The Sports Page
THE QATSPY® Quapaw Avid Tailgate Sports Performance Reporter
By: Charles W. Boatright, President of THE QATSPY®
Entitlement & Sports are in Opposition– Sports is a microcosm of LIFE; like in Life as in Sports there are no Entitlements/Certainties. I tune into Paul Finebaum Show each Day for the Interviews/Calls providing a wide range of perspectives
Florida State University (FSU) fan base have expressed their opinions on various radio and television shows explaining how FSU was denied a place in the College Football Playoff (CFP). One young man calling into the Paul Finebaum Show explained how he bought tickets and traveled to away games investing money and time to only see his team knocked out of the 2023 CFP.
Before I start my column in response to these criticisms toward the 13- member CFP Committee, I would like to preface my analysis on four (5) factors below:
1). There isn’t a hard fast rule that all undefeated teams have an automatic bye into the CFP.
2). Strength of Schedule plays a significant factor in determining the teams that are selected.
3). Those teams that either have won or lost a particular game, who was it to compare to their entire season.
4). There are ONLY four slots presently in the CFP during the 10- year contract agreement since 2014.
(5) FSU’s only win against an SEC team was against LSU at the kickoff of the 2023 season. There is a strong argument to be made in finishing strong and having a strength of schedule advantage. The FSU conference game was against Louisville that lost a revelry game with a non-ranked Kentucky team. The LSU win by FSU was against now a 13th ranked LSU team.
FSU 2023 Football Schedule
Probably the strongest analysis of the FSU being lift out of the CFP is point No. 5- Let’s look at FSU 2023 Schedule, scores, and NOW the teams’ PRESENT Rankings:
Sep 03 FSU 45 vs. (13) LSU 24
Sep 09 FSU 66 vs. (NR) Southern Miss 13
Sep 16 FSU 31 vs. (NR) Boston College 29
Sep 23 FSU 31 vs. (NR) Clemson 29
Oct 07 FSU 39 vs. (NR) Virginia Tech 17
Oct 15 FSU 41 vs. (NR) Syracuse 03
Oct 21 FSU 38 vs. (NR) Duke 20
Oct 28 FSU 41 vs. (NR) Wake Forest 16
Nov 04 FSU 24 vs. (NR) PITT 07
Nov 11 FSU 27 vs. (NR) Miami 20
Nov 18 FSU 58 vs. (NR) N. Alabama 13
Nov 25 FSU 24 vs. (NR) Florida 15
Dec 02 FSU 16 vs. (16) Louisville 06
Post Season
Jan01 FSU vs. (06) Georgia
Alabama 2023 Football Schedule
Next time schedule someone like No. 18 Liberty, No. 23 Tulane, or 24 James Madison. Of course next year you will have No. 17 SMU in your conference. Do you see any issues FSU schedules compare with Alabama 2023 Schedule below:
Sep 02 Bama 56 vs. (NR) Middle Ten 07
Sep09 Bama 24 vs. (03) Texas 34
Sep 16 Bama 17 vs. (NR) South Florida 03
Sep 23 Bama 24 vs. (11) Ole Miss 10
Sep 30 Bama 40 vs. (NR) Miss State 17
Oct 07 Bama 26 vs. (NR) Texas A&M 20
Oct 14 Bama 24 vs. (NR) Arkansas 21
Oct 21 Bama 34 vs. (25) Tennessee 20
Nov 04 Bama 42 vs. (13) LSU 28
Nov 11 Bama 49 vs. (NR) Kentucky 21
Nov 18 Bama 66 vs. (NR) Chattanooga 10
Nov 25 Bama 27 vs. (NR) Auburn 24
Dec 02 Bama 27 vs. (06) Georgia 24
Post Season
Jan 01 Bama vs. (01) Michigan
So you are weighing FSU playing two ranked teams in the regular season schedule against Alabama playing five ranked regular season teams, with four (4) being in the top 15. That is what strength of schedule means.
My Analysis of the CFP and Prior Years in Regard to the ACC and FSU
I would like to go back to the 1991-92 era when the SEC extended an invitation to Arkansas and Florida State University to join the SEC. At the time Coach Bobby Bowden in particular did not want to join the SEC for whatever reason he and the Athletic Department and the Administration had at the time. FSU claimed that they were never given an official invitation.
In 2019, the conference commissioners met to discuss the possible early expansion to the current CFP that could have started this year, 2023. This was tabled by three conference commissioners, one being the ACC present Commissioner, Jim Phillips. If I was anyone of those three commissioners, I would have jumped at the opportunity to get one of my teams into the CFP.
I can perfectly understand why the SEC Commissioner, Greg Sankey, didn’t make a more of an argument for expansion to the present four team CFP, since 2014, the four CFP had been great for the SEC.
What I was really surprised with is that since 2014 there hadn’t been a situation that played out like an undefeated FSU team not in the CFP before. But given what I just laid out, FSU had two chances to improve their position of getting into the CFP, but neglected to do so. You will have a better opportunity to make it in when we will go to a 12- team CFP.
See you next year FSU in the 12- team CFP schedule.