Mazz: I think Florida State got absolutely porked
The Florida State Seminoles went undefeated in 2023 en route to winning the ACC, a “Power Five” conference in NCAA football. However, they were left out of the 2023 College Football Playoff in favor of the Alabama Crimson Tide who had a loss during the season. On Monday’s Felger and Mazz, Mazz gave his thoughts on the decision to leave Florida State out of the playoff.
Did Florida State get porked?
Mazz: I know we don’t do college football here, but nationally, this is one of the big stories, which was the teams that advanced to the playoff. Alabama beat number one Georgia over the weekend. Alabama had been ranked 8th and they catapulted all the way up into the top-4. Georgia fell out, Alabama made the playoffs, as everybody knows. Florida State, which went undefeated and was ahead of Alabama entering the conference championship games last weekend, got leapfrogged. They beat Louisville 16-6 and they have one of the best defenses in the country. I think Florida State got absolutely freaking PORKED in this thing because the committee that put together the Final Four didn’t have the balls to leave the SEC out of it. They felt compelled to put an SEC team in there so they chose Alabama. They chose the winner of the SEC championship game, which to me, I think is an injustice. And I know it’s easy to look at the SEC and look at Alabama and Georgia and say that the winner of that game, the winner of the SEC, should absolutely be in the Final Four because it’s the best college football conference in the country, but why play the games if you’re just going to put the winner of that conference championship game in the Final Four? Why even play? So Florida State, which plays in a “Power Five” conference in the ACC, they go undefeated and it doesn’t matter? I think that sucks.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – OCTOBER 07: Jalen Milroe #4 of the Alabama Crimson Tide throws a pass before the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field on October 07, 2023 in College Station, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
Jim Murray: Yeah, but they’re down to their third string quarterback because Jordan Travis is hurt, and so look, I have sympathy for Florida State fans, that sucks. Your team did get boned. They got boned. But for everyone else that’s mad about it, well this is what you get for holding sports to a higher standard and thinking it’s like some sort of sacred cow, whereas I just look at it as any other form of entertainment. And it is an entertainment business. And so if I’m on this commission, I say like, “alright, like, we have to put the most entertaining games and the most entertaining product out there. Yeah there’s going to be a lot of blowback. Yeah, people are going to be mad and this doesn’t make sense because they went undefeated. Alabama’s better for business having them in there”.
Mazz: So that part is true. Alabama is better for business. I get it. You know, it’s more buzz. It’s a more accomplished program. I’m sure they travel better, although it’s not like Florida State is freaking Louisville. We’re still talking about one of the better football programs in the country. I just I’m a believer in you know, you play your way in. That’s the whole point of having a freakin tournament.
