In the latest reality TV shocker, the Florida State Seminoles did not receive a rose

Major college football never needed a postseason playoff. The game was perfectly fine when the opinions of sports writers and coaches determined a mythical national champion.

No one was harmed when sports fans argued throughout the off-season about which team really deserved to be ranked No. 1. The players on teams that finished second or third didn’t suffer post-traumatic stress disorder.

College football used to be unique. Every game mattered. The final score of every game mattered. Even if powerhouse Nebraska scheduled a mid-major, the margin of victory contributed to the perception of the Cornhuskers.

I say all of this because I’m not going to shed any tears for Florida State. The Seminoles finished their season 13-0, winners of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, but were left out of the four-team playoff because, in the opinion of the selection committee, one-loss Texas and one-loss Alabama are better than FSU.

Twenty-five years ago, Florida State’s players would have been thrilled with an ACC championship and a bowl matchup. The new system has made them victims.

Here we go with pesky opinions. They still matter in major college football. The playoffs were supposed to eliminate opinions and allow everything to be determined on the field. But as long as a selection committee exists, opinions are going to matter in college athletics. You can’t escape opinions unless you further dilute what had been sports’ greatest regular season by expanding the playoffs to 24 teams or more.

It’s time to admit that the people who have been trying to improve college football have actually ruined it. The pursuit of more financial riches has professionalized college football and increased the corruption in the sport.

Florida State fans believe the selection committee invited Texas and Alabama to the playoffs because ESPN and ABC have exclusive broadcast rights to SEC football beginning in 2024, which will include Texas, hence overriding the network’s ACC affiliation.

College football was never pure. But it was different. Many of its young players felt a genuine connection to the schools that overlooked their high school transcripts and SAT scores and invited them on campus to learn, socialize, and play a game.

That isn’t true any more. Athletes now feel entitled. Why shouldn’t they? Corporate media programmed them to believe only two things really matter: money and competing for a national title.

In the pursuit of money, the college season has been expanded, conferences have been blown up and made irrelevant, and the only bowl games that matter are tied directly to the playoffs.

Happiness is based on expectations. Twenty-five years ago, Florida State’s players would have been thrilled with an ACC championship and a bowl matchup against Georgia. The new system has made them victims. A great crime has been committed against Florida State. Everybody is a victim these days.

Ohio State just finished its season 11-1. The school’s starting quarterback, Kyle McCord, announced yesterday he’s hitting the transfer portal.

College athletics are now no different from the NBA or NFL. The players are mercenaries. That’s not said to demonize the players. It’s said to demonize the school presidents, administrators, coaches, and members of the media who failed to protect what was special about college athletics while attempting to generate more revenue.

Bad leadership produces entitled young people and corrupt systems. Not one thing about college football has improved in the last 40 years.

There were far superior ways to compensate college athletes than name, image, and likeness. NIL and the transfer portal were initiated as reactions to the NCAA’s lack of vision and the establishment media’s lack of sophisticated ideas.

This is a group failure. It isn’t going to be fixed when the playoffs are expanded to 12 teams. There will be a whiny Florida State every year.

College football is just another reality television show. Reality TV is scripted. Alabama and Texas are bigger stars than Florida State. The networks don’t care about competition. They care about ratings. That’s why the networks spent all season trying to convince viewers that Deion Sanders was the second coming of Bear Bryant.

What’s funny is if Deion coached Florida State, the Seminoles would have qualified for the playoffs with a 12-1 record.