Since the moment that the four teams in this season’s College Football Playoff were announced, it’s fair to say that the reaction has been outsized and impassioned.
Florida State fans, in particular, were understandably furious about seeing their team get left out despite going undefeated and winning the ACC, especially when one-loss Alabama and one-loss Texas both made it in over them.
The reactions from the sports media world were almost equally intense, pitting ESPN analysts against one another and launching that network into the crosshairs of critics who assume they meddled in the process to ensure certain teams were selected or favored.
Paul Finebaum, who has been plenty outspoken, and some would say over-the-top, about CFP participant Michigan, says that he thinks the reactions from FSU fans and the sports media world are “unprecedented” and “astonishing.”
“Really unprecedented,” Finebaum said of FSU fans during an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on JOX 94.5 Monday. “I understand, all the things that have been said, I understand the frustration. But the complete and total reinterpretation of what college football, and the College Football Playoff, is about, to me, has been truly astonishing.
“I never get too upset, or maybe upset at all, about what I read on Twitter, because I realize those are people who can’t get into your show, or any other show, just expressing themselves. But more from just, people in the industry, people who do understand how the CFP is developed and designed. To me, it is just complete and unadulterated fake outrage. It’s part of where we are in society, where people without any facts, without any information, just gravitate to an issue, embrace it, squeeze it, and just regurgitate whatever the talking points are. I’m glad we’re not eight days past it. But it’s still out there, and I think it’s one of those narratives that just simply gets created, and never leaves. It doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not.”
Finebaum, a longtime SEC media member, wondered if the reaction would have been as intense had Alabama been left out instead.
“At no point have I heard anyone say, ‘Well, what if we reversed it? What would you have to say about Alabama,’ as if they didn’t do anything to get in? To me, they did. They just didn’t have the Jordan Travis situation, and we’re going to hold them hostage for playing a very difficult schedule, and then dealing with the biggest and baddest team in the country and beating them in Georgia,” Finebaum added. “I just think that’s a complete travesty.”
Even though the outrage wouldn’t be as loud had Alabama been left out, it’s a bit of an absurd argument given the difference in situations between the two teams.
While Finebaum is obviously giving the McElroy and Cubelic audience some red meat, there has been a noticeable push amongst ESPN talent to justify why Florida State was left out of the CFP. Even if the network had nothing to do with that outcome, it does make you wonder if the Worldwide Leader doth protest too much.
[McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning]
