It's Simple: Florida State Left Out Of CFP Because Of Injury To Star QB Jordan Travis - It's Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama

Alabama is in the College Football Playoff at No. 4 after knocking off No. 1 Georgia, 27-24, in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday night. And the Crimson Tide sent the Bulldogs out of the playoffs completely to No. 6 in the CFP final, pre-playoff rankings released on Sunday afternoon.

Alabama (12-1) moved up from No. 8 and took undefeated Florida State's No. 4 ranking as the Seminoles finished 13-0 and at No. 5. The Seminoles are the first Power Five conference team in the history of the CFP four-team playoff to go undefeated and untied and not make it. But the reason was simple and written down in the selection committee's criteria. It was because of a disastrous injury two weeks ago to Florida State star quarterback Jordan Travis, and because of how poorly the Seminoles' offense has played in the last two games without him.

CFP Selection Committee Weighs Key Injuries

Michigan (13-0) moved up to No. 1 from No. 2 to take Georgia's spot after beating No. 16 Iowa, 26-0, in the Big Ten title game Saturday night. Georgia (12-1) would have made it in past years with the loss to Alabama on Saturday, but this year has not been like past years. There were too many quality undefeated and one-loss teams.

"Thank God," Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said on ESPN after the release of the rankings. This made sense as Harbaugh is fortunate the Big Ten or the NCAA has not suspended him for the postseason. The Big Ten, on the advice of the NCAA, suspended Harbaugh for Michigan's last three regular season games because of an ongoing NCAA investigation into an alleged, systemic sign stealing scandal going on for three years in Harbaugh's program.

And Washington (13-0) moved up to No. 2 following a 34-31 win over No. 6 Oregon on Friday night in the last Pac-12 championship game. Texas (12-1), which has a critical win over Alabama, moved from No. 7 to No. 3 after beating No. 18 Oklahoma State, 49-21, Saturday night in the Big 12 title game.

College Football Playoff Rankings Top 4 Predicted Perfectly

OutKick predicted the outcome exactly late Saturday after the Seminoles' lackluster, 16-6 win over No. 14 Louisville. FSU No. 3 quarterback Brock Glenn completed just 8 of 21 passes for 55 yards for Florida State, and the Seminoles managed only 12 first downs and 219 total yards.

Florida State Seminoles' Loss Of QB Jordan Travis Key

Glenn played for No. 2 quarterback Tate Rodemaker, who missed the game with a concussion. Rodemaker replaced Travis for FSU’s 24-15 win over Florida last week after Travis broke his leg in a win over North Alabama on Nov. 18.

Rodemaker is expected back for FSU's postseason, but he also was far from Travis in his start against Florida last week. He completed only 12 of 25 passes for 134 yards in a 24-15 win over a Gators team that finished 5-7 and 3-5 in the SEC.

Florida State coach Mike Norvell was very confident Saturday night that his team should have made the playoff.

"There is no conversation," he said.

Norvell had more to say Sunday.

"What is the point of playing games? I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee's decision today to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided they knew better than the results of the games," Norvell said in a statement released by Florida State.

CFP Moves To 12 Teams Next Season

Norvell is wrong and must not have been watching the CFP rankings process for the last decade. It is not always just "results of the games." It is often how teams get to those results. Winning pretty by large amounts of points is important. Florida State won its last two games, but looked very average in the process without Travis against questionable opponents in both cases. Louisville just lost to an average Kentucky team (7-5) last week. Alabama looked average in its win over 6-5 Auburn, but its quarterback - Jalen Milroe - is healthy.

The NCAA Tournament in men's basketball has often not put teams with recent injuries to key players in the field or seeded them worse because of the injury. This is not new.

"Again, I feel horrible for Coach Norvell," selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan said Sunday.

Corrigan's committee made a mistake last week by elevating Florida State to No. 4 from No. 5 despite a lackluster win over Florida without Travis. Had it kept Florida State at No. 5, keeping it at No. 5 Sunday may not have been viewed quite so harshly.

Or did Florida State's loud talk of leaving the ACC last summer weigh in the decision? Corrigan is the athletic director at North Carolina State in the ACC.

Thank goodness, the CFP expands to a 12-team playoff system next season. Too bad, it was not a year earlier.

Florida State athletic director Michael Alford also let loose on Sunday.

It looked bad for Florida State early in the ESPN broadcast of the selections as it put some of the 14-member College Football Playoff selection policies on the screen. And there it was in black and white.

One of those policies weighed is the "unavailability of key players that are injured," which is why the Seminoles are not going.

"Looking at the player availability was really important," CFP selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan (North Carolina State athletic director) said Sunday. "If you lose a quarterback or a wide receiver, it's important. Florida State losing a player like Jordan Travis - that was really a big factor."

College Football Playoff Games Lineup

No. 1 Michigan will play No. 4 Alabama in the Rose Bowl national semifinal on Jan. 1 (5 p.m., ESPN) in Pasadena, California.

No. 2 Washington will play No. 3 Texas in the Sugar Bowl national semifinal on Jan. 1 (8:45 p.m., ESPN) in New Orleans at the Superdome.

The two winners will meet in the national championship game in Houston at NRG Stadium on Jan. 8 (7:30 p.m., ESPN).