13-0 Florida State Is Left Out of the College Football Playoff

Wow. There are going to be riots in Tallahassee today and I can't say they'd be unjustified. Florida State becomes the only undefeated Power Five champion to be left out of the College Football Playoff in the four-team era.

Everyone understands why this decision was made, but that doesn't make it right. Yes, FSU is a completely different team without Jordan Travis. But two different teams — one an in-state rival on the road and another a Top 15 team on a neutral field — had a chance to beat the Travis-less Seminoles and they scored a combined 21 points. FSU still has an elite defense and a résumé that doesn't feature a loss.

Alabama is a great team. It's absolutely a better team than Florida State right now, too. But the CFP has never truly been about the "best four teams." Georgia is indisputably one of the four best teams in the country, but it isn't in the Playoff because its résumé couldn't justify it. FSU has one of the four best résumés.

If it seemed impossible for there to ever be a four-team Playoff that didn't feature the SEC, I guess that's because it was. Even when there are three undefeated Power Five champions and the other one-loss champ beat the SEC champ on the road, the CFP committee seems to agree that It Just Means More™️.

Florida State fans have every right to complain about this forever. And if the Noles win a New Year's Six game to finish 14-0, I will acknowledge their national championship claims. They did everything they could do.