Former Vikings QB goes off about Florida State getting snubbed
By Adam Patrick
After Florida State was snubbed from this season's College Football Playoff, former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponders shared his feelings online.
Before he was selected by the Minnesota Vikings with the 12th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, quarterback Christian Ponder spent his college career as a three-year starter at Florida State.
So on Sunday, it wasn't much of a surprise to see that Ponder is among the group that is unhappy about his former school not being one of the four teams selected for this season's College Football Playoff.
The former Vikings quarterback isn't very active online (his most recent post on Twitter before Sunday was a re-post of something back in April), but he made sure to let the public know that he was not pleased with an undefeated Florida State team being left out of this season's College Football Playoff.
Former Minnesota Vikings QB does not agree with the decision to exclude Florida State from the College Football Playoff
Ponder, who has over 90,000 followers on Twitter, began a series of four posts with some initial remarks about how Florida State should have been included in this year's College Football Playoff after finishing with an undefeated record in a Power 5 conference this season.
Wow so CFP committee’s argument is that losses don’t matter. Decision should have been between UT and Bama, not FSU and Bama. How is UT an assumed top 3 team with a loss to OU when 3 teams are undefeated Power 5 champs? Should have been Mich, Wash, FSU, Bama/UT. Unbelievable.
— Christian Ponder (@cponder7) December 3, 2023
The former Minnesota first-round draft pick then added that Florida State losing their top quarterback to a serious injury last month should not have been a factor in the decision whether to include the school in the College Football Playoff or not.
Assumptions on performance should never be a factor. It was assumed that Oregon would beat Washington by 10 points. JT is one of the best players in the country but you can’t assume that Tate is not. Exhibit A: Cardale Jones
— Christian Ponder (@cponder7) December 3, 2023
Unfortunately for Ponder and Florida State, "unavailability of key players" is actually part of the criteria used when it comes to selecting teams for the College Football Playoff. It might not seem fair, but the it's part of the rule book.
FSU isn’t the same team without Travis!
— AL Recruiting (@AL_Recruiting) December 3, 2023
The Committee has the justification in the rules to leave them out.
It’s plain to see they are not one of the Best 4 without him. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Cy2xWe4uZo
To end his rant online, Ponder finished up with a pair of posts that featured the more sarcastic side of his personality.
I’m excited for these playoffs games. By the new CFP logic, it won’t be the team that wins that moves on. It will be the team that looks better and has better statistics that moves on, regardless of what the score says. Should be fun to watch.
— Christian Ponder (@cponder7) December 3, 2023
“Oh 13-0 with a conference championship?” pic.twitter.com/qwRNZr9MrH
— Christian Ponder (@cponder7) December 3, 2023
To add insult to injury, not only is Florida State not one of the four schools selected for this season's College Football Playoff, but their consolation prize is a spot in this season's Orange Bowl against a Georgia team that has won 29 of their last 30 games.
Sunday is certainly not a day that Florida State and their fans will look back on fondly.
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