ESPN & The playoff controversy
ESPN'S PLAYOFF CONTROVERSY
Sage Rubin, Swish Tribune
Amidst all the controversy regarding Florida State’s snub from being in the playoffs, not many people are talking about potentially ESPN’s role in this. It is important to understand that the SEC, the product that ESPN keeps bragging about, is about to be in a 3 billion investment for the network. So without any real understanding of college football, it’s clear that ESPN wanted to back their product. However, the problem I take with their actions is what they had the anchors do. ESPN didn’t like the potential outcome of FSU being in the playoff so they, in my opinion, essentially held the playoff hostage into doing what they want.
Let me explain, there were several factors that I think played a role here. The first one being yes, ESPN is paying a ton of money to the SEC. It would be in their best interest to force the product that really wasn’t that good this year to be in the playoff because of some mythical conference strength. We’ve seen the narrative around the SEC for a while. It’s always been the little things at the network where they show bias towards the SEC like when they list all the top games on Gameday and they happen to be a random SEC game. Or this week when you had all the anchors crying on tv until they got Alabama in.
The second thing is that Florida State wants more money. During the summer, Florida State’s board of trustees held a meeting where they told the university that they’re going to find a way to exit the ACC in order to make more money. This probably ticked ESPN the wrong way since they’re the ones who started the whole realignment issue.
The third potential reason is that Disney, ESPN’s parent company, and the state of Florida have been at beef with each other for a while. ESPN really had no incentive to help FSU given the battles that both the state and Disney are in.
FSU in my opinion was screwed over. Using the logic of the committee I’d ask a few questions. The first one is that since the 2017 Eagles lost Carson Wentz, does that invalidate their Super Bowl victory and they should have been eliminated from contention? And then the second one I’d ask is why play the games? We all thought Oregon was a shoe-in and yet they lost a game they were two score favorites to Washington, a team who had already beaten Oregon. Using the committee’s logic, Oregon should’ve just skipped this weekend and they’ll be in. The third question would be why hasn’t Jordan Travis won the Heisman? He’s clearly good enough to be the reason the committee and ESPN didn’t want them in. One final thing is that FSU’s defense was playoff-caliber. The media talks about how the offense was stagnant without Travis, but the defense shut down a very good Louisville team. Louisville is a good team, the ACC just didn’t market that. This leads me to the final reason FSU potentially got left out, the conference they’re in. The ACC’s ineptitude for several years and weak approach cost FSU a playoff spot. There’s more time to explain the ACC in another article but that’s all I have to say about the committee.
Let me explain, there were several factors that I think played a role here. The first one being yes, ESPN is paying a ton of money to the SEC. It would be in their best interest to force the product that really wasn’t that good this year to be in the playoff because of some mythical conference strength. We’ve seen the narrative around the SEC for a while. It’s always been the little things at the network where they show bias towards the SEC like when they list all the top games on Gameday and they happen to be a random SEC game. Or this week when you had all the anchors crying on tv until they got Alabama in.
The second thing is that Florida State wants more money. During the summer, Florida State’s board of trustees held a meeting where they told the university that they’re going to find a way to exit the ACC in order to make more money. This probably ticked ESPN the wrong way since they’re the ones who started the whole realignment issue.
The third potential reason is that Disney, ESPN’s parent company, and the state of Florida have been at beef with each other for a while. ESPN really had no incentive to help FSU given the battles that both the state and Disney are in.
FSU in my opinion was screwed over. Using the logic of the committee I’d ask a few questions. The first one is that since the 2017 Eagles lost Carson Wentz, does that invalidate their Super Bowl victory and they should have been eliminated from contention? And then the second one I’d ask is why play the games? We all thought Oregon was a shoe-in and yet they lost a game they were two score favorites to Washington, a team who had already beaten Oregon. Using the committee’s logic, Oregon should’ve just skipped this weekend and they’ll be in. The third question would be why hasn’t Jordan Travis won the Heisman? He’s clearly good enough to be the reason the committee and ESPN didn’t want them in. One final thing is that FSU’s defense was playoff-caliber. The media talks about how the offense was stagnant without Travis, but the defense shut down a very good Louisville team. Louisville is a good team, the ACC just didn’t market that. This leads me to the final reason FSU potentially got left out, the conference they’re in. The ACC’s ineptitude for several years and weak approach cost FSU a playoff spot. There’s more time to explain the ACC in another article but that’s all I have to say about the committee.
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