CFP Unpacking the outrage of Florida State’s snub

To echo the great prognosticator Clubber Lang, we had just one obvious prediction for the final college playoff rankings of the four-team era: pain.

There are five teams — six if you count Georgia (unless you want to be added to Kirby Smart’s enemies list) — with a valid argument for making the playoff, but for the last time, there are only four spots.

And, if we’ve read our stages of grief properly, the next step after pain is anger (followed closely by bourbon and basketball season). And there’s a lot to be angry about.

So, as the committee retreats to its secure bunker to wait out the coming apocalypse, let’s dive into our final Anger Index of the year. There’s a lot of outrage to unpack.

In the olden days, we had a beauty contest. The top team in the nation was decided entirely by the voters.

Then we moved to a better system, one determined in part by computers that at least added some math to the abstract rationalizing while also allowing two teams to decide it on the field.

Then we moved to a four-team playoff, and the whole point was to eliminate the hypotheticals and let a champion be crowned by the actual results on the field. If you won your games, you had a chance to win a national title.

Turns out, all of that was a charade. None of it mattered. The games are pointless. What happens on the field is less important than what a committee thinks might happen in a future matchup.

It is an absolute slap in the face to every player who has ever put on a helmet, laced up cleats and marched onto the field to battle for a victory, because a bunch of folks in a conference room in Texas decided their sacrifice was not as important as the Las Vegas line on a potential playoff matchup.