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On Sunday, December 3, the entire college football fandom watched their screens in hope, anxiety, and fear. Why? It was Selection Sunday, the day the College Football Playoff Committee decides the 4 teams that make the College Football Playoff. The 2023 season was one of the most highly contested seasons in CFB history, with debates about what teams should make the playoffs having echoed all season, but significantly ramping up in the days and weeks leading up to Selection Sunday. In the end, the debate was between 6 teams, and no one knew better than anyone else which teams would be selected. They were; 13-0 Michigan (Big 10 Champ) , 13-0 Washington (Pac 12 Champ) , 12-1 Texas (Big 12 Champ), 12-1 Alabama (SEC Champ), 13-0 Florida State (ACC Champ), and 12-1 Georgia (SEC). The committee had a tough decision to make, but in the end they decided to leave out FSU and Georgia, a decision that has seemed to have the entire country (football fans and otherwise) up in arms. Fans have shouted from the rooftops “SEC bias” and “FSU got robbed”. However, I’m here to play my own committee, and explain why the decision made by the real Committee was the correct one, and even, that they maybe should have favored the SEC even more. First off, let’s look at what everyone can agree on: Michigan and Washington were both locks for the playoff in everyone’s bracket, including mine. They both went undefeated in two competitive conferences (Big 10 and Pac 12), became champs in both of those conferences, and suffered no significant injuries that would damage their chances in the playoff. Those teams are clearly the first and second seeds, but who should be third and fourth? In my opinion, the committee got it right with Alabama and Texas. I actually think they could have favored the SEC more, and put Alabama as the 3 seed, and Georgia as the 5 seed, narrowly missing the playoff. But, since people want to get in a fuss over FSU, I’ll sit here and pretend like they should have any chance of making it, and showing why they absolutely shouldn’t have. There are two universal truths on why FSU should not have made the playoff: They play in the worst Power 5 conference (Like, shockingly bad) , and they have been a significantly worse football team since they lost their starting quarterback, Jordan Travis. Travis suffered a season ending injury against North Alabama, and FSU fans have been quick to say that “one player’s injury should not be the reason the team doesn’t get in.” I agree in premise, but in practicality, I can’t agree when that player’s performance is significantly hurting the performance of the team. In their two full games without Travis, FSU averaged 3.6 yards per play and scored 40 total points – if these numbers were averaged over the course of the season, they would have placed dead last and 117th in FBS respectively. DEAD LAST. Worse than teams that could barely get a win against other bottom feeder teams let alone a positive record, and FSU was worse than them. And that’s your team that deserves to make the playoffs? Even before Travis’ injury, FSU was hardly looking like a playoff team. Since beating LSU at home in the first week of the season (a feat Alabama also achieved, but we’ll get to that later) FSU only holds wins over four teams with winning records (Miami, Clemson, Duke, and Louisville). Miami went 3-5 in the ACC and FSU still only squeaked a win over them, Clemson is a shell of its former self and still took FSU to overtime, and Duke was holding a 20-17 lead with the ball in FSU’s redzone when their quarterback got injured. These wins are even less impressive when you consider that these are also ACC opponents, who have bolstered records by beating on other terrible ACC teams, and they still gave FSU a tough time. Speaking of terrible ACC teams, FSU only managed to narrowly get a 21-19 win over an absolutely awful Boston College team who finished 6-6 and 3-5 in the ACC. FSU had the 55th best strength of Schedule, and still struggled despite it. Meanwhile, Alabama had the 5th best Strength of Schedule, and made more of that unfortunate opportunity. Since their early loss to Texas (We’ll get back to that), Alabama has beaten the two-time defending champion and at the time #1 ranked Georgia, the current #11 ranked and 10-2 Ole Miss, and similarly to FSU, LSU. They did this, along with becoming champions of the hardest conference in college football, the SEC. A brief look at the current rankings would show the SEC’s dominance, but a quick glance at history would give the same effect. The SEC has won 6 out of the last 8 CFP championships, including the last three years in a row. Including the BCS era, the SEC accounts for 13 of the last 17 national titles. In those same last 17 years, only one championship game has not included the SEC. It is clear that the SEC is the best conference in college football, so it only makes sense that the best team from the best conference would make it right? The only blemish on Alabama’s record is their week 2 loss to Texas, but considering that the Longhorns are the #3 team in the country by the current rankings, is hardly an embarrassing performance. And unlike FSU, Alabama has gotten better since the start of the season. Quarterback Jaden Milroe has improved significantly, and Alabama has fired off wins ever since. Every metric, from strength of record, to offensive performance, to recent performances, to even just the basic eye test, shows that Alabama deserves the spot over FSU. The only thing FSU has is one less loss, in which case, why not consider an undefeated team like Liberty? With them, CFB fans can agree that destroying horrible teams to make yourself undefeated means nothing if you can’t beat teams of a higher caliber, but for some reason they can’t apply the same logic to their darling FSU. The record argument lacks context and feels like the same logic that might state that the 0-16 Browns would lose to a 16-0 Middle School. In short, context matters, and that will get proven when FSU gets blown out by Georgia in the Orange Bowl. There’s a reason every Michigan player, coach, and fan sighed when they realized they had to play Alabama that Selection Sunday: They are the better, and more deserving football team.