The Florida State Seminoles lost their season-opener to Alabama on Saturday night, but can FSU still make it to the College Football Playoff this year?
There were plenty of fans and analysts pumping up the Florida State Seminoles coming into Saturday night’s massive opener against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Though ranked No. 3 to Bama’s No. 1, it seemed as if Jimbo Fisher’s group had a viable shot to knock off the top-ranked team. That’s not the way that things played out for FSU, however.
Largely due to gaffes on special teams, the Noles couldn’t get any kind of momentum going after going ahead 7-3 in the first quarter. Alabama went on to score 21 unanswered points through the rest of the game and secured the big win, dropping FSU to 0-1 on the year. Now the question for every Florida State fan is lingering: Can the Seminoles still make the College Football Playoff.
In a vacuum, the answer is undeniably yes. One loss doesn’t eliminate anyone from the College Football Playoff — especially a quality loss to a team like Alabama. In fact, just one year ago three of the four teams in the CFP had one blemish on their record. That means the door is still open for Florida State.
However, this game for FSU made things more complicated than that. Midway through the fourth quarter, quarterback Deondre Francois took a hit to the back of the knees and was unable to get off on his own accord. He had to be helped off before ultimately being put on crutches and carted to the locker room.
Without Francois, the realistic chances of Florida State making the College Football Playoff severely diminish. That being said, their defense is still elite and they have offensive firepower. As such, never say never.
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But in terms of if the one loss means they’re out, the answer is absolutely not. They’ll have to be near-pristine through the rest of the year, but it’s still very much in play from that perspective.