What is the purpose of a playoff in sports? 

That question may seem silly on the surface; however, it is a legitimate one for college football. A fan of any sport will tell you that the playoffs are meant to take all the best teams from the regular season and put them in a bracket. Teams are progressively eliminated until there is one left standing to be crowned champion.

We are a decade into the four-team playoff format, and the public is split on how the squads that get to compete for a championship are chosen. There are two trains of thought: one that believes it should be the four most deserving teams based on resume, and the other that believes the College Football Playoff selection committee’s job is to put the four “best” teams in regardless of resume. 

I fall into the former of those two camps. If we are going to use a purely subjective model, then the committee *should* base their rankings off of strictly on-field results. This year, the committee didn’t give us the four best or the four most deserving teams.

Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama will compete for college football’s ultimate prize, leaving Florida State and Georgia behind. If the committee went off the most deserving teams, an undefeated FSU would have gotten in. If they went off of the four best, then there’s no way Georgia doesn’t crack the top four.

I would have gone with Michigan, Washington, Florida State, and Texas in that order. All of the top six teams had resumes that would be good enough to get in most seasons. However, 2023 had unique circumstances where there were more playoff-caliber teams than spots available.

Florida State made history, and not in the way it wanted. The Seminoles were the first undefeated Power Five champ to not be selected in the top four. This breaks a precedent I never thought would get broken.

A late season injury to QB Jordan Travis was used as justification to leave the ‘Noles out, which I don’t understand. Obviously, Florida State isn’t the same caliber of team without Travis. However, not giving a team the chance to compete because of an injury goes against the whole idea of competition.

FSU went undefeated, won its conference and beat three ranked opponents according to this committee. Some say the committee made the right call because the matchups we got will likely be more entertaining.

This is where the role of the committee needs to be brought into question. They aren’t supposed to serve the networks, advertisers, or even fans. Those on the selection committee should be serving the competitors by selecting the four teams that had the best seasons.

Is Florida State one of the four best teams? Absolutely not. However the results from the regular season should be paramount to anything else.

Another argument I’ve heard against FSU is the “TCU effect”. The idea is that because TCU got embarrassed by Georgia in the National Championship last year that the committee was looking to avoid a similar outcome this time around.

To me, this is laughable. It ignores the fact that TCU won a playoff game against Michigan in order to get to the National Title. How is a team winning a semifinal game used as justification it didn’t belong in the playoff?

This isn’t to say Alabama isn’t worthy; it beat the number one team along with three other ranked teams. The Tide’s only loss was to a fellow playoff team in Texas, and there wouldn’t be any question for them to get in if it was any other season.

One of the main reasons this format was created was to crown an unquestioned national champion at the end of the year. There is a scenario where that won’t be the case this year.

Let’s say Florida State upsets Georgia in the Orange Bowl and both Michigan and Washington lose in the semifinals. Regardless of who wins the title between ‘Bama and Texas, the Seminoles would be the only undefeated power five school remaining. A win against Georgia would silence a lot of the naysayers and create the possibility of a split national championship.

While the scenario I laid out is unlikely, it would put the AP or Coaches Poll in a position to rank FSU number one at season’s end. We haven’t had a split national champion since 2003, when LSU won the BCS and USC took home the top spot in the AP.

The AP has FSU ranked above Alabama and the Coaches Poll has the ‘Noles ahead of Texas and Alabama. If one of those two polls rank Florida State number one, this format failed at one of its core purposes.

As for the playoff itself, the Rose Bowl feels like the true National Championship game. Texas and Washington have a shot; however, the Longhorns have been rattled by injuries to stars Jonathan Brooks and Xavier Worthy. Washington has skated by with seven one-possession wins, and history shows that teams winning close in the regular season doesn’t translate to CFP success.

Michigan has been the most dominant team all season, and Alabama is getting hot at the right time. Right now, I like Alabama to squeak by Michigan and win its seventh National Championship under Nick Saban in a revenge win over Texas.

Chris’ College Football Top 25 Rankings:

1.Michigan Wolverines (13-0) W vs Iowa 26-0, last week-2

2.Washington Huskies (13-0) W vs Oregon 34-31, last week-3

3.Florida State Seminoles (13-0) W vs Louisville 16-6, last week-4

4.Texas Longhorns (12-1) W vs Oklahoma State 49-21, last week-5

5.Alabama Crimson Tide (12-1) W vs Georgia 27-24, last week-6

6.Georgia Bulldogs (12-1) L vs Alabama 27-24, last week-1

7.Ohio State Buckeyes (11-1) BYE, last week-7

8.Oregon Ducks (11-2) L vs Washington 34-31, last week-8

9.Missouri tigers (10-2) BYE, last week-9

10.Penn State Nittany Lions (10-2) BYE, last week-10

11.Ole Miss Rebels (10-2) BYE, last week-11

12.LSU Tigers (9-3) BYE, last week-12

13.Arizona WIldcats (9-3) BYE, last week-13

14.Oklahoma Sooners (10-2) BYE, last week-14

15.Louisville Cardinals (10-3) L vs Florida State 16-6, last week-15

16.Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-3) BYE, last week-16

17.Liberty Flames (13-0) W vs New Mexico State 49-35, last week-18

18.SMU Mustangs (11-2) W vs Tulane 26-14, last week-unranked

19.Oregon State Beavers (8-4) BYE, last week-19

20.NC State Wolfpack (9-3) BYE, last week-21

21.Tulane Green Wave (11-2) L vs SMU 26-14, last week-17

22.Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-4) L vs Texas 49-21, last week-20

23.Iowa Hawkeyes (10-3) L Michigan 26-0, last week-22

24.James Madison Dukes (11-1) BYE, last week-23

25.Kansas State Wildcats (8-4) BYE, last week-24

Dropped out of rankings- Tennessee