Danny Kanell has been one of the loudest critics of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee's decision to leave Florida State out of the four-team playoff in favor of Alabama. But his entire opinion is hypocritical.
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The college football analyst and former Florida State quarterback who won a national championship at FSU in 1993 has called the process a "sham" and the playoff an "invitational."
"To say I'm devastated is an understatement for what happened to Florida State," he said in a video posted to X. "But I'll be fine. I've got a national championship ring. I got to play for one. For those players who are absolutely gutted right now who bought into the lie that if they won every game on their schedule they would have an opportunity to play for a national championship, I can't imagine what they're going through."
He added, "They bought into this lie that every game counts."
Now let's talk about why Kanell's stance makes no sense.
I wonder if young 20-something Danny Kanell felt the same hurt for the 1993 Notre Dame Fighting Irish that beat Kanell's Seminoles in the regular season and were robbed of playing for a national championship despite both teams being 11-1. Was Kanell "gutted" when the '93 West Virginia Mountaineers put together a perfect 11-0 regular season — including wins over No. 4 Miami and No. 11 Boston College — only to be passed over for a one-loss Florida State?
Kanell was the benefactor of FSU's strength of schedule back in 1993, the same type of logic that the committee used to put Alabama in over Florida State. FSU played in a much-weaker Atlantic Coast Conference this season, with its lone shining win coming early against LSU; plus, it currently features a hobbling offense without starting quarterback Jordan Travis.
The committee, in an unprecedented yet sensible move, was simply picking the team it viewed as stronger.
Kanell's response to users who have called out his hypocrisy has actually proved the committee's point.
You guys need to make this more challenging. That West Va team got beat 41-7 in bowl.
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) December 5, 2023
If Kanell truly believed this year's FSU team deserved a spot, he would also believe 1993 West Virginia deserved it, too, because they won every game in the regular season. For Kanell to point to West Virginia's 41-7 loss in the Sugar Bowl to Florida is exactly what the committee is doing — predicting a blowout from Florida State, especially given a backup passer will be leading the offense.
No. 1 Florida State went on to beat No. 2 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl that season in what was considered the national championship game. Of course, this was different times. The first BCS National Championship Game wasn't until 1998.
But college football really hasn't changed all that much. Opinionated voters determined who the best team was back then much as the committee does to this day. As Slap the Sign's Daniell Morrison wrote about the 1993 season, "The voters decided that Florida State's overall resume was more impressive. They also decided that losing to Notre Dame was less egregious than losing to Boston College."
If Notre Dame beat Florida State head-to-head in 1993 and had the same record, didn't they deserve the national title more? And why didn't West Virginia deserve a chance over the Seminoles, despite FSU's strength of schedule?
Games don't matter.
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) December 3, 2023
Kanell can complain all he wants now, but the committee made the same correct choice that voters made back in 1993.
