When FSU football fans hear the name Heather Dinich, they already know it’s going to be some bias against the Noles. It was there in her days covering the ACC, and continues in her days as a Senior Writer for the network.
Dinich has been notorious in her love affair with the SEC. It’s crazy because a guy who works for ESPN and played in the NFL has FSU as one of the three best teams he has seen all season. However, Dinich has the Noles at No. 4 in her latest CFP Playoff rankings. That’s cool, since rankings are subjective, but it’s the reasoning that we have a problem with:
"Florida State has been dominant, ranking No. 3 in the country in ESPN's game control metric. The Noles also entered this week ranked No. 3 in strength of record. The Seminoles are passing the eye test but still need to beef up their résumé beyond a season-opening win against Alabama. The Tide were off this week but have played well against each of their past two unranked opponents, continuing to make Florida State's win valuable in the committee meeting room. The Seminoles, though, won't have another chance to impress the group against a ranked opponent until Oct. 4 against Miami."
She has Miami in the No.1 spot after beating a Florida team that was 1-2. Their USF win only looked good because the Bulls also beat the Gators, which should decrease the amount of credit they received for that win. Notre Dame also has two losses and gave up 30 points to Purdue on Saturday in a win.
However, the real issue is her bringing back the "game control" metric. That metric appeared out of nowhere in 2014 and only appled to and undefeated FSU football team. It magically disappeared after that season and hasn't been talked about since, but magically reappeared and only mentioned when talking about FSU this year because they are undefeated?
ESPN is all about entertainment and ratings, and we shouldn't waste time pointing it out, but it's a serious conflict of interest when TV networks affect the results on the field. Tons of teams have played and beaten FCS teams this year, but FSU is the only team to get penalized for it?
We're glad FSU and Miami will play in the next two weeks, and wonder what the narrative will be if FSU beats the Canes.