This year’s college football playoff selections shocked many people when the College Football Playoff Selection Committee decided to leave the Florida State Seminoles out of the 2023-24 College Football Playoff, despite being undefeated and winning the ACC championship. The decision left people confused and many frustrated because Alabama, who was picked over FSU, had a worse record going 12-1. The spot that the two teams were competing for was a spot in the Rose Bowl, which is one of the biggest games in college football, so there was a lot of debate about if it was right to leave FSU out or not.

So, did FSU deserve the Rose Bowl spot? This is where most of the controversy comes in, because asking if they earned it is different than asking what the best decision was. FSU did earn the spot because they went undefeated and Alabama didn’t, and regular season records typically determine seeds. But what was taken into consideration was that FSU did not play very good teams during the regular season, and their schedule did not consist of a single top-10 team (other than LSU). Alabama on the other hand, played very strong teams including Georgia, who have been national champions for the past two years. FSU also lost their starting quarterback, Jordan Travis, to a leg injury in week 12 and had to play their final regular season game and the ACC Championship without him. As well as playing such a prominent position, Jordan Travis was also a candidate to win the Heisman Trophy, and was considered FSU’s star player.

FSU’s final game of the season was their postseason game against Georgia in the Orange Bowl. Georgia won the game 63-3, beating FSU by a huge stretch. Granted, FSU’s disappointment over the decision led over 20 of their players to opt out of the game, and they were already at a loss with their injured QB and backup quarterback. So the game would have been more evenly matched if FSU had their complete starting lineup, but it is still extremely likely they would not have won.

FSU’s loss to Georgia added disappointment because Alabama beat the Bulldogs earlier in the season for the SEC title. And if FSU had been picked over Alabama, they would have had to play the B10 champions: Michigan. The Alabama-Michigan Rose Bowl ended up being a very close game and went into overtime with Michigan taking the win. Given that Alabama proved to be a stronger team than FSU, and they still lost to Michigan, selecting Alabama for the Rose Bowl made for a way better game than if it had been FSU. Especially because the Rose Bowl is one of the biggest games in football, and has been played annually since 1902. So although FSU went undefeated, they likely would not have stood a chance against Michigan, while Alabama did. And the Selection Committee prioritizes game quality over fairness, which worked against FSU this year.