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Florida State fans were understandably outraged after learning their team failed to earn a spot in this year’s College Football Playoff, but it appears some of them went a bit too far when you consider the backlash to that decision necessitated the involvement of the FBI.
The debate over whether or not the Florida State Seminoles deserved to punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff this season will be a hot topic of debate for years to come, and it’s hard to blame the team and its supporters for being incredibly salty about what was widely perceived as an ignominious snub.
Yes, FSU lost its best player after Jordan Travis saw his season end courtesy of the injury he suffered in a game against an FCS team that was never going to come close to sniffing a win in the contest, but his squad still ended the regular season with an undefeated record. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to prevent the College Football Playoff committee from giving Alabama the fourth (and final) spot.
Anyone who keeps tabs on college football knows you should never underestimate what fans are capable of when things don’t go their way, whether that involves poisoning a bunch of trees associated with your fiercest rival out of spite or hopping online in the heat of the moment to post something you’ll probably regret once you get a chance take a breath.
According to ESPN, some people who opted for that second route after learning about FSU’s fate may end up getting a visit from the FBI, as Bill Hancock (the executive director of the College Football Playoff committee) revealed he and other members of the organization had to reach out to that particular law enforcement agency due to the threats they received, saying:
“We’ve stayed ahead of it. We’ve been in contact with the FBI just to say, ‘We got this. We got a threat on my house. We want you to know about it and tell us what should we do about it.’ Most of us did…
I’ve been doing this 35 years. I’ve seen it and I understand those fans, but this one was absolutely over the top and inappropriate. In my 35 years, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
I wish I could say I was shocked by that development, but it’s sadly not really a huge surprise based on just how cripplingly seriously some people take this sport.