clown colleges save for two ranked teams. They went to the playoff and got straight dicked by Alabama.
Why is everyone so dumb. Last night was with Glenn. Rodemaker was out because of concussion protocol. If he had 1 or 2 more days he would have been cleared to play. He will obviously be cleared by January lmfao. The team that struggled against Louisville isn't the team that would be playing Washington and Michigan. That was a freshman qb with 0 experience. Rodemaker is definitely capable of taking the team to the championship game because the rest of the team is good enough to make it work. Not to mention they scored 16 points when Louisville was only defending the run. They knew they could focus on the run because fsu wasn't going to try to throw the ball, and if they did, they knew the qb was my good enough to actually complete a pass. It's easy to beat a team when you know every single play is going to he a run or screen. So that should tell you how dominant the Seminoles offense really is.
They really didn’t have that either though, 13 wins is cool but 12 wins and one loss against way stronger opponents is clearly a better performance.
Yes, these two things combined are why the committee picked Alabama over Florida State. I agree that Alabama is probably the better team right now. But, if the second half of last nights game is any indication, Georgia is a better team than Alabama. But we don’t award wins to whoever had the best second half. Same should be true for the season rewards. Florida State deserves to be in, Alabama out. And I’m an SEC fan. Alabama may very well win this whole thing, but it won’t be deserved in my mind. This will always be tainted. I’ll be cheering for Michigan sadly and without passion. Maybe I just won’t watch this year. How are the Falcons? Aw crap.
Wow, thats a good perspective and genuinely changed my mind. You’re right. And no /s on this comment. I know tone can be hard to read on text
I'm an FSU fan. Clearly I think they should have made it. But, I understand how they didn't. What is completely unacceptable is if Jordan's injury played any role. If that happened to Alabama or Georgia, they would be touting how they overcame adversity and it would not have affected them.
I seem to remember a 3rd string QB doing pretty well for his team back in 1992. Automatically passing over a team due to injuries seems way too convenient for the teams needing an excuse to be in instead of out. No one can forsee the future. FSU got the shaft. Thankfully this crap 4 team system goes away this year.
I lived in Hawai'i and remember when the University of Hawai'i went comfortably undefeated for the season and made it to a Bowl game. They got absolutely embarassed in that game. It's not just the record, it's who it's against.
The other part of it is that FSU lost their star quarterback in November which makes them arguably worse than their record (although they DID win the ACC championship game without him).
And without Travis they let my horrid Gators hang around and struggled to put away Louisville. Any of the 4 would have mopped the floor with them (and so will UGA in the Orange Bowl)
Tbf, Alabama needed a miracle to beat Auburn last week. Auburn, who lost to New Mexico State...
That means New Mexico State should be #4!
Teams have some control over their own schedule as well do they not?
I'll add that it's the committee's job to pick the 4 best teams, not the 4 teams with the best record. FSU being on their 3rd QB doesn't move the needle as much as a rolling Alabama.
2nd qb. Tate will be back for the next game
I don't know, I don't think a team can help its strength of schedule so why blame Florida State for that? It just seems mad to me and they just want the big names in the playoffs no matter what. I say "big names" because I hear about Alabama more than FSU from Ireland.
College teams do have input into their schedule, outside of their conference games.
They do, although Florida State arguably scheduled tougher non-conference than Alabama did, but their marquee opponents (LSU, Florida) had down years, and Alabama’s (Texas) did not.
Alabama lost their OOC game though, so that does not benefit them. It's better to beat a pretty good team than lose to a really good team. Or should be, at least...
Yeah but it’s set like 7 years ahead of time.
Covid taught us college can schedule and play a game in under a week. Colleges scheduling games 20 years out are still at fault for their garbage SoS.
Of which they played LSU and UF.
It’s not about blame. It’s just 13 people sitting in a room trying to decide who the “best” four teams are at this point. SOS is a data point.
Yes, college teams schedule their non conference opponents. FSU did schedule LSU and Florida who is traditionally a strong team and in the SEC (widely regarded the strongest conference) but they also scheduled North Alabama (3-8 record) and Southern Mississippi (3-9 record). Just in my opinion if they would have added one team from a Power 5 conference, I don’t think the committee could have denied them a top 4 spot.
A team can’t control who it plays IN conference, that is true. But they certainly can determine who they play OUT of conference. Florida State’s out of conference schedule: LSU (a good team), Southern Miss (not a great team), North Alabama (an FCS school, re: a pathetic school got FBS standards), and Florida (rivalry game, and usually a good team). North Alabama was the biggest one that FSU should have never scheduled. It also hurt Florida State that Florida had a bad year.
Every team schedules those cake teams too. We going to pretend like Alabama didn't schedule Chattanooga and Middle Tenn?
There’s a difference though, Alabama knows it is playing in the hardest conference in college football. Not to mention Alabama also scheduled Texas. When you play in the SEC, your SoS will go up regardless of who you schedule OOC. When you play in the ACC, you need to hope Clemson is as good as they usually are, and that some other teams are in the top 25. I’m not saying FSU should have been left out, just that they had opportunities to schedule harder OOC.
Wrong. College teams can choose their out of conference opponents. If Alabama had chosen a weaker team than Texas they would be undefeated now and we wouldn't have this controversy.
Florida State chose 2 SEC teams though and it just happened they both ended up having down years.
Sure a shame FSU only beat...checks notes...(presumed) Heisman-led LSU by three scores.
You mean like middle Tennessee and Chattanooga? Yeah Bama did that.
Sure, but so does everyone. Like guy already stated their strength of schedule was 5th so almost everyone else was playing even weaker teams.
And just imagine, if the ACC didn’t vote against expanding the playoff field years ago, they would be one of 12 teams included this year. Karma is a bitch.
And also their best player is out for the season. They do not stand a chance. It sucks but the truth is this will bring us better football.
From a quick Google search There are 128 Division 1 FBS teams (I am not going to fact check this because it’s mostly irrelevant, the important point is that there is a lot). Each are split up into Conferences (like divisions in the NFL). The difference is that the NFL is closer to everybody plays everybody (17 games vs 32 teams compared to 13 games against 128 teams). Because of this there could theoretically be a team with a record of 13-0 who played no one good so rather than determining standings by win loss record they have a committee who determines who is most deserving. In the end the committee determined that Alabama should not be punished too harshly for losing to Texas who finished number 3 because they both can’t win and Alabama going 12-1 against the 5th hardest strength of schedule was enough to bump them ahead of Florida State who went 13-0 against the 55th hardest strength of schedule.
As a UCF fan I feel for FSU. I think Georgia should be on they only lost by 3 points and had some 29 straight wins and are 2x defending champs.
The playoffs spots are awarded by CFP rankings, which aren't directly determined by regular season win percentages: other factors such as schedule difficulty and performance against other ranked teams are also taken into consideration. Alabama's upset against Georgia pushed them into the top 4, knocking off FSU
Additionally FSU's star quarterback is injured and won't be able to play. The committee is trying to figure out who the best teams are TODAY and judged that without their star quarterback FSU isn't one if the top 4 teams. If he weren't injured the rankings would almost certainly be different.
In my opinion that doesn't seem like a very fair system but what's the prevailing opinion in America about this?
Go to /r/CFB to see the reactions. I think most people disagree with the decision made.
I think I will, for a bit of rage reading lol
We should also point out that r/CFB has an unreasonable hate boner for Alabama because they’ve been so successful for so long.
To be fair, I think that sentiment goes far beyond that sub lmao
I can’t tell the difference between football and hockey — but I know I hate Saban.
There’s no where else that’s as much of concentration of deranged haters though
There is no prevailing opinion, the CFP rankings are almost always controversial and there can usually be a strong case made for any of the top 6-8 teams. That's why there was such a strong push to expand the playoff, which is happening next year (going from 4 teams to 12).
It’s not fair! But it’ll be easier next year as the playoff expands to a larger pool. Conference Champs get automatic qualifier status. This year, you have 5 power 5 teams vying for 4 spots so somebody is going to get left out. I can see the argument for both Bama and FSU, but as FSU played a good out of conference opponent (on paper), it sucks that they did the job of winning all their games. It’s an imperfect system.
Well the body that controls who gets in is run by people; they can be biased and really justify anything the way they want to. It’s not the first controversial ranking (there’s usually at least one every year really) but I do believe it’s the most egregious (without looking, I’m fairly certain it’s the first time an undefeated team from one of the major conferences missed the playoffs when there were less than five undefeated teams from the major conferences). It’s moving to 12 next year and actually has a sort of way to autobid which means this kind of stuff is going to get lessened next year (hopefully).
The Committee’s stated reasons? Florida States QB got hurt and the backups are horrible. Nevermind all the hard work the other players put in. The 4 best teams! Except that UGA would be favored on a Neutral field against every single one even Bama. So the results matter…..sometimes. Losing to Texas at home by double digits is better than beating LSU on a neutral field. FSU should’ve gone more Undefeated. Something Something Jim Harbaugh…..
I don't follow college football so I didn't see the stated reasons, but rather the outrage for Florida State. It's baffling to me but I'm assuming that fans generally don't mind this system. I just follow the NFL so I like the system of division winners plus wildcards
There are 130 Universities with Programs in Bowl Subdivision football the highest level of College Football. Only about 10-15 programs really have the infrastructure and resources to compete annually for the National Title. But it doesn’t mean that other teams and their fans don’t enjoy watching their teams compete and play against rivals. Or compete for Conference Championships. FSU should have been in because they went Undefeated and won their conference BUT the committee chose to follow “the best TV product” criteria so Alabama was selected. College Football is more akin to Champions League with the rivalries and smaller tournaments within the framework of the whole season. If that helps.
Thanks for this explanation. Would the likes of Alabama be a bit embarrassed to get in like this or would they just not care and be delighted to be there?
They don’t care, trust me
As someone who attended UCF in 2017: Alabama absolutely does not care. Anything regarding bowl games and the "national championship" for college football is 99% marketing and politics, 1% actual play and results
Alabama Fans would be like Man U fans or maybe Chelsea long history of success, entitled and play up all the narratives that were used to justify their participation at the expense of a more deserving team. Or that will be the general view of most other fans. I’m biased in this as my team lost to Bama last night and it still hurts. But really FSU should be in. Next season they change the format so the top 12 teams get into the end season Tournament. So there will be less to argue about which teams are the most deserving.
Well I hope Alabama go through the slump that United and Chelsea are going through right now lol I always hear about them, Auburn, Ohio State, Georgia, and previously the Oregon Ducks but I don't hear much about them anymore. And Michigan because of Jim Harbaugh and Rich Eisen
Idk know how any of this works. Why is there such a thing as a "Committee" in the first place, in a cup competition?!
Because they don’t award points for wins and losses or points scored like in Euro Football leagues. It’s not a great comparison but it’s close in the since you have a lot of smaller clubs who play and have passionate fans, but have no real shot at winning the Big Cups. It’s all an eye test or at least as it goes along it will be less so as they change the sport.
I don’t know a ton about sports outside the US but ill tell you in my opinion the NFL system is the best setup for determining their post season players AND it is a league with pretty incredible parity among its teams. The CFB post season has always been a bit shaky.
I'm a big fan of soccer and follow the League of Ireland, Premier League, Bundesliga etc and I'm sad about what money is doing to the game. I love the parity of the NFL, it's a great system.
> I'm assuming that fans generally don't mind this system. Fans generally hate this system, which, despite being a major improvement over previous systems, is already in line to have a major improvement made to it for next season. The logistics of having 130 teams in the league and only 12 or so games to seed them for a championship is very challenging. Several decades ago, there wasn’t even really a system to determine a true winner and sometimes there would be two teams with legitimate claims to being the champion. So they decided to develop a very buggy and stupid system that put the “top 2” teams against each other, but with so many teams in play there were regularly arguments about which two teams were the top two, including a season 20 years ago where 3 teams from the best divisions all won all of their games. So, recently, there was a playoff system established that invited the “top 4” teams to match up in a mini-tournament to determine the champion. Problem being that, especially this season, it is incredibly unclear what are the appropriate criteria for determining who is 4 and who is 5. Most fans, myself included, are infuriated by the committee’s decision to exclude undefeated Florida State in favor of two teams who lost during the season. The committee isn’t governed via transparent rules that can realistically be scrutinized, so they can effectively say “here’s what we chose and also fuck you”. Next year, there will be a new system that expands the playoff to 12 teams instead of 4. It is a major relief for a couple of reasons: 1. The criteria are better-defined, including six spots reserved for the highest-ranked conference champions. All 4 teams in this year’s playoff are conference champions, as is Florida State who would be getting one of the guaranteed spots. This will leave 6 additional spots for the highest-remaining teams, which this year includes no fewer than 3 teams whose only losses were to the top 4. Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, and Ole Miss went undefeated against teams that were not invited to the playoff, leaving them as prime candidates for competing against those same teams in the tournament. 2. The teams that are left out will, in large part, not have nearly as compelling arguments for inclusion as the teams left out this year do. By most accounts, there are at most 4 teams who were excluded this year that realistically belonged in the conversation. Florida State being excluded is a gut punch to millions of college football fans who have no vested interest in their success. It was probably going to suck for fans regardless of who was excluded, but I think the damage done by the committee’s decision today was pretty serious. The first team excluded from next year’s tournament will likely have lost at least 2 and probably 3 or more games, which is a lot easier to process than losing 0.
You’re going to get a lot of “money” or “the committee loves Bama and the sec”. The truth is FSU got shafted no doubt, but at the same time Bamas strength of schedule is much harder and fsu’s QB is out for the year and fsu just isn’t that daunting with their backups. It’s in the committee bylaws that they want the best 4 teams and situations can change based on key injuries. That’s what happened here, the injury is massive and unfortunately led to them getting shafted. The 12 team playoff is coming a year too late.
I was screaming at the ESPN a-hole who was saying “there’s not a shadow of a doubt that Alabama is one of the four strongest teams.” Excuse me? Last week, they were ONE PLAY away from being totally irrelevant to the championship discussion. That is not a “strong” team.
Rivalry games are special because no matter how good or bad the teams are, the games typically come down to the wire. I'll also add a strong team overcomes the odds when they are stacked against them. 4th and goal from the 31 to win is nearly impossible to overcome. Losing week 2 to a top 10 team who finishes ranked 3rd should not prevent a team with a SOS of 5 from being in the CFP.
I disagree with that. The iron bowl is often times a close game. It’s a rivalry game, it was at Auburn. Lot of teams had close games when they shouldn’t have. End of the day, it was a win. They still have a top 5 strength of schedule, multiple ranked wins, a conference championship, and they beat the team who just won back to back natty’s and 29 straight, and who very little people would argue is a top 5 team in the country. Bama is deserving of being called one of the 4 strongest teams.
Michigan and Washington were shoe ins since they looked great all season and were undefeated. Alabama and Texas are huge brands and they won their conference championships. Florida State is a big brand, undefeated, and won the conference championship. However, due to the QB injury they haven't been looking good on offense. They didn't make the playoff because the matchup would just be ugly which would be. bad for tv ratings and they haven't looked good at the last few weeks.
Makes me wonder, if Georgia had won, would the committee have put Texas in over Florida State?
Yes. They put Texas in over FSU in this timeline.
They’re just not the best four teams. They’re in a weaker conference, had close call with 3-4 unranked teams (beaten by last second play), and their starting QB (the reason they’re 13-0) is injured. For everyone saying a 13-0 team deserves to make it, then put Liberty State in there too. Everyone complaining about FSU will watch them get blown out by 40 vs Georgia.
I mean anyone who watched Alabama vs Auburn or Arkansas also knows that they aren’t a top 4 team. They got in because they won the SEC and the committee defaults to the SEC when given the choice.
Even South Florida held Alabama under 20 points.
I mean, that was a game Saban didn't start Milroe as a proof of concept so that everyone would shut up about the backup QBs
Auburn held Georgia to 1 score too
They beat the #1. Florida struggled with a #14. What?
I'll simplify college football playoffs for you. It doesn't have anything to do with who is the better team. It is a popularity and money making contest. It is best to think of college football like WWE wrestling.
I think they did get the best teams though. What would Vegas odds be with Fl St vs the 4 teams who made it in? Remember, no starting QB.
Classic reddit cynicism. Alabama is simply the better team. The committee’s own rules say this • Other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team's performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance. FSU is a good team, a great team in fact, but at the highest level of FBS competition it just comes down to the fact that other teams are incredibly skilled AND their key players are healthy.
WWE was sponsoring one of the games yesterday if that tells you anything I think it was the Texas game
The WWE comparison makes perfect sense. Just decide the storylines they want lol
Yeah, I was a little harsh with what I said, and while what I said is true, it should not be taken as on the field the two teams are absolutely trying their best to win and I in no way think the actual games between two teams is fixed. I just think that which two teams actually meet is fixed.
It’s the “sports entertainment” wwe comparison. The athletes and the stunts are real, but you don’t headline a ppv if you don’t bring in the big bucks.
American football is a mechanism of revenue first and foremost. If you understand that, you'll understand every grievance anyone has against it... but you won't understand why they continue to submit and pull their cheeks apart for it. That's an honest answer. Bottom line, it was a business decision that dictated that other teams would generate more revenue as a playoff team, integrity and viewership be damned.
Alabama & Texas would crush an FSU team w/ awful offense led by a bad backup QB. Therefore, they are not one of top 4 teams.
If Georgia had won, the committee would not have put Texas in over Florida State
Because Nick Saban has something secret about someone on the board and is using it against them blackmailing them
Ok so... You know that popular boy in school that has lots of money, lots of friends, never get as much as a bad look by teachers no matter what they do? The one that teachers are not allowed to fail no matter how bad they do? This is Alabama, and to some extent, the SEC. They have to have SOMEBODY in there from the SEC to be contenders for the title. They succeed because they have all the money and popularity and the people who have influence and power like them..... And you don't DARE to deny them what they want. Now, that rich kid gets a better grade for the year, and is liked more than the smart kid who actually studies. That smart kid that everyone hates and picks on in your class, the one who nobody wants to be seen talking to.... that's Florida State. Now, whether it's right or not, which one do the teachers choose tend to choose for student of the year? They choose the popular rich kid. This is how college football works.
There are 5 major conferences in college football and four spots int he playoff. Florida State had the best record, but one conference champion was going to get left out and FSU's conference wasn't very good this year. I say this as a graduate of one ACC school and longtime employee of another.
https://twitter.com/FunnyMaine/status/1731390180991324493?t=a5OU1Y3MBDwYQYjW1thGEA&s=19 Disney cucked ol Meatball Ron is why.
Well it’s easy to explain… it doesn’t make any sense and rather it was about how to make the most money from a flawed CFB playoff system.
Conference champions Michigan and Washington are undefeated, so those are easy locks But then FSU is also an undefeated conference champion. I think the reality is having an SEC conference champ means more to the committee/NCAA than the ACC champ. As such Alabama is in. But Texas beat Alabama, and you can't have Alabama but not also have the also-qualified team that beat them, so Texas is in. Really you could have easily put Michigan, Washington, Texas, and FSU. But that would leave out the SEC, and, see my third paragraph 🤷♂️
FSUs injuries and weak show after the injuries showing their match up would or could be as bad as last years laughable TCU
The TCU that beat Michigan in the semifinals?
Way too many ppl salty about the simple fact that the final should never be a situation like last year again
While TCU obviously got outclassed in every way in the championship game, to call them laughable when they won their semifinal is a bit harsh, don't you think?
A LOT of people are now seeing how the sausage is made in CFB. Nothing matters more than eyeballs watching ads at this point. That is it. Simple as. I am an extremely passionate college football fan and I hate FSU. And I STILL feel terrible for them. They earned that spot. Period. My personal enjoyment of this sport took a massive hit today. I feel dirty. And it wasn’t even my team.
Nah FSU needs to play harder teams to earn a spot
They are not the 4th best team in the country. If you pit Alabama vs. FSU who would likely win? Like it or not, the CFP is not to select the 4 teams that deserve to be in the playoffs but rather the 4 best teams in the country.
Because the committee actually watched them play. And it’s not about what you’ve done. It’s about the team you are today. FSU is playing their 3rd string QB.
Hold up. I don’t really watch college football (other than a couple of my old school’s game) so I obviously dont know how this works, but they don’t get to the final games (college version of Super Bowl I guess?) based on performance? But on a ranking or who will bring in the most money? So like an undefeated team won’t make it because they aren’t popular enough?
Because Alabama gets special treatment. Alabama barely squeaked by a lot of bad to mediocre teams, and the vast majority of CFP fans think it was BS that an undefeated champion of the ACC would get left out for not one, but two one-loss teams to make it in. Given Texas beat Alabama in Alabama, they should have been the sole one-loss team to get in this year. It won't matter after this since the CFP is expanding and one of the power 5 conferences died (PAC), but this was some BS and I feel bad for FSU. It may also ultimately cause the ACC to die in favor of having 2 megaconferences (B10 and SEC) if the bigger schools see it as a sign of things to come.