The Open Notebook

The Open Notebook

The CFP Committee Gets it Wrong

Undefeated Florida State was left out of the College Football Playoff

Andrew Charles Fischer's avatar
Andrew Charles Fischer
Dec 04, 2023
∙ Paid
Share
Florida State QB Jordan Travis threw for 2,755 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions before severely injuring his leg at the end of the season.

This season was the tenth and final iteration of the 4-team College Football Playoff format. The teams were ranked by a committee during each week of the second half of the college football season, and the top four in the final ranking were admitted to the College Football Playoff. In past years, the committee’s job hasn’t been that tough. Things had a way of shaking out where the four-team field was pretty clear. That wasn’t the case this year.

This year, there was a logjam for the final two spots in the College Football Playoff. Three teams (Alabama, Texas, and Florida State) were in play for the final two spots. Michigan and Washington were undefeated conference champions, so they were virtually guaranteed one of the top two spots. The committee has always been a bit spurious when it comes to revealing what they value, and what type of factors they use to rank various teams. This makes sense, as they don’t want to claim one type of thing matters, like a conference championship, head-to-head, or strength-of-schedule, only to go back on that statement at the end of the year. But the way the season shook out in 2023, some fan base was going to be angry and feel like they were cheated. This season, that team and fan base happened to be Florida State.

The rest of this article is only available to paid subscribers.

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Andrew Charles Fischer
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture