The people who designed a four-team playoff back then really didn’t want to design a four-team playoff — or any kind of playoff. So they did a terrible job.
They knew they needed to move past the two-team Bowl Championship Series. However, too many of their motivations had little to do with determining a champion on the field or setting up the most exciting postseason. Instead they were focused on protecting the bowl industry, maintaining the Rose Bowl’s late-afternoon New Year’s Day television window (and second-half sunset over the San Gabriel Mountains) and making a glacial move from two to four when a bold one was needed and inevitable.
Florida State was further impacted by the
misplaced emotions of the commissioners of the Big Ten, Pac-12 and, yes, its very own ACC in the summer of 2021. Plans to expand the playoff to 12 teams before the 2023 season were nearly complete at the time. Then Texas and
Oklahoma called the SEC and asked about leaving the Big 12. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey got the deal done, and his league will expand to 16 teams next season.
The other leagues began saber rattling and acting like every other league wouldn’t have done the same thing the SEC did.
They formed the so-called “Alliance,” which supposedly would create stability against SEC aggression. It was comical and ridiculous. Within a year, the Big Ten raided the Pac-12 for USC and
UCLA starting in 2024. Later, they finished the league off by grabbing
Oregon and Washington. The Big 12 and ACC then picked off the rest.
The ACC got played a fool. In the process, the playoff expansion was tabled until everyone calmed down. By the time the original expansion plan was finally agreed upon it was too late for this season. It'll start in 2024, with automatic bids for top conference champions. It's one year too late for Florida State.