College football playoff panel members will not have much to say to teams like Florida State, Alabama, Florida, and Michigan after they have started the season with such big games. These big games make a major difference for all these teams because they will not be discounted when they come before the panel at the end of the year. These teams are making their case early, and they are playing on the way that the polls have worked forever. college football teams are learning that they cannot pay Jacksonville State to lose to them no matter how nice it is to listen to their marching band.
The playoff panel watches
These panel members are watching the games that are played early in the season, and they realize that playing Florida State to start the season is much better than playing Alabama State. Alabama could beat Alabama State with their third string players, and it would be tantamount to taking a week off. Preparing for Florida State is hard, and your starters stay in the whole game. Florida State can say the same because they are not playing Bethune-Cookman to start the season.
The early loss does not matter
We have been told over and over for decades that early losses are forgotten. You can go out and lose in week one, go on a run, make it to your conference title game, and we will have forgotten who you lost to.
I have had this experience many times because I know that a team has lost a game, but I forgot who it was. It is that inconsequential, and I believe that the panel remembers that when they come to the end of the season. We have to remember these things when we see a good team lose at the beginning of the season. Florida or Michigan could easily come back, and Alabama or Florida State will be fine if they lose.
Everyone could lose anyways
If you get to the end of the season with an undefeated team I will be amazed. I believe this is a season where someone with two losses is in contention. All these teams have hard schedules that are too difficult to manage when they are starting the season with games like this.
Who loses first?
Florida State.
They are going to get their hats handed to them by Alabama, and we will watch them try to navigate their ACC schedule without any losses. They are good enough to do that, and we cannot knock them for losing to Alabama. It is difficult to imagine Florida State losing to Michigan, but either of those teams will recover just fine. It is very easy to imagine this season going haywire after a couple early losses by good teams.
