Thoughts From the Morning After: FSU 20 BC 17

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Nov 22, 2014; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles defensive back Jalen Ramsey (8) during the game against the Boston College Eagles at Doak Campbell Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

Each Sunday following a Florida State football game, ChopChat editor Patrik Nohe gives his thoughts from the morning after.

When the scoreboard read “FSU 20 BC 17” at the end of the game last night, you had a pretty good feeling that Florida State was going to hear more of the same complaints this week: ‘FSU just doesn’t look impressive. It’s the way FSU is winning that’s hurting it. The Seminoles just don’t look dominant.’

Another week. Another litany of tired complaints.

Already this morning Paul Finebaum has been on ESPN to tell a national audience, “nobody respects FSU but Danny Kanell.”

FSU hasn’t lost in two years. The Seminoles are the reigning national champions who are the last unbeaten team from a power five conference in the country. In any other year that alone would be enough to warrant a no. 1 ranking and the respect of the country.

Not this year.

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On Sunday morning, if you were tuning into the Worldwide Leader for Sportscenter at 9 AM, you saw ESPN lead by saying that while every team in the top seven won on Saturday, FSU struggled. The network then went to FSU’s highlight package — complete with an officiating expert opining that FSU QB Jameis Winston should have been penalized 15-yards and ejected for jostling with an official to get under center; more on that later — before interviewing Jimbo Fisher about why he thinks FSU should be ranked number one.

Right there on national TV Jimbo Fisher was defending an undefeated team. From there Finebaum joined the program to offer his own brand of hot takes — which included a shot at Fisher and the aforementioned remark about FSU not being respected by anyone — all while painting Alabama the real no. 1.

And that’s real the narrative ESPN wants to go with.

ESPN — who pays Finebaum to advance its SEC brand interests — is happy to move forward with an anti-FSU, pro-SEC narrative. That’s why no attention was paid to the fact that the team that beat Bama lost 30-0 to a 5-5 Arkansas team on Saturday.

Sure, the Worldwide Leader gave a cursory look at the Ole Miss-Arkansas game, but revisiting the fact that Ole Miss now appears to have been slightly over-rated at one point this season or that Alabama’s loss just became a lot less respectable– that doesn’t help the narrative.

Jimbo Fisher likes to remind reporters at least once or twice a season that sports aren’t entertainment– they’re competition.

There are no scripts. There is no knowing how things will play out. It’s competition and anything can happen.

That’s not how ESPN looks at it anymore though. While there was a time that reporting and journalistic ethics were near the top of the priority list in Bristol, those days are behind us. It’s now become far more profitable for ESPN to focus on the storylines, the narrative. Even when it distorts coverage. It’s why the network talked about Tim Tebow ad nauseam– even when he was no longer relevant. It’s why the network chases every splashy headline. It’s why a bad Lakers team still gets more press than the Spurs. ESPN prioritizes in terms of the biggest markets and the most ratings-driving storylines.

And right now, regardless of who deserves what, the best storyline for ESPN has FSU as the villain.

And granted, FSU has played right into it. Many around the country dislike the team’s QB. Many dislike Fisher for defending his QB. And between the New York Times and ESPN, enough major news outlets have spent time slinging mud in the Seminoles’ direction that at this point, anyone with only a casual knowledge of the situation most likely thinks there’s something crooked going on at FSU.

The need to keep FSU in that role is so strong that the fact FSU was still reeling from a mid-week shooting seemed to be just a footnote yesterday and this morning. There was no mention that having such a traumatic incident at the heart of a school’s campus in the middle of the week could potentially disrupt preparations for a football game.

That could make FSU look less villainous– that doesn’t fit the narrative.

It was however, the truth. This was a difficult week for everyone in the FSU community, from distant alumni to those living in Tallahassee– and especially for current students and faculty. Throw in the fact BC was sandwiched between an emotional win over Miami and a big game with arch-rival Florida– and yesterday had trap written all over it.

But FSU found a way to win– again.

That’s something FSU has done every week this season– something nobody else in the P5 can say. It might not be the narrative that best fits ESPN’s business interests, but that fact still matters. No matter what the Worldwide Leader tries to tell you.

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Next: Winston Serves Up More Ammo for Detractors

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