Alabama is selected to play in the College Football Playoff, leading to speculation as to why they will move forward rather than Florida State.
The 2023 playoff selection committee put in a 12-1 Alabama rather than a 13-0 unranked Florida State, causing many people to think that the playoffs are rigged.
At the end of the day, Alabama is the stronger team. Their schedule was more complex, and they had more key players.
FSU’s quarterback, Jordan Travis, was injured before the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship game, meaning that they had to put in their backup quarterback, freshman Brock Glenn, for that game.
While they still won the game, one of the playoff selection committee’s guidelines for getting into the playoffs is asking what would happen if the team did not have key contributors in post season.
During the Southeastern Conference Championship game, Alabama only had one key player out, running back Jase McClellan. Alabama has several other running backs, making McClellan’s injury prospectively less to the game.
The committee put Michigan at the top spot followed immediately by Washington. Texas was then ranked third for their second week win against Alabama.
This began to spur questions about whether a no-loss ACC team was better than a one-loss SEC team.
The SEC is more complex and stronger than many ACC schools. Alabama had to play well-known teams such as Tennessee, Ole Miss and LSU. Florida State had to play two tough opponents: LSU and Florida.
Florida State only played two ranked teams this season, Florida and Louisville. While all but two of the teams Alabama played against were ranked.
Looking at Alabama’s loss against Texas, it should be highlighted how they played against other teams for the rest of the season, in which they only improved.
Florida State had no way to improve since they were the best in their division.
In addition, there should be consideration about whether Alabama’s loss to Texas was as bad as Texas’ loss to Oklahoma.
Instead, the playoffs now have two regular season 12-1 teams rather than an undefeated team.
The committee could easily look back on last year’s playoffs when the 2022 playoff selection committee picked TCU. It created the lowest watched national championship game. The score ended up being 65-7 with Georgia winning.
This debate can be made every year the four-team bracket playoff has been instated because there are five power conferences. Someone always gets left out.
The difference this year is the strength of record and strength of schedule had to be contributing factors to the decision-making process. Alabama’s strength of schedule was third in the nation while Florida State’s was 50th in the nation.
In the end, the playoff selection committee made the right choice. Alabama is the stronger team out of the two and if they were put head-to-head in a game, Alabama would win.
