The divergent fates of Alabama and Florida State after last year’s CFP controversy

If college football were a cartoon, there would’ve been a moment last December, just after the committee snubbed an undefeated Florida State team from the playoff, when Mike Norvell would’ve concluded this was as bad as things could get, all while unknowingly standing beneath a piano perilously being lifted up to a 20th-floor window.

Of course, after Florida State fell to Norvell’s former school, Memphis, 20-12 on Saturday, it’s entirely possible the Seminoles would prefer the piano to reality.

Nine months ago, Florida State had the world’s sympathy — at least the parts of the world that don’t chant “S-E-C, S-E-C” at weddings, funerals and children’s parties. It was easy to like that team. It was a group that fought harder after losing QB Jordan Travis, that gave all it had to keep winning, that missed its shot at the playoff not because of its own mistakes but because of the committee’s whim.

Now, there is no sympathy. There is only a strange mix of shame, frustration and dark humor, like spilling a drink down the front of your pants.

The beneficiary of the committee’s decision was Alabama, and things could’ve easily shifted toward a bleak 2024 for the Tide, too. They lost their playoff game, waved goodbye to the greatest coach in the sport’s history, then saw an exodus of players into the portal, including five who left for Tallahassee.

And yet, on the same day Florida State hit a new nadir, Alabama flexed the same muscle it so often did under Nick Saban, annihilating Wisconsin 42-10 behind a five-touchdown performance from Jalen Milroe.

In a more just world, Florida State might’ve earned a little good karma after the indignity of its playoff snub. In a more fair world, Alabama might, just once, be dealt a bad hand.

But college football has proven, again and again, it doesn’t care about fairness, but it does have one heck of a sense of humor.

So in Madison, the Tide came to get down.

Alabama players jump around during Jump Around pic.twitter.com/OytiNveT43

— Patrick Greenfield (@PCGreenfield) September 14, 2024

And in Tallahassee, Florida State is ready to pack it up and pack it in.

For Alabama, the roster turnover only opened space for new stars, like freshman receiver Ryan Williams, who caught four balls for 78 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s win. Williams is just 17 — born just seven months before Saban coached his first game at Alabama, not old enough to even remember there was a time something like an 0-3 start would be unimaginable at Florida State.

For FSU, there’s no clear path forward. DJ Uiagalelei has been awful, the ground game has mustered little, the offensive line that was supposed otherwise be a strength got manhandled by a Group of 5 program, and the defense, which played its best game Saturday, still is full of holes. For the Seminoles, the only silver lining to take from this miserable start to the season is it may have lowered the program’s media valuation enough that it can escape the ACC for a standard exit fee and some Kohl’s cash.

Nine months ago, there could be a reasonable debate about the comparative resumés of Alabama and Florida State. On Saturday, during commercial breaks of the Tide’s thumping of Wisconsin, it was possible to flip between ads for “9-1-1: Lone Star” featuring a massive train derailment and an FSU game featuring an even more horrifying train wreck.

To witness what’s become of Florida State in the time since the committee delivered its verdict is hard to comprehend, an avalanche of ceaseless misery typically reserved for “Saw” movies or minor weather issues at LAX.

But it’s worth considering how utterly incomprehensible it is for Alabama to be here, too — 3-0 with a road win in Big Ten country just months after Saban’s exit. Alabama has been the model for sustained greatness for a generation, and that consistency was typically attributed to Saban’s relentlessness. But even he reached a point in which it was time for something new, and yet Alabama keeps on plugging along — one dominant win after another, as reliable as the sunrise.

None of this is proof the committee got its decision right, of course. That was last season — a different team, a different time. But it is proof that in this chaotic sport, greatness is fleeting and opportunity often brushes past like a Florida State linebacker missing a tackle at the line of scrimmage.

And even at a place like Alabama, a program that has stood defiantly against the winds of change for 16 years now, it’s always better to appreciate the good things while you have them. Because if there’s anything we’ve learned from watching Florida State these past nine months it’s this: It can always get worse.

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LSU survives | Vibe shifts | Arizona’s hottest team

LSU escapes South Carolina

The first 56 minutes of Saturday’s game against South Carolina was far from pleasant for LSU.

A series of special teams gaffes, two turnovers and some big runs by Gamecocks QB LaNorris Sellers had the Tigers playing catchup often. South Carolina jumped out to a 24-10 lead, saw LSU pull ahead briefly in the fourth quarter, then saw Rocket Sanders explode for a 66-yard score.

With less than four minutes to play, LSU trailed by four, and Brian Kelly had gone through all six stages of grief: Frustration, indignation, hostility, anger, asking to speak to the manager and, finally, pondering the execution his players.

But Garrett Nussmeier rode to the rescue with his 29-yard completion to Kyren Lacy to jumpstart a 55-yard touchdown drive to put LSU up 36-33.

South Carolina had one last crack at the win, attempting a 49-yard field goal as time expired, but it missed, giving Kelly a chance to celebrate a hard-earned win before returning to his office to watch film and scream into a pillow.

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Week 3 vibe shifts

Trending down: Completing all your throws

The good news for Michigan QB Davis Warren is every pass he threw in Michigan’s 28-18 win over Arkansas State on Saturday was caught.

The bad news is, three of them were caught by Arkansas State players.

So, here’s where we are with the defending champs: After decades rotating through a carousel of quarterbacks who won their position by finding a golden ticket under a Detroit-style pizza, the Wolverines were treated to two seasons of J.J. McCarthy and thought perhaps things had changed for good. Instead, Warren is averaging 6.1 yards-per-pass with two touchdowns and six picks through three games.

Now, USC is on deck next week, and Michigan is left trying to find an answer between Warren or Alex Orji or to hope there’s another QB stashed in Jim Harbaugh’s abandoned storage locker behind those boxes labeled “signals for every opponent, 2020-2023.”

Trending up: UNLV‘s case for Pac-12 expansion

Matthew Sluka led an 18-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that chewed 9:31 off the clock in the fourth quarter Friday night, and UNLV upset Kansas 23-20. It was the Rebels’ second win over a Power 4 opponent already this season after dumping Houston in the opener. How impressive is that? Entering Saturday, Northern Illinois‘ upset of Notre Dame was the only other Group of 5 win over a power conference foe.

Like with anything in Vegas, it’s a little skill and a lot of luck.

Still, it’s safe to say Barry Odom has the Rebels peaking at the right time, with UNLV’s sales pitch to the expanding Pac-12 now looking pretty strong: A big market, a good team, and access to myriad all-night buffets. Then all Odom needs to do is take that Pac-12 payout in chips, bet it all on black on a single roulette spin, double down two or three more times, and boom — UNLV is playing with SEC money.

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Land of the rising Sun Devils

A year ago, Arizona was the darling of the college football world after a rollicking 10-3 season, while Arizona State was a laughing stock forced to start a chorus of struggling quarterbacks possibly including a couple guys they found waiting outside a Tempe In-N-Out Burger.

What a difference a year makes.

Arizona waved goodbye to head coach Jedd Fisch, who left for Washington, and opened this season with two unimpressive wins over New Mexico and Northern Arizona before falling to Kansas State 31-7 on Friday. It was Arizona’s worst offensive performance since being shut out at Colorado in 2021.

The Sun Devils, on the other hand, found a QB in Sam Leavitt and are riding high after knocking off Texas State on Thursday 31-28, starting 3-0 for the first time since 2019. Arizona State is the surprise team of 2024 so far (unless you count bad surprises, which Florida State hopes you don’t), and Dillingham’s turnaround of a program left in shambles after the Herm Edwards era ended exactly as everyone said it would.