The last gasp of a dying system was there to be seen on television Tuesday night, and it was a searing reminder of a dire swath of sporting history. There were were echoes of Frank Kush and Arizona State, McKenzie Milton and UCF, Boise State’s Statue of Liberty play and four different editions of Nittany Lions. Each of those teams did everything they could do, which was to win every game they played, and still were denied any embrace of what college football calls a national championship.
That’s a lot of history to shove toward what might seem an insignificant alteration to the ordering of teams in the College Football Playoff rankings released on ESPN, but this otherwise glorious sport has given us all the reasons cited as cause for alarm, and several more.
It looks so innocuous on a TV or computer screen: Washington was moved from No. 5 to No. 4, and Florida State was moved from No. 4 to No. 5.
MORE: Washington jumps Florida State after win at Oregon State
It’s a defensible decision on merit. UW has remained undefeated in a conference that has been impressive since the season began. The Huskies defeated No. 6 Oregon at home and No. 15 Arizona and No. 16 Oregon State on the road. Florida State earned a non-conference blowout win against No. 14 LSU, and an ACC road victory against No. 24 Clemson.
The only variable that changed in all of that, however, was UW’s win at Oregon State last Saturday. Oh, and Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis made public that a leg injury suffered during a useless public exercise against North Alabama last weekend will end his season.
Which is why it’s so hard to trust that little CFP committee maneuver.
Well, that and history.
FSU still must show it can win games with Tate Rodemaker at quarterback – Saturday evening at rival Florida and then in the ACC Championship against surging Louisville. Rodemaker is a 6-4 junior from Valdosta, Ga., who has been with the Seminoles four years and attempted a total of 96 passes. Of those, 23 were against North Alabama, which is not nearly the same as Alabama. He did sub for an injured Travis against Louisville last year and performed well, rallying the ‘Noles on the road with two fourth-quarter touchdown passes in a 35-31 win.
If the Seminoles gain victories against the Gators and Cardinals, though, by the kinds of margins they’ve been compiling against many teams north of Alabama – Boston College by just 2 points, Clemson by 7, dreadful Pitt by just 17 – there’s every reason to believe the committee will seize the opportunity to force a second SEC team or one-loss Texas into the field.
This could be easy enough for the committee if everything goes according to form:
Step 1: Undefeated Washington defeats Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship.
Step 2. Undefeated Georgia defeats Alabama in the SEC Championship.
Step 3. The undefeated Ohio State-Michigan winner defeats Iowa in the Big Ten Championship.
Step 4. Undefeated Florida State defeats Louisville in the ACC Championship.
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This is sports, though. It may not be March Madness, but weird stuff can happen in college football. And maybe it wouldn’t be all that crazy for Alabama to defeat Georgia in the SEC, or for Oregon to defeat Washington after how close their first game was, and Iowa’s defense could put a fright into Buckeyes and Wolverines squads that haven’t been performing at the overwhelming level of their predecessors. And if one or more of these results develops, a perfect but punchless FSU might be a candidate to be excluded from the four-team playoff by its selection committee.
The NCAA men’s basketball committee did something less egregious to the Cincinnati Bearcats in 2000, dropping them from a certain No. 1 seed to a No. 2 because of an injury to Naismith Award winner Kenyon Martin. There was no basis on which to judge them to be one of the eight best teams in Division I, rather than one of the top four, but they did it, anyway. (And they did not apply the same standard to Arizona, which had lost starting center Loren Woods and still received a No. 1 seed).
At least Cincinnati got to play, though. If the CFP committee devalues Florida State because of Travis’ absence, the Seminoles will be consigned to some bowl exhibition or other.
It’s a reminder of how inviting the expansion to 12 teams and, more important, the incorporation of the automatic qualifying system will be in 2024. For half a century, from Penn State’s 1968 squad to UCF’s in 2017, college football teams have been piling up perfect records and then being voted into irrelevance. It won’t be like that in the new playoff. The committee will seed the teams and select at-large entrants, but those that earn a bid with a high-end conference championship will not be discarded.
MORE: How the 12-team CFP will work in 2024
Of course, CFP committee chairman Boo Corrigan said it was all about what Washington accomplished last weekend in the Oregon State game, and not at all about FSU being diminished by the absence of a QB who has thrown 20 touchdown passes and only been intercepted twice and won 16 consecutive starts before the leaving last weekend’s game with the injury.
Do you trust them? And, if so, can I interest in joining this multi-level marketing deal I just discovered? It’ll be great.