Paul Finebaum: 'Patently absurd' that ACC champion FSU deserves College Football Playoff spot

Paul Finebaum called it ‘patently absurd’ that Florida State deserves a spot in the College Football Playoff automatically by winning the ACC.

Well, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo did not want to hear that take whatsoever. The notion of FSU going undefeated and winning the ACC and not making the playoff is a complicated issue. But it’s a thought now due to the season ending injury to quarterback Jordan Travis.

Russo doesn’t necessarily think Florida State is among the best four at the moment, but keeping them out of the playoff shouldn’t happen in the radio legend’s mind.

“Okay, here’s the point with Paul, I’m not a huge Florida State fan either,” Russo said on First Take. “So I understand your point about the conference. If you beat Louisville, if you beat LSU, if you went to Clemson and you’re winning the ACC and you go undefeated, I don’t care who the quarterback is. You’re gonna be in the Final Four.”

Russo then laid out why Finebaum’s initial questions about Florida State were off base.

“Again, do I think that they’re better than Georgia with one loss or do I think necessarily they’re better than Texas? No, but if you win the ACC and you’re Florida State, that’s won championships … And you go out there and you beat Louisville, Clemson. LSU can and then of course Florida on the road, you are going to be in the Final Four and you deserve to be in the Final Four,” Russo said. “That’s not fair.”

Finebaum didn’t want to hear the word deserve thrown around when it came to Florida State. The strength of schedule and loss of Travis was a big sticking point to Finebaum.

“That’s patently absurd, to throw around this word ‘deserve.’” Finebaum said. “I thought this was about picking the four best teams in the country, not the deserving. This isn’t Little League where you get participation trophies. How about identifying who the four best are and don’t tell me that Georgia wouldn’t be one of the four best having lost to Alabama? 

“I mean, are you serious? 29 Straight games and then lose to Saban and Alabama. And conversely, Texas and Oregon. You just can’t give out trophies because you win the ACC.”

However, Florida State would have wins over LSU, a ranked team in the CFP, a road win over Clemson, a win over a ranked Duke team, beat rival Florida on the road and, what should be, a top 10 win over Louisville for the ACC title.

Right there, that seems like a College Football Playoff resume for Florida State. It would certainly be unprecedented to leave out an undefeated Power Five champion.