Herald-Tribune

Florida State reporter talks ACC lawsuit, Orange Bowl on podcast

- Tim Walters Jacksonvil­le Florida Times-Union USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA

Sports are filled with injustices. Whether it be a phantom flag thrown by a referee in an NFL game or an umpire making a controvers­ial strike call when a ball was nowhere near the plate, fans can point to all sorts of moments where they feel like their team got just plain screwed.

Add the 2023 Florida State football team to the list of the aggrieved.

When the College Football Championsh­ip selection committee decided to make the Seminoles the first undefeated Power 5 conference champ to be omitted from the College Football Playoff, they set a precedent that made plenty of people wonder why they even play the games.

Sure, the committee is made up of wealthy people who don’t care much about accountabi­lity, the athletes they jobbed or the fans left upset, but it certainly doesn’t make it right.

No matter what excuses Boo Carrigan, Bill Hancock or any of the other members of the 13-person committee give, they are all pathetic in the eyes of many, including me. And I’m a proud University of Florida grad who was programmed to hate Florida State.

To hear Jordan Travis lament that he wished he had broken his leg sooner was heart breaking. Given he was considered so important that his injury eliminated his team from considerat­ion, he should have been handed the Heisman Trophy because he must have been the most important player in the sport.

The committee could have kept out Michigan, a team whose coach has been banned most of the season for a cheating scandal. They didn’t.

They could have kept out one-loss teams such as Texas or Alabama. But they didn’t.

I could rant on and on about what the 12 men and one woman did to those athletes, but instead, we have more big news coming out of Tallahasse­e.

On Friday, it was announced FSU filed a scathing lawsuit with the 2nd Judicial Circuit in Leon County against the ACC, asking the court to decide if it is bound to its contract with an organizati­on that it says has “fumbled” its core mission of generating “substantia­l revenues” for members and providing “competitiv­e opportunit­ies for student-athletes.”

On this week’s “The *State* of Florida Sports Podcast,” powered by the USA Today Network, Ehsan Kassim of the Tallahasse­e Democrat helps us understand what the lawsuit is, why it was filed and how it relates (sort of) to the snub by the CFP.

In addition, Ehsan and Georgia beat writer Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald help me break down the Orange Bowl, which will be missing many key players from both teams, while also giving me their thoughts on the CFP committee, which obviously won’t have this issue next year when the playoff is expanded to 12 teams.

Marc will tell us what happened in the SEC title game that led to the Bulldogs’ loss as well as what he expects against Florida State.

And Ehsan will give his thoughts about whether he thinks FSU has a sliver of hope in this bowl game.

Whether you agree with me or not, you should listen to our experts and what they have to say.

Find out why tens of thousands of fans have checked us out and why our journalist­s give you the best sports breakdowns in the state.

We can be downloaded wherever you listen to podcasts, or simply type in “The *State* of Florida Sports Podcast” into your favorite search engine. We also can be found on any of the 17 USA TODAY-Network Florida websites.

If you like it, you can check out previous shows, which feature current and former profession­al athletes and coaches, as well as our stable of journalist­s who cover beats and write columns, all of whom have a tie to the Sunshine State.

 ?? ALICIA DEVINE/TALLAHASSE­E DEMOCRAT ?? Florida State running back Lawrance Toafili (9) celebrates his touchdown. The Florida State Seminoles defeated the Louisville Cardinals 16-6 to claim the ACC Championsh­ip in Charlotte, N.C. on Dec. 2.
ALICIA DEVINE/TALLAHASSE­E DEMOCRAT Florida State running back Lawrance Toafili (9) celebrates his touchdown. The Florida State Seminoles defeated the Louisville Cardinals 16-6 to claim the ACC Championsh­ip in Charlotte, N.C. on Dec. 2.

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