The NCAA FBS four team playoff finally comes to an end this year and it is not a minute too soon. For anyone that believes champions should be crowned on the field and not in the court of public opinion, this farce of a process has been an annual exercise of frustration. In a crappy style fitting this selection process, the committee has picked the four teams it feels are the best. The argument is not that the four teams picked, Michigan, Washington, Texas, and Alabama are not all very good teams, but rather the omission of undefeated Florida State highlights that this selection has been more about looks than results.
Florida State, despite going undefeated and beating three top twenty-five teams, once with a freshman, third-string quarterback, was left to wonder what exactly they had to do to get this committee to accept them. Perhaps, they should have overnighted all the committee members a case of juicy oranges. It would not have mattered. Once their starting QB was injured three weeks ago, the die was cast. There was no way they were going to exclude the SEC from this dance. Even if Alabama had lost to a weak Auburn team and then upset Georgia, the Bulldogs would still have gone in over FSU. This is because the committee selects teams as though it was figure skating instead of football. Results really don’t matter as much as looks do.
One would have thought that the Seminoles would have gotten credit for having an outstanding defense. They did not. Their temporary backup quarterback did look bad and that’s why they were not selected. It didn’t matter that they beat a high scoring Louisville team. The result was not the factor. The ugly looking FSU offense was. Don’t get me wrong, they were harder to watch then a ASPCA donation ad. However, it should not matter how you look when you win, only that you win.
What is even more confounding is that these games are not this week. They are three weeks away, which is a lifetime when it comes to game prep. It isn’t like a team has not won a national championship with a third string QB.
Unfortunately, this four-game disaster of a playoff also excludes the Buckeyes who also have just one loss to a playoff bound team. That you didn’t even hear the Buckeyes mentioned in the conversation only highlights that the committee had made up their mind a long time ago. Yes, for this committee, the standard is the standard until it isn’t. If Alabama wins out, the committee will undoubtedly feel vindicated. However, imagine this scenario, Texas wins the playoff and FSU beats Georgia. Undoubtedly the Seminole fan base would celebrate a national championship and you could not blame them for doing so.
There is one real winner here – college football fans. Thankfully, this dreadful playoff process will be dead and gone after this year. It is a shame the committee did not get it right in their final season.
