Watching college football this weekend would have you thinking that no other conference exists except the SEC.
Every sports talk show debated whether the SEC would/should get one, two or (gasp!) zero teams in the College Football Playoff (CFP). It was an embarrassing love affair with a single conference that, while worthy of praise, showed that parity and fairness no longer exist in the world of big-money college football.
On Sunday afternoon, that love affair was confirmed when Florida State was bounced from the CFP in favor of the one-loss Alabama Crimson Tide, making the Seminoles the first undefeated P5 team not to make the CFP.
The final CFP rankings have been released:
— First and Pen (@firstandpen) December 3, 2023
Michigan
Washington
Texas
Alabama
Florida St. becomes the first undefeated P5 team not to make the College Football Playoff. #CollegeFootballPlayoff pic.twitter.com/4ygDtOjh30
This was an atrocious decision, one that gave the middle finger to competition and concretely signaled not only the CFP’s bias toward the SEC conference but also that college football is solely about ratings and revenue, not competition or fairness.
“To me, this is a travesty of the sport,” exclaimed ESPN’s Booger McFarland. “One team has a loss and that’s Alabama. One doesn’t in Florida State.”
Defenders of the committee’s decision, including the committee itself, justified the decision by deferring to what would be the best matchup and where the teams were now instead of a few weeks ago, insinuating that the Seminoles were not worthy of a CFP appearance without star QB Jordan Travis, who suffered a season-ending injury a few weeks ago.
Boo Corrigan, the chair of the College Football Playoff committee, explains why they chose Alabama over Florida State: pic.twitter.com/17yNkBhRuZ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 3, 2023
“Florida State is a different team than they were through the first 11 weeks,” said CFP committee chair Boo Corrigan. “Coach Norvell, their players, their fans…an incredible season. But as you look at who they are as a team right now without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic that he brings to it, they are a different team, the committee voted Alabama four and Florida State five.”
Corrigan’s response completely disrespects Florida State’s defense and ignores their two wins over SEC teams (LSU and Florida) and that they were still undefeated despite losing Travis.
Every year it feels like the committee will try anything to get Alabama into the playoffs, including ignoring early-season losses and ugly performances. This year it was a loss to Texas at home and the prayer the Tide needed to beat a 6-5 Auburn team in the Iron Bowl.
The CFP’s unwavering loyalty to the SEC is shameful. It has now disrespected a Power 5 program that won both its regular season and conference championship titles.
And ESPN should not escape blame either.
The network brought SEC commissioner Greg Sankey onto the set of College Gameday on Saturday and let him weigh in on the possibility of the SEC getting blanked by the CFP committee.
In reality, it was a free lobbying session for the SEC’s commissioner.
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