FSU Football is living The American Dream

Written (12-6-2023) by Jordan Coar— Founder of Xzen Performance Coaching

As we exit the year 2023 and step into 2024, the discourse on the “new definition” of the American Dream will inevitably amplify. The pending 2024 election cycle will bring forth many discussions concerning how to define the American Dream— who has access to the American Dream, who determines access to the American Dream, and how to best defend the American Dream. Both sides will proclaim that the American Dream, as we’ve traditionally defined it, has died, although they will say it for copious reasons that exist on a spectrum, from the historical social injustices on the basis of class, race, and gender, to the dilution of the virtues and values that our Founding Fathers had. I will posit that both sides are wrong in their assertions, and that the American Dream, albeit on life support, is still alive. The sports realm has always played a role as an incubator for the proof of the American Dream. This is why we have an infatuation with sports to the degree that we do. We love the “Cinderella stories” of March Madness, the overlooked player who becomes an all-time great, and we love outright dominance of will that manifests itself in the form of sports dynasties and consistent powerhouses of their respective sports. All of these aspects of sports illustrate principles of the American Dream. Florida State Football’s rejection by the College Football Playoff committee was not a snub as most of the viewing public suggests, rather, it is the Sports realm beautifully operating in its increasingly important role of preserving the American Dream; resurrecting an aspect of the American Dream that has become latent in the modern societal dialogue.

Let me be clear: I am ecstatic that Florida State was not chosen to the four team playoff. Not only was it the right choice, but there is not a credible argument to be made in its opposition, neither objectively or subjectively, and this dual approach parallels the duality (which I will expound into a trinity) of the American Dream. Let’s begin with the objective absurdity of Florida State’s “case” to be included in the College Football Playoff— assume that with Alabama’s victory over Georgia, the previous number 1 team, the decision on the final 2 spots in the playoff came down to Florida State, Alabama, and Texas, the winner of the Big 12 conference. When it comes to strength of schedule, Florida State is ranked 55th, far behind Texas’s 13th and Alabama’s 5th place ranking. When it comes to best single win, Florida State handled then 5th ranked LSU, but it is 3rd out of the 3 teams when you compare Texas’s win over number 3 Alabama, and Alabama’s win over number 1 Georgia. When it comes to the number of wins against top 25 teams, Florida State has 3 wins, Texas has 4 wins, and Alabama has 4 wins. Looking at the facts and objective measures, it’s clear that Florida State was not a top 4 team. Detractors of my argument will point out the fact that Florida State lost its starting quarterback, Jordan Travis, due to a season-ending leg injury, and won the ACC championship game with its third-string quarterback, supposing that would garner some sort of sympathy from the Committee, which of course did not happen. This objective nature disproving Florida State’s rightful rejection from the College Football Playoff is a great parallel to the American Dream: the concept that the present matters more than the past. While it is unfortunate that Travis suffered a season-ending injury, Florida State’s viability as a top-4 team is based on the team as currently constructed, not a hypothetical realm where Travis is healthy. Without Travis, the committee did not think Florida State was a top-4 team. Likewise, the American Dream doesn’t discount a person’s past or the obstacles that a person faces, but the American Dream cares more about who is the best on the specific day where one needs to put their best effort forth. This is what makes the American Dream the most coveted concept in all of the world: all you need for complete life transformation is to be your absolute best once at the right time. When it was time for Florida State to be at their absolute best, they were not, while Alabama and Texas both played perhaps their best games of the season. 

A slight dig into the objective metrics (I’ve not included any statistical measures to balance the impact of having Jordan Travis not playing the final 2 plus games of the season) ruins the argument for Florida State as a top four team, so naturally the more subjective measures arise for why Florida State should be included, and why they were ultimately not selected. The first thing people say is to simply look at the record, FSU was 13-0 compared to two 12-1 teams and yet they were left out. These same people will then go down the rabbit hole that leads to conspiratorial thinking, such as ESPN’s television rights deal with the SEC, which includes Alabama and will include Texas starting next year as a reason for leaving FSU out, or the ratings boost from two of the biggest fanbases in the sport. Even if these theories were valid, these statements are merely a smokescreen for the true fact of the matter: the committee’s job is to get the best 4 teams into the final four to compete for a national championship. An argument that I’ve not heard one of the FSU advocates say is the most simple and straightforward of arguments: FSU would beat Alabama or Texas on a neutral field if they were to play this upcoming Saturday. If FSU was robbed how people say they were, why hasn’t this been considered? It’s because everyone knows that FSU as currently constructed is not a top 4 team. They may not be a top 10 team, and putting them in the playoff as a sympathy selection for going undefeated would further ruin the integrity of College Football. Another subjective argument is the “what more could they have done?” argument, explaining that FSU did all it could by beating everyone on their schedule. It is this argument that unlocks the second aspect of the American Dream: the American Dream does not guarantee your desired result. Sometimes in life, you can do all you can do, control all you can control, and things still do not pan out in your favor. There is a seemingly subjective balance that life contains, where we get what we don’t deserve and we don’t get what we think we deserve. Again, the committee’s job was not to find the most deserving 4 teams; its job was to find the best 4 teams. The American Dream simply presents one with an opportunity, and what one does with their opportunity is up to them. FSU controlled what it could control, but so did Alabama and Texas. FSU supporters don’t hold against the Seminoles the fact that both Clemson and Miami (FL), two programs who are usually good and started the year off ranked, had uncharacteristically bad seasons, damaging their strength of schedule. If those teams were who they’ve been the past couple of seasons, could the Seminoles have lost one of those games (they won both games by 7 points, one being in overtime)? Is it FSU’s fault that the committee has been much maligned throughout the duration of the 4 team playoff for the lack of competitive semi-final games (12 of the previous 18 contests were decided by 17+ points), and possibly didn’t want to make the same mishap? No, but it’s also no one’s fault that the Pac-12 experienced a resurgence in what would be its final season, making the ACC the worst of the Power 5 Conferences and its championship the least impressive of the conference champions. The American Dream includes variables, many of which we have no control over, but that doesn’t prevent The American Dream from existing, and the Seminoles are experiencing this in real-time. 

The third aspect of The American Dream is twofold, and it corresponds with the real reason that FSU is not in the College Football Playoff. While everyone is blaming greedy TV networks, the Committee, and the “SEC bias” as reasons for why the Seminoles aren’t in the Playoff, everyone is missing who the real culprit is. If anyone is to blame for FSU’s apparent snub, it’s the University of Georgia. Had they beat Alabama, FSU would be in the Playoff without question. Alabama would’ve been eliminated, and Texas would have been knocked down since their best win of the season would be diminished by Alabama’s loss. Georgia had been the dominant program for the last 3 seasons, winning 29 straight games, and going into the SEC Championship, they were favored to win against Alabama, and many people thought they were unequivocally a top 4 team, if not the unquestioned best team in the country. Just like Texas, FSU, and Alabama had their opportunity to be their best when their best was needed, the Bulldogs did too. They did not rise to the occasion and the chaos that ensued ultimately left FSU without a spot in the College Football Playoff. Herein lies the true definition of The American Dream, the aspect that is so intertwined with the desire of the human soul that it cannot be killed: The American Dream affords one the opportunity to be what they can be, limited only by their individual combination of character traits, virtuous conduct, and imagination, by bringing you face to face with the obstacles that holds one back. The material or tangible goal that many people consider “The American Dream” is actually a lagging indicator of it, and a particularly poor one. A person can, both literally and figuratively, gain the world and lose their soul, which is the opposite of The American Dream. The American Dream is not about losing one’s soul, rather it is about the liberation of one’s soul and the transmutation of the soul from potential, to actualization, to exponential growth. How ironic is it that Florida State is playing Georgia in the Orange Bowl? This is FSU’s chance to prove people like me wrong, by confronting the very team who dashed its national title hopes. A win against a team who some people still consider a top 4 team, if not the best team in the country who picked the wrong time to have a less than stellar showing, and the Seminoles get to etch their names in the history books as one of just 7 teams to go 14-0 or better in a single season. Better than that, they get the opportunity to face the real obstacle holding each of the coaches and players back, which is the same obstacle that you and I face on our path to The American Dream: ourselves. Will FSU come together as a team and play this game as if it was the College Football Playoff? Will they channel their outrage and disappointment into motivation? Or, will the players, especially those with NFL aspirations, sit this “meaningless” game out and focus on themselves? 

College is supposed to be the final stop in the required education of young citizens before they are sent out to the world to hopefully make something of themselves and contribute in a meaningful way to society. I cannot think of a better lesson to learn than to truly experience the fullness of The American Dream: the dedication, preparation, and commitment, to actualize and subsequently grow the latent greatness that lies within us, without a guaranteed return or desired result, regardless of what and who stands in their way. Imagine a society where people perform at their highest conceivable levels simply because they have conditioned themselves to do so, as if it is essential to the Human condition and the Human experience. This is what I hope to see from the FSU football team: a team that competes for a national championship that it will never win, because by doing so, they will accomplish much more than the trophy could ever represent. They will unlock a Universal source of Energy that is unused by an overwhelming majority of us: the drive and ability to be able to tangibly touch the person you’ve always imagined yourself becoming. This is the Energy our Founding Fathers tapped into when they created this country, and this is The American Dream.