The College Football Playoff field was revealed on Sunday, and as we expected given the results of Saturday's conference championship games, it was not void of drama. Alabama slid in at the No. 4 spot following its SEC Championship Game win over No. 6 Georgia, which meant that Florida State dipped to No. 5 despite a 13-0 record and win in the ACC Championship Game over Louisville on Saturday. The Seminoles become the first undefeated power conference champion to ever miss out on the CFP field.
CFP Selection Committee chair Boo Corrigan joined the rankings reveal show Sunday afternoon to explain the process that went into placing the Crimson Tide over the Seminoles.
"That was the decision, was Alabama at four," Corrigan said. "Florida State is a different team than they were through the first 11 weeks. Coach [Mike] Norvell, their players, their fans -- an incredible season. But as you look at who they are as a team right now without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic that he brings to it, they are a different team and the committee voted Alabama four and Florida State five."
At issue is Florida State's loss of Travis, Florida State's star quarterback, who suffered a devastating leg injury in FSU's Week 12 win against North Alabama. To make matters worse, backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker suffered a head injury in the regular season finale against Florida and missed the ACC title game. Rodemaker's injury isn't serious, and likely won't keep him out long-term, but it came at the worst possible time.
Florida State only scored 16 points in its win against Louisville with third-string quarterback Brock Glenn running the show. It was the lowest point total for any team that won a conference championship on Saturday, regardless of level. Glenn completed just 8 of his 21 pass attempts for 55 yards.
"We had eight really good teams this year," Corrigan said. "Somewhat of a unique year in the last year of the four as we go through this. Looking at the player availability was really important to what's going on. I think someone said there, you know, you can lose a running back, you can lose a wide receiver but a quarterback as dynamic as Jordan Travis, it changes their offense in its entirety and that was really a big factor with the committee as we went through everything."
Corrigan also explained that they leaned on the opinion of former coaches that occupy a spot on the selection committee, like Jim Grobe, in placing Alabama over Florida State.
"I think it's one of the questions that we do ask, is from a coaching standpoint, you know, who do you want to play, who do you not want to play," Corrigan said. "And as we go through that, again, looking at where we are today, not where we were three weeks ago or, you know, eight weeks ago. Who do they want to play, who do they not want to play? They've got a significant voice in the room, and as we went through that, we went around and around late last night, came back again this morning to do it again and again we came back with the top four as we did and Florida State at five."
