Dear College Football Committee,
College Football has always thrived on passion and competition, where what happens on the field truly matters. However, recent decisions have shown a troubling lack of consistency in how teams are evaluated, suggesting that on field performance and skill are no longer the primary factors. This inconsistency undermines the fairness and credibility of the sport.
The 2023 Florida State University controversy remains a defining example. Despite an undefeated season and an ACC championship – a conference you claim is one of the best in the country- FSU was left out of the playoffs due to quarterback Jordan Travis’s injury. If injury justifies exclusion, why does this logic not apply elsewhere?
The same inconsistency appears again in 2025. When Ole Miss lost head coach Lane Kiffin to LSU, the team was still awarded a six seed despite lacking its primary leader. If player availability matters, leadership would matter as well. A coach plays just as critical a role in a team’s success as any player/
However, I do thank you for expanding the playoffs to 12 teams instead. This is a huge step forward for College Football, but it limits automatic bids to only five conference champions. If conference titles matter, they should matter to everyone. Teams that lose conference championships should be penalized accordingly. *Cough* Alabama *Cough*.
Now let’s get to the juicy stuff. Why was Notre Dame and BYU robbed? The dying question many football fans have been wondering. While I may seem like just an angry Notre Dame fan, that’s not the case. Yes I’m upset Notre Dame was left out, but why was BYU left out as well? And why did they get put in the top 12 just to be replaced by two teams who were ranked 20th and 24th.
The ACC selections raise even more questions. Miami was included despite not playing in the conference championship, while Duke – the actual ACC champion – was excluded entirely. If conference championships matter, they should matter consistently.
On the other hand with BYU, you placed them in the top 12, yet once it came down to the Selection Show, you claimed it was due to their blowout in the Big 12 Championship game against Texas Tech. Ohio State got blown out by Indiana in the Big 10 Championship game yet I never heard you talking about leaving them out of the playoffs.
Even individual awards reflect your failure to be consistent. Notre Dame has the best player in the country yet you have shifted the Heisman award to a Quarterback award. Giving the Heisman to Fernando Mendoza from Indiana. Are you kidding? He is not the best player in the country. The award is to show who the best player in the country is, yet you simply picked the person on the number 1 team in the country. Just because your team is number 1 does not mean that you are. Jeremiah Love is the best player in the country and will continue to prove that as his career in the NFL begins.
The College Football world is clearly facing disappointment from you, and we want a change. The Committee’s standards seem unpredictable, when one year teams are told that the strength of schedule matters and the next year it doesn’t matter. Fans are left frustrated. Coaches are left confused. And athletes, who sacrifice hours of their life into this sport are questioning their worth and if performance truly matters more than reputation.
The solution is not complicated. Yet you clearly tend to complicate everything to benefit your favorite teams. Make the playoffs 16 teams, just how every other sport and professional league does it, no one gets a Bye from the first round, and it’s simply the top 16 teams. If you really want conferences to matter, then take every single conference champion and make them play each other alongside other top teams in the country. It’s simple. Why rob teams that work hard every year to win a title, just to never win a National Championship?
If you are truly passionate about determining the nation’s best and most deserving teams, then you are failing at your jobs. Florida State in 2023, BYU and Notre Dame in 2025, and poor ranking skills are evidence that the framework is flawed. Until beneficial changes are made, these controversies will continue to happen, and the sport will get ruined.
It is time for you to recognize what so many fans already know: the system is broken. And it is time to fix it.
Sincerely,
Ella Torsiello
