Social media slams College Football Playoff committee over Florida's ranking
Florida sustained a potentially damaging loss to LSU on Saturday that cast its College Football Playoff hopes into serious question. However, despite entering the game ranked at No. 6 in the CFP Top 25, they fell just 1 spot to No. 7 despite losing as a heavy favorite at home against a shorthanded Tigers squad.
Dan Mullen’s team will be hoping to topple No. 1 Alabama from the ranks of the unbeaten on Saturday in the SEC Championship Game. The SEC champion has never been left out of the Playoff, so if the Gators defeat the Crimson Tide, they still stand a very strong chance at getting in. That being said, a 2-loss team has never earned a Playoff bid.
The Gators’ latest ranking was a source of controversy on social media, with a number of college football fans inside and outside the conference believing Florida should have faced stiffer punishment after its loss in Gainesville. Here’s a sampling of some of the reaction:
Florida drops one spot for losing to a 4-5 team. Cincinnati drops one spot for not playing. What.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) December 16, 2020
Cincy and Florida each drop one spot…one didn't even play a game…the other lost at home to a 3 win team with 54 scholarship players and a TFr QB making his first start
Cool!
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) December 16, 2020
Ohio State stays at 4, but the ridiculous thing about this is that Florida falls only one spot after that terrible loss. This committee has lost its mind
— Scarlet & Game (@ScarletAndGame) December 16, 2020
How does Florida drop one spot when losing at home to a team with losing record? That makes zero sense. So if they beat Bama would they be in the discussion for playoff? That’s as silly as throwing a shoe at a TV screen #Denver7
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) December 16, 2020
So that tossed shoe cost Florida all of one spot?
— Steve Layman (@SteveLayman) December 16, 2020
#CFBPlayoff is trash. Florida drops one spot after an awful loss but Cincinnati continues to fall when they haven't been able to play for reasons out of their control? Iowa State moves up too? I shouldn't even be surprised. #CFP #Bearcats
— Matthew (@_BookOfMatthew) December 16, 2020
Florida loses to a 3 win LSU team and only falls one spot.
Fire every member on the committee. https://t.co/IJiqshJN8A
— Ⓜ️ (@Naiquim) December 16, 2020
Florida lost as a 23 point favorite to 3-5 LSU at home and the CFP committee moved them down one (1) spot to #8
Rankings obviously mean nothing.
— Riley (@Brokeeefe) December 16, 2020
The fact that Florida is still in the top 10 is an absolute travesty. This playoff committee is horrible.
How does Florida lose as 20+ point favorites at home and only drop 1 spot? Cincinnati didn’t even play and dropped one spot
— Devin M. Bilski (@DevinMBilski) December 16, 2020
I normally don’t take to twitter to voice my opinions but the college football playoff rankings just released and Florida who lost to a under .500 LSU TEAM DROPPED ONE SPOT IN THE RANKINGS. which means a win against alabama could possibly put them in. unbelievable!
— Lucas Miller (@thelucasmiller) December 16, 2020
Florida, a 23 point favorite, loses to unranked, 5 loss LSU, and they drop ONE SPOT in the rankings. The SEC bias is incomprehensible, year in, year out. https://t.co/CAX2eNEiKb
— Evan Shaughnessy (@evanshag6) December 16, 2020
Florida lost to one of the worst teams in the SEC as 24 point favorites and only dropped 1 spot.
Welcome to the SEC Committee.
Pathetic.#CFBPlayoff
— Coach Pep ⚾️ (@RobPep12) December 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/Calebisaac10/status/1339002012902563852
Not too bad. Nailed the top 6. Silly me: I thought the committee would drop Florida more than one spot after losing to a 3-5 LSU team. #CFBPlayoff https://t.co/MzvEAWc45T
— Mike Dury (@MikeDury) December 16, 2020
Sorry, but UF really, really needed to keep winning out to make the playoff. Getting it at 2 losses would be tough when one of the teams ahead of them (Texas A&M) has already beaten them, plus there is a super-slim chance that Bama would fall out of the playoff with a loss to UF. Ohio St and Clemson/ND will be there as well.
If UF beats Bama (not likely), it will be difficult to keep a team that beat both Bama and Georgia out of the playoffs. If Clemson beats Notre Dame (very likely) in the above happens, I see the playoff rankings being:
1. Ohio State
2. Clemson
3. Florida
4. Alabama
If Bama and Clemson win, it’s:
1. Bama
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Texas A&M
I don’t see ND falling out unless they are clobbered. Also, UF probably wouldn’t jump high enough to get back in at #4, much less be ranked ahead of Bama (who clobbered both the teams that would have beaten UF up until that point). Bama also would have more wins against the committee’s top 10.
Yeah ND isn’t falling out, win or lose. UF obviously needs to win against Bama to even have a chance. You should be big Irish fans this weekend.
Not going to happen. ISU will get in as a 2 loss team before UF. They have lost to ranked teams. TAMU has a chance, though small. if ND wins or the committee dumps OSU. The only teams I think that have a chance are Bama, ND, Clemson, OSU, TAMU, ISU, and UGA. UGA has a better resume than UF even though they lost head to head because both of their losses were to ranked teams with winning records. Though I doubt everything falls just right for them.
I disagree. A win over Bama would easily jump UF over Iowa State. That would be the best win of the season for any team and would come with a SEC Champ. You think they would take the Big 12 champ over the SEC Champ? Come on.
That makes zero sense, Tfan. How does Uga have a better resume? They have no big wins, while UF has the head to head. Plus if they beat Bama that would be 2 signature wins PLUs the head to head. The hate you have is just ridiculous. ISU has a 17 point loss to a SUN BELT team at home. UFs losses are by a combined 6 points. While a 2 loss team has never made it, the SEC champ has never been left out. I really have no idea why you would lump in Uga in the possible top 4, but not UF. Ludacris.
If you are comparing losses, Iowa State lost to a Sun Belt team. (Seinfeld…”not that there’s anything wrong with that”.) But no, ISU is not going in over Florida.
Doesn’t matter. Alabama will beat Florida by 20+
Florida should have absolutely won on Saturday. Which is why you play the games. Unlike the ACC and Ohio State where we can say they should have won those games but you can’t say because they refused to play the games in order to protect their playoff interests.
While I was suprised at how far we didnt drop, I agree with you 100% Ohio state shouldnt even be in the picture. Does not matter what everybody thinks they could have done. A 10 game all sec schedule is brutal. Would love to see the buckeyes try to navigate that. Then come talk. All of us SEC fans should be more upset about that!
Very good points, Ohio should not be in the CFP. I would feel bad for the players because the Big 10 conference made some irrational decisions. Lets be honest though, it should not be a disadvantage for other conferences because of the decision the Big 10 made.
The BiG mismanaged their season horribly & now tweaks the rules so that the Buckeyes can get in. Playing that few games should be an automatic disqualifier.
The CFP committee has a habit of letting things play out and things usually take care of themselves. It is not out of the realm of possibilities that UF drops to 15 with a loss to Bama, and it is assured they will be left out of the CFPs and Bama will get in even with a win. They could also look at it and drop OSU. These early rankings are nothing more than a way for RSPN to make money. The next one is the one that counts.
I agree. I think the takeaway is that Florida is left within the most minimal/technical striking distance of the CFP, but first needs to beat Bama and then rely on major chaos elsewhere. Losing to Bama will drop them from the top 10 (barring chaos elsewhere) well out of any CFP consideration. And Cincinnati isn’t getting in even if Bama, ND, and OSU lost.
How do you argue UF getting into the top 4 now. They lost to an unranked 3-5 LSU at home, but don’t drop below Georgia because the head-to-head. If they beat Alabama, then with that logic Florida shouldn’t leap A&M because A&M should be a “buffer” as well. A bunch of morons in the committee.
In looking at all the tweets and posts i think the committee did exactly what it intended to do, get everyone emotionally involved in the games this weekend. There’s a lot of “ifs” to play out before the final 4, and these things tend to work themselves out. I don’t believe Gators have the team (defense) to beat Bama, so they drop out and then the only question is ND vs. Clem. and how they value those teams (whomever wins). I doubt Cincy has a chance and it’ll come down to A&M vs. loser of ND/Clem. getting that last spot. They will put OSU in the 4 regardless of games played.
Oh yeah OSU at least in the 4 is just given. It’s always going to be the same schools anyway. No surprise there.
Exactly. This is just their way of getting people riled up and involved. Everyone wants to see Bama thrash UF so they can say “I told you so” next week. For the same reason they keep bumping ISU. They want the Big12 championship to mean something so people will watch. It’s all for the drama. The “buffer” argument will no longer take precedent because if UF wins (very unlikely as we all knw) they have the conference championship, and as we have seen in years past the committee takes these championship games seemingly as the most important piece of evidence. The SEC champ has never been left out, but a two loss team has never made it. This year has been full of firsts, considering the all-SEC schedule this year and the fact Florida will have played 8 straight weeks (no other top 10 team has even come close), I wouldnt be surprised with a UF top 4 finish under the extremely unlikely circumstance they win on Saturday.
You know what. I was pretty dumb to expect any logical reasoning and consistency from the CFP committee. I’ll just have to wait untill they expand the playoffs, which may never happen.
Why doesnt social media blitz Notre Dame and Clemson for cancelling their lastb games? Florida played… and we lost. ND and Clemson could have lost, but they got protected!
Bigger joke is people want Ohio State in the playoffs and they barely played games. Why bother having a season, lets just have the playoffs every year and just send the same four teams every year!
There is a reason the games are played… any team on any day can lose. Its a disgrace Ohio State gets to go to playoffs just because theybare Ohio State. Alabama played their game… risking injuries and such. Clemson and ND are pathetic. Ohio State is a prima donna.
UGA led Alabama at half time with a third string QB. With JT Daniels healthy I think Georgia beats Florida and at least makes Bama game closer. Just a shame Georgia didn’t have him all year.
It’s a shame Kyle Pitts got head-hunted in that game or the score could’ve been much worse. Playing woulda, coulda, shoulda doesn’t work in college football. You dance with who you brought to the party. LSU had no problem dancing with a skeleton crew, why should UGA? Don’t bother arguing i’ll throw a show at you.
That would be a “Shoe” not a show
It most always comes down to the SEC Championship! Everyone likes playing the “what if” game in-between. Social Media, sports articles, SDS comments erupts with a billion opinions that really don’t matter. It does make for some interesting conversations. One thing that it does expose are the fools in the world. Lets be honest, these are teams and not religions. People should know, just like in person, when you cross a line in the sand the possibility for an altercation may be the outcome. Like I always say to friends…we’re all on “team human”, but boy its hard to not take it personally when someone is bashing them!
At the risk of being taking 100% serious, please keep in mind this is just a “for fun” comment. Given how screwed up this year is the continued clamor to get a smaller school into the mix, I suggest the following: Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina line up and play a “play in” game. The winner then gets a spot in the final 4. This would result in an undefeated team making it and if they get smashed, would end this clamor for a while. If the don’t get smashed, maybe they get more attention moving forward. The season is already somewhat of a joke, reference all this discussion (and Florida still being 7) so why not go all in on that fact.
For the same reason they left out UCF. It would be a no-win situation for the committee. If they let them in and Cincy wins, it makes the committee look bad for not respecting them before and opens the door for the future group of 5 teams needing respect (if multiple small-market schools go undefeated or are considered with one loss there are too many hands in the basket and the big name, big money schools have less room to get in).
If they lose, then the committee wasted a spot that could have gone to a more deserving team. Its what happened when ND made the playoff. Bama crushed them just like every team who played ND in BCS games did. ND never deserved it as an independent (This year is obviously different since they played a conference schedule).
The committee gains nothing from including group of 5 schools, which is why it will never happen under the current format.
Fair enough and good conversation but loses steam when you use ND as an example. While they did get stomped when they did make it, comparing the likes of ND to those other schools is far from apples to apples. I can’t stand ND having grown up in SEC country and the days of three TV channels. We couldn’t stand getting stuck with a ND game every friggin week. Have a good one.
I think the argument still stands, regardless of how you feel about ND being worthy most years. It may not be apples to apples but the fact remains that they got demolished and werent deserving to begin with.
I’m very sorry you had to grow up with that. Truly.
Either way, agreed-good convo. Take care, CT.
The College Football Playoff Committee does what it wants without having to answer to anyone. Do the members have favorites ?…of course and vote where they want them to be. The Gators are not getting in with two(2) losses.
Nor should they, it would not be deserved. Anyone know what the trophy for the “Adidas Shoe Bowl” looks like?
So if Florida loses this Saturday (which they prbly will! How far will they fall. Holy Crap
They will probably stay at #7.
The reason Florida dropped only spot is that no one below them deserved to move up.
Dominion Voting Machines tabulate the CFP count. Dominion CEO could not be reached for comment.
People should be more bothered that Ohio State is going to be given a mulligan for playing half a season. No way.
None of this would matter if the CFP was eight teams with each P5 conference champion getting a spot. Florida wins, thats it. I dont have a problem with a 2 loss team if the field is eight with all the P5 champions.
You only saying that because you know Bama still gets in that way? lol
Most seem to agree the playoff should be 8 teams (except for Harbaugh-it should be the exact number of teams needed to get his team in-this year I think that’s currently 70??). Exactly why it will never happen.
Actually most don’t agree it should be 8… If most thought it would be 8 then it would be.. The power 5 determines the setup because of the money involved. If they wanted 8 it would happen.
Social media should be slamming game manager Mac Jones for moving up in the Heisman watch after having 0 TD passes and 0 TD runs against 3-win Arkansas.
It could be worse… He could have turned it over 3 times in a loss against a 3 win LSU..