Why The Playoff Debate Will Continue

Sage Rubin, Swish Tribune

Despite missing out on the playoff and losing 63-3, there is no doubt that the Florida State playoff debate can continue. The Seminoles, who finished 13-0 conference champions, were snubbed out of the playoff. And while some may possibly point out that Florida state suffered a 63-3 loss to Georgia, there is no doubt that a few things should be considered. The first thing is the opt-outs. Starting in 2015, we have seen a huge wave of bowl opt-outs occur before bowl games. This includes the New Year's Six Bowl Games. Opt-outs happen for many reasons, varying from the transfer portal to the NFL Draft Training. In the case of Florida State, the Draft and Transfer Portal were both the reasons why the opt-outs occurred. Players like Jared Verse, Trey Benson, and Keon Coleman found little to no reason as to why they should risk injuries for an essentially meaningless game, much like how they were told their season was. The roster Florida State brought to Miami was around the size of an NFL Roster, with 53 players. This led to a significant disadvantage against a team like UGA, which has significant depth and the motivation to show why they’re still an elite program.

The second thing is that the team found little to no motivation to be in this game. Think about it like this. At work, you decide to do overtime, help out as much as you can, and give 110% effort on all assignments to get a promotion, but your boss gives the promotion to the lazy worker who has shown up late to work consistently. This is essentially what happened to undefeated Florida State, where the 1-loss teams Texas and Alabama were chosen ahead of them because they had more “potential.” When looking at it from that perspective, there is little to no reason why that worker should go all out ever again, considering that their hard work won’t be credited or rewarded. Florida State had little to no motivation for this game since their work was essentially considered useless. Why should they feel like they need to prove something that they have already done for 14 weeks in a row?

The final thing is that the bowls don’t matter. Since the beginning of the playoff, we have known that the bowl games, including the NY6 ones, had little to no meaning behind them. There was no reason to play them. The only people who enjoy the bowl game results are the media workers who support the SEC, which applauds any bowl game an SEC team wins and acts like the bowl game doesn’t count if an SEC team loses. For Florida State, why should they be the first team in the Playoff era to actually care about their bowl game after a complete snub by the playoff committee? If they had won the game, the media would have said that the bowl game didn’t matter since UGA “wasn’t motivated.” And if they lost, then the media would claim that the committee was right. It was a lose-lose situation for FSU.

So, after seeing Texas and Alabama do what they did earlier in the season… lose! And seeing Florida State face a wave of opt-outs while playing in a meaningless bowl game, the debate for who the right teams were supposed to be in the playoffs can continue to be debated. The bowl games have little to no portrayal of how a team’s season went, which is why it is unfair to hold FSU accountable for their bowl performance. Also, if people want to use that same argument they used for why FSU shouldn’t be in, Washington deserves a second look in this playoff debate.