ACC Championship: 3 Takeaways from FSU’s unconvincing win

Florida State beat Louisville to win the 2023 ACC Championship, but were they convincing enough to secure their spot in the College Football Playoff?

1. Did we just watch a playoff team?

This week, Bill Hancock the executive director of the College Football Playoff said of the committee, “Most deserving is not anything in the committee’s lexicon. They are to rank the best teams in order.”

If that is truly the criteria, then Florida State’s case for making the College Football Playoff is at risk, even after finishing the regular season undefeated and beating Louisville for the ACC title.

The Seminoles were a no-doubter before Jordan Travis went down against North Alabama. They’ve had two games since then, and while they’ve gone 2-0, they’ve been anything but convincing.

Against Florida, the Seminole offense won with just 224 yards of offense, including just 5.2 yards per pass and 2.9 yards per rush.

Saturday, against Louisville, it was a similar story. Florida State football won the game, but the offense was anemic, gaining 219 yards and finishing just 2-of-16 on third-down conversion attempts.

Louisville and Florida are good teams, but they are not playoff teams. What will the Seminole offense with Tate Rodemaker, or Brock Glenn, look like against Alabama? Georgia?

There’s been constant debate about what exactly the criteria for the CFP is. Considering the comments from Hancock this week, we should be evaluating the best teams, and not the most deserving.

Florida State football is absolutely deserving, but it’s hard to call them one of the four best teams in the nation after that putrid offensive performance.