This Sunday afternoon changed the course of College Football forever, and the dominos continue to fall. Not only will this be the last time we ever have a four team college football playoff, but it is also the last time we will see many teams in their respective conferences. Beginning in 2024 there will be an expanded playoff format, as well as key teams moving to new conferences, and by all accounts the end of the Pac 12 as well. All of this should have been enough to make us say that nothing will be the same for college football fans, but this selection committee also gave us a game changing decision.
The committee left Florida State out of the playoff format this year and instead decided to take Texas and Alabama. This is the first time that an unbeaten conference champion from a power five conference didn't make the playoff and it set off a string of negativity and consequences that will echo for years to come. Florida State not only went undefeated but they also had an impressive schedule, where they beat two SEC teams along the way, neither game was in Tallahassee. The committee allowed Alabama and Texas to leapfrog the Noles, despite last week FSU being ranked #4, while the Longhorns and Tide were ranked 7 & 8.
The playoff committee has now been under fire, even under legal fire since the decision, because of the precedents they have set forward. The four teams that now will play in this year's playoff, which is now being referred to as an invitational, all will reside in two conferences come 2024. So, what are the fans, media, and athletes to think from conferences that don't bear the title of Big 10 or SEC? There was already a divide among college football fans and brass about what damage having these mega conferences would bring, and now with this slap in the face, how can anyone trust the NCAA?
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| Florida State at a home football game File Photo |