Here’s how FSU got robbed (part 2)

As you may have heard by now, the top four teams to make the College Football Playoff this season are Michigan (the winner of the “Big 10” Conference), Washington (the “Pac 12” champ), Texas (“Big 12”), and Alabama (“SEC”). Two of those teams went undefeated (Michigan and Washington), but Texas and Alabama were both one-loss teams. Why did Texas and Alabama both get invited to participate in the playoff ahead of Florida State, the only other major undefeated team in college football? Alas, that is the wrong question. What we should be asking instead is: How was FSU excluded?

Here’s what sealed FSU’s fate: the voting rules used by the selection committee. Recall from my description of Step #2 in my previous post how each committee member first selects the top six teams (in no particular order), and further recall from my description of Step #3 how committee members then rank those six teams from one to six. Now, here is the key: only the top three (i.e. the three teams with the most votes) get seeded. In other words, even if Florida State is considered a top six team (which the Seminoles arguably are, since they went undefeated this season), FSU would be one of six teams competing for just three (not four) playoff spots during these initial rounds of the selection process.

Alas, since Florida State failed to win enough votes to make the top three (a reasonable outcome given the rather lackluster performance of FSU’s offense of late), the Seminoles would now be competing with five other teams for the one remaining playoff spot during the next round of voting! Although the Seminoles went undefeated, does anyone really believe that FSU could beat Ohio State or even Oregon in a head-to-head match-up, let alone Alabama or Georgia, without star quarterback Jordan Travis or back-up QB Tate Rodemaker, both of whom are injured? That’s what I thought!

#1 MICHIGAN (13-0)

#2 WASHINGTON (13-0)

#3 TEXAS (12-1)

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#4 ALABAMA (12-1)

#5 FLORIDA STATE (13-0)

#6 GEORGIA (12-1)

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#7 OHIO STATE (11-1)

#8 OREGON (11-2)

#9 MISSOURI (10-2)