Analyzing the anger at Florida State, next steps after playoff snub
Rage and frustration are abundant in Tallahassee after Florida State did not make the College Football Playoff on Sunday. That feeling isn’t going away either as Warchant’s Jeff Cameron expects this to deal a blow to the Seminoles that they’ll feel for a long time and in more ways than one.
Cameron joined on during ‘Andy Staples On3’ on Sunday to discuss the emotion around the program at FSU. He made it clear that everyone is quite irate about the final decision by the committee.
“They’re obviously very angry,” said Cameron. “There are lasting repercussions to this move. Obviously, you look at the financials? Florida State is devastated by this. I think, also, you hit the nail on the head – I think Mike (Norvell) is devastated for his players. They did everything that was asked of them this year.”
However, the overall aggravation comes on behalf of the players. For Florida State to finish undefeated, check every box, and have a committee reward them with nothing after years of hard work in some cases feels like a slap in the face in every sense.
“There isn’t anything that they can do about it and I think that leads to that feeling of being bereft of hope. I mean how must that feel?” thought Cameron. “I do feel terrible for the kids. For all the frustration that Florida State fans feel right now? And, believe me, it is loud and clear how angry they are, whether it be with the College Football Playoff committee, whether it’s ESPN, whether it’s Kirk Herbstreit who went to stumping for this very result to happen weeks ago. All of these things have frustrated Florida State fans. But the truth is they have to feel sick to their stomachs for the players.”
“It’s about the players and the coaches who have worked so very hard to come back from 3-6, 5-7 and get to a place where you win 10 games a year ago, you go into this season with high expectations, and then you meet all of those expectations,” Camerson said. “I think that they feel cheated for those guys, especially because, again, it wasn’t an easy road. Florida State has had to overcome an awful lot this year due to injury – but they did.”
Still, as far as their next steps, Cameron doesn’t expect any form of protest. If nothing else, he expects a justifiably irked team to go to Miami and finish what they started in the Orange Bowl against Georgia.
“You’re put in a box,” explained Cameron. “If you come out and you huff, you puff, you scream? You point to the injustice, you say it’s unfair, you bleed for the players? That’s fine. If you keep doing it? You look like you’re whining and you get accused of crying – all of these things. It’s very unfortunate.”
“They have no recourse that I’m aware of. What, are you going to sue? I don’t think so. Do you boycott the bowl, do you not go? They’re not going to do that. Their motto all year long has been ‘finish’ – finish the play, finish the game. And, unfortunately for them, they did and it got them nothing,” Cameron said. “It’s very frustrating but they’re not going to, if that’s your motto, decide to sit it out.”
With that said, one decision that Camerson believes could come from this is an expedited move out of the Atlantic Coast Conference. With this decision, he believes the national picture just made a statement about the ACC. Now, after this slight, Cameron expects Florida State to respond by taking their talents elsewhere.
“This particular committee just told you that you don’t matter, that the ACC doesn’t matter,” said Camerson. “You further have confirmation that, unless you’re in the Big Ten or the SEC, you don’t matter.”
“I think, honestly, it further affirms that you have to leave as soon as you possibly can. That involves finances, that involves legality. That involves a lot of stuff. I would think this even further emboldens Florida State to get out. You have to find a way. This has long-term repercussions. You can look at the recruiting impact, you can look at financial impact. You can look at a lot of aspects of this,” said Camerson. “You’ve got to find a way to get where the gettin’ is good, where the money is better, and the opportunity is abound.”
All in all, no one is happy about how this turned out for Florida State. They were forced to make the wrong kind of history by not making the playoff as an unblemished champion out of the Power Five.
It’s an ending that’s anything but storybook for a team that, in Cameron and other’s opinions, deserved a lot more and much better than what they were given today.
“They played those games and they won every last one of them. Didn’t stumble, didn’t lose at home by double digits. They always found a way,” said Cameron. “You look around the country? It’s hard to go undefeated. I think they have to feel absolutely cheated with no recourse.”