FSU’s beef with Alabama, 2023 CFP Selection ends in comical fashion

Alabama’s College Football Playoff bid at the end of the 2023 season never needed to be justified. The Crimson Tide earned that playoff berth all season long. Sure, it lost an early-season non-conference game to Texas when it was trying to figure out its identity, but the Tide ran the table after that. 

Alabama went undefeated in the best conference in college football, beating ranked foes such as Ole Miss, Tennessee, and LSU along the way. The win that really vaulted Bama into the playoff was its defeat of no. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship game. The Dawgs had won 29 straight games going back to 2021 and were looking for their third straight national title when the Tide knocked them off. 

Alabama further proved it belonged in the playoff when it took eventual national champion Michigan to overtime, coming within three yards of possibly hoisting the trophy. Michigan’s subsequent thrashing of Washington indicated that Alabama was probably the second-best team in the country in 2023, and was top-3 at the very least. 

Not even those results, nor a 63-3 beatdown at the hands of Georgia, stopped FSU fans from harassing Alabama all offseason. Though they were justly upset at being left out of the playoff, Nole Nation directed its ire in a lot of strange places. Among other things, FSU administrators, affiliates, and fans held unrelenting one-sided feuds with entities like ESPN and Alabama that had no say in the decision.

Former FSU quarterback and broadcaster Danny Kanell became the ringleader of this bizarre, conspiracy theory-driven grudge and reinforced his reputation as one of the most annoying sports media personalities alive. Kanell continued throwing shots at Nick Saban right up until kickoff of today’s Florida State-Georgia Tech game in Dublin, Ireland.

While this just provided offseason comic relief for most of us, it will be nice to have that constant background noise finally subside. FSU’s season-opening loss to Georgia Tech as a double-digit favorite should silence the FSU contingent for the foreseeable future. 

If the product they put on the field in week zero is any indication, we won’t have to hear about any FSU playoff talk this year. For the Alabama Crimson Tide, on the other hand, it should be business as usual.