Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama were selected to the College Football Playoff on Sunday, making Florida State the first unbeaten Power Five conference champion to be excluded from the four-team field.
Michigan will face Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Washington will play Texas in the Sugar Bowl in the Jan. 1 CFP semifinals. The national championship will be decided Jan. 8 in Houston.
The final season of the four-team playoff before it expands to 12 next year presented the CFP selection committee with its toughest decision in the 10-year history of the postseason system.
The Seminoles (13-0) lost star quarterback Jordan Travis to a season-ending injury two weeks ago, but continued to win with a backup and then a third-string quarterback. But the committee is instructed to judge the teams for what they are heading into the playoff and decided FSU without Travis was not among the best four in the country.
That steered the committee to Alabama, which upset Georgia to win the Southeastern Conference championship, and Big 12 champion Texas, which beat the Crimson Tide on the road in September.
No matter which team was left out it would have had a good argument to get in. That created unprecedented controversy.
The SEC had never missed the playoff. Alabama, which is in for the eighth time, kept that streak alive.
Texas would have been just the second Power Five team with only one loss to be left out. Instead, the Longhorns will be making their first appearance in the CFP in their last season as a member of the Big 12. Texas moves to the SEC next year.
Big Ten champion Michigan is making its third straight appearance in the CFP, still looking for its first playoff victory.
Washington is in the CFP for the second time, breaking the Pac-12's playoff drought after six years, and doing so the year before it leaves the conference for the Big Ten.
Florida State, which was No. 4 in the previous CFP rankings, appeared to be on the way to its second playoff appearance in mid-November when the trajectory of their season changed drastically. Travis suffered a serious injury in the first quarter against North Alabama and was lost for the year.
The Seminoles beat rival Florida last week with backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker playing. Then Rodemaker missed the ACC championship against Louisville with a concussion. Florida State stayed unbeaten with a strong defensive performance, but scored only one touchdown.
Copyright by The 2023 Associated Press
