Boo Corrigan acknowledges Florida State is a 'different team without Jordan Travis'

The second-to-last College Football Playoff rankings debuted on Tuesday night and Florida State remains firmly in contention for a coveted playoff spot.

The Seminoles jumped a spot into the No. 4 position on Tuesday night, courtesy of Ohio State‘s loss to Michigan.

Whether Florida State can hold onto that spot with an ACC Championship Game win over Louisville is the key question now. The Seminoles are in the unfortunate spot of having lost their starting — and star — quarterback Jordan Travis.

College Football Playoff selection committee chair Boo Corrigan addressed the elephant in the room after noting last week that the committee would be watching FSU intently to see how different the team is without Travis.

“Yeah, different team, right?” Corrigan said on ESPN on Tuesday. “Different team without Jordan Travis. Tate Rodemaker continues to, in the game and a half that he’s been playing, has done well, has kind of managed the game. Trey Benson getting three touchdowns during the course of that game, as we talked about last week, it’s more than just one player, but obviously they’re a different team without Travis.”

Much of the discussion now centers around what the playoff selection committee values most.

Obviously resume is important, but how good a team is (which is a bit of a subjective thing) also matters, as evidenced by the committee noting it needed to see what Florida State looked like without Travis.

But would the committee really leave a team like Florida State out if it’s 13-0 with an ACC title?

ESPN’s Greg McElroy didn’t seem to think so, noting it’s not always the best four teams that make the playoff. In this case, that could work in Florida State’s favor.

“Here’s the thing. We can say ‘four best’ all we want. It’s never been the four best,” McElroy said on the CFP reveal show. “It’s the four that the committee can most easily justify. I understand that things have gotten sideways. I get that completely. But we’ve looked back over time. No one can tell me in 2014 that Florida State was among the four best teams. They weren’t, and they got absolutely boat race by Oregon in the Playoff.

“No one can tell me the Michigan State in 2015 was one of the four best teams. No one can tell me in ’16 that Ohio State was one of the four best teams. They weren’t. They got in because they had one loss. Or, in some cases like Florida State’s, they were undefeated. … The committee’s not gonna do it.”