Nick Saban reacts to Florida State playoff snub

Oct 21, 2023; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban does his traditional walk around at Bryant-Denny Stadium before a game against the Tennessee Volunteers. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports

The Alabama Crimson Tide were the beneficiaries of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s controversial call to exclude Florida State from the field of four on Sunday, and that was not lost on Nick Saban.

Saban admitted that the Seminoles were deserving of a place in the playoff. The Alabama head coach seemed to genuinely feel bad for Florida State over their exclusion. He added, however, that the injury to quarterback Jordan Travis was likely the deciding factor.

“This is just one of those years where — and there have been other years like this — where somebody that may have been deserving got left out,” Saban said, via Barrett Sallee of CBS Sports. “Florida State, certainly, going undefeated did everything they could to get into the playoffs. Unfortunately, probably because of the injury to their quarterback, are not going to have that opportunity.”

Though Saban feels badly about FSU being left out, he can’t complain too much; he much prefers for his team to be in, even if it comes at the Seminoles’ expense. Saban lobbied hard for his team to get in the playoff and would have been livid had it been his Tide that got left out.