Dabo Swinney sympathizes with FSU players, coaches after College Football Playoff snub

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney feels bad for ACC rival Florida State after the Seminoles were left out of this year’s College Football Playoff.

Despite going 13-0 and winning the ACC, Florida State did not receive one of the top four spots in the final College Football Playoff rankings.

ESPN’s David Hale asked Swinney for his opinion on Florida State being left out of the top four. Swinney feels that it’s unfortunate.

“I feel so bad for those players and coaches. It’s a flawed system but it’s what we got at this time,” Swinney said, according to Hale. “Just hate that they made it all about one player and minimized the impact and importance of all those other players. Football is a team sport.”

Florida State and Clemson met earlier this season, with the Tigers going blow for blow with FSU. The Seminoles eventually won in overtime and went on to win every game they played. Still, it wasn’t enough as the committee left Florida State out, citing the injury to quarterback Jordan Travis late in the season.

Instead, it was a 12-1 Alabama team that was awarded the No. 4 spot in the playoff. Dabo Swinney is far from the only coach or media personality who has spoken out in support of the Seminoles. It has been a mixed reaction since the top four was announced, with some believing Florida State should have still gotten in the playoff and others believing the committee got it right.

Brent Pry very disappointed Florida State left out of College Football Playoff

In addition to Dabo Swinney, another coach who spoke out in support of Florida State was Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry.

As Pry explained, it was a disappointing move and he thought that the Seminoles were going to be in the Playoff.

“Yeah, very disappointed,” Brent Pry said. “I had Florida State in, very felt strongly about it. Their body of work over the course of the season, some of their marquee wins. My heart goes out to Coach [Mike] Norvell and that group. They had a heck of a year and deserve to be in there.”

For Pry and ACC coaches at schools outside of Florida State, this does have an impact. It shows the reputation of the conference, in particular as far as the depth of talented teams in the conference is concerned. On top of that, Pry doesn’t want to be left out if he is able to rebuild Virginia Tech in the same way Mike Norvell was able to rebuild Florida State.

The video of the Seminoles learning they would be left out of the playoff showed Norvell sitting quietly, clearly trying to figure out what he was going to say to his team. Later, he admitted that it was one of the toughest things that he’s experienced.

“I was just hurt for our players, to be honest with you. It was one of the tougher moments I’ve had to experience just for all that they’ve done. You talk to a team about responding to adversity, getting up and going to give all that you can, to be able to find a way to win a college football game. Like Coach [Kirby] Smart said, it’s hard. It’s hard to do, especially when you face some of the adversities that we’ve had this year, whether it’s injury or different things to overcome. It’s all part of it,” Norvell said.