I am a college football fan. Moreover, I'm a fan of Florida State.
Florida State last night won the ACC championship to finish 13-0, one
of four teams to finish the season undefeated and one of three "Power
5" (a BS pseudo division in Division I-A/FBS football). Basically the
P5 is all the "major" college football teams: FSU, Texas, Oklahoma,
Alabam, USC, Washington, etc. All the big names are "P5" teams.

The FBS has a four-team playoff. Four. Four teams. Four. Room for four
teams. Three "big boy" teams finished undefeated. Three. That's less
than four. Many teams finished the season 12-1. Many. Who should get
in? Logic dictates the 3 or 4 undefeated teams and one team with one
loss, right? Right.

What happened today was an absolute farce that has shaken CFB to its
core. An undefeated conference champion "big boy" was left at the
altar. FSU has no shot at the "legitimate" national title. 13-0. A
better record than both 12-1 teams. Arguably better than either of the
other 13-0 teams. Didn't lose a game. Lost their QB, but still went
3-0 without him. Undefeated. Unconquered, as us FSU fans like to put
it. And we're left out. We're told that FSU wasn't one of the four
best teams. But why did the other "best" teams have losses?

The result and reasoning was beyond despicable and disgusting.
Alabama, 12-1 with a 10-point lost to 12-1 Texas, had to be in the
CFP. "It's good for ratings. You can't keep an SEC team out of the
playoffs. That's not right." These media companies (mainly
Disney/ESPN, but Fox isn't innocent) have bought and paid for the CFP.
They know the CFP has ruined CFB ratings and TV ratings in general to
ALL other bowl games. Who cares? What's the point?

In all my years, it's the only simultaneously competitive sport that
relies on some shadowy and definitely-corrupt "committee" to choose
the four "best" teams that I've ever seen. It makes sense in figure
skating: how do you "score" in figure skating without judges? IDK. But
in a game like football where players are on the field/court/ice
directly in competition, scoring is simple. There are defined rules
and they should be adhered to. FBS football? Uh, we'll wing it. We'll
decide who deserves to be in. It'll be who we want. We'll figure out
the reasoning later. It'll make sense to most teams.

And it did. There was always wiggle room because there were inevitably
one or two undefeated teams and one-loss teams that could be argued
for or against easily. FSU screwed it all up. So did Georgia losing to
Alabama, but I digress. FSU just kept winning. So did Georgia. Alabama
lost at home to Texas, but managed to beat a pathetic 6-6 Auburn
squad 27-24 at the last moment, the same Auburn squad that paid
"lowly" New Mexico State $2M to mollywhop them at home. Alabama has
looked unconvincing this season and early on it was a rebuilding year.
They lost to Texas; surely they wouldn't beat UGA or all of the other
SEC teams they faced. Oh, but they did. They even beat #1 (now #6)
Georgia.

And FSU is down to their third-string QB. They'll lose to Louisville.
They didn't? They won a defensive masterpiece of a game 16-6 and went
undefeated? How can we put 12-1 Alabama in and not 12-1 Texas? We put
Texas ahead of Alabama all year because Texas beat them. Oh, no. There
are only 4 slots. We'll have to sacrifice one of those undefeated
teams. We can't ignore the TV markets of the SEC (Alabama), Texas
(Texas), the West Coast (Washington, 13-0) and Michigan (Midwest).
Florida State plays in the Southeast, but they don't play in a "real"
conference, so they'll draw less eyes than Alabama and we need an SEC
team in there anyway. We'll put FSU at 5. Nobody will figure out or
care that we absolutely ROYALLY FUCKED A DESERVING TEAM OUT OF A
NATIONAL TITLE RUN!

Despicable. Unconscionable. Approximately 12 hours after finishing one
of the best seasons ever in FSU history, FSU players, coaches, and
fans are apoplectic. We're crying when we should be celebrating. We're
finally realizing that sometimes no matter what happens, no matter
what you do, your best just simply isn't good enough and some teams
will be given breaks while others will not.

I've never felt as lost and disappointed and disgusted and furious as
I am today. The sport I grew up loving for 30+ years was destroyed in
front of my very eyes. The integrity was thrown out in favor of money.
Our QB, Jordan Travis, tweeted after the rankings were announced that
he wished he had broken his leg sooner. A young man in his early 20s
is saying that because an evil oligarchy decided that winning doesn't
matter. Words can't adequately describe the heartbreak.

Greed did this. Capitalism and TV commercials. The World-Wide Web and
advertisements did this. Shitty people who sold their souls did this,
and hundreds of young men are simply secondary to selling sugarwater
and junk food. Despicable.