The Injustice of College Football: A Tale of Two Teams
Last season, I found myself rooting against undefeated Florida State making it to the 4-team CFB playoff. I thought they wouldn’t be competitive, and a potential blowout wasn’t appealing. When Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury, and Brock Glenn took the reins, my concerns were validated. Despite their 16-6 win in the ACC Championship game, I wanted a thrilling matchup between Michigan and Alabama instead of a lackluster game against Florida State.
Fast-forward to this season, and I’ve got a different perspective. As an Indiana fan, I’m now invested in a team that deserves a playoff spot based on their record but might not be competitive enough. This new perspective has me reeling about the injustice Florida State faced last year. The lack of consideration for their performance on the field is appalling.
The College Football Playoff Committee seems to prioritize hypothetical neutral-field matchups over actual game results. If that’s the case, why bother playing the games? Why not let the top SEC teams with the best recruits battle it out for the championship? It’s not like they haven’t had all season to prove themselves within their conference.
Florida State supporters, however, are taking it too far. They’re drawing false equivalencies between their situation and Texas’s current quarterback situation. Quinn Ewers, Texas’s star quarterback, recently suffered a mild ankle sprain, and some Florida State fans are trying to compare it to Jordan Travis’s season-ending injury. The comparison is laughable.
Brock Glenn, Florida State’s backup quarterback, was no Archie Manning, and the team’s performance suffered greatly with him at the helm. Texas, on the other hand, remains competitive with Manning leading the charge. The precedent set by the playoff committee last year was clear: if a team appears incapable of competing at a high level, they might be left out of the playoffs, regardless of their record.
Indiana’s situation this year is a more fitting comparison to Florida State’s last year. Both teams have impressive records but question marks about their competitiveness. If Ohio State’s defense were to suddenly become decimated by an unforeseen circumstance, they too might be left out of the playoffs.
Florida State fans’ attempts to draw parallels between their situation and Texas’s are misguided and annoying. Their jokes fall flat, and their arguments lack substance. They’re not making a compelling case; they’re just trying to relive their perceived injustice from last year. Unfortunately, their efforts are making everyone involved look foolish.
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