Alabama
Casagrande: The CFP committee got it right. Alabama’s better
This is an opinion column.
It was brutal.
Arguably unfair.
The College Football Playoff selection committee practically wore the executioner’s hood Sunday morning because they knew they had to kill the dreams of one very deserving playoff candidate.
They’d crush either Florida State or Alabama — teams that were no-brainers any other year in this playoff era.
Someone was gonna be justifiably outraged.
A precedent was going to fall when Henry the 8th made his move.
And the committee got it right. Alabama’s simply the better team.
Harsh, but ultimately correct with the full beauty of college football’s imperfect system on display in its rawest form.
Florida State was understandably stunned, then outraged. The video of the Seminoles learning the news from the ESPN broadcast was uncomfortable at best. Gutting, if we’re being honest.
The Seminoles are the undefeated champion of the ACC and no unbeaten Power 5 champ had ever come close to missing the four-team field.
That’s what makes this so cruel while also correct. It’s probably why CFP selection committee chair Boo Corrigan looked like he’d just seen a ghost while appearing on ESPN just minutes after the bracket was revealed.
It came down to the committee deciding who deserved to go versus who the best teams were.
Florida State deserved to make the playoff. It isn’t one of the four best teams.
Alabama is.
Watch the Crimson Tide’s 27-24 win over previously-unquestioned No. 1 Georgia before viewing FSU’s 16-6 tickle fight with Louisville and the argument for the ‘Noles went to the guillotine.
Alabama’s playing like a team that will contend for the national title. Florida State would have been TCU 2.0 had it been rewarded for its achievements.
But the truth is Alabama had three wins over the CFP top 13. FSU had one. They shared the honor of beating No. 13 LSU while the Tide took down Georgia (now No. 6) and No. 11 Ole Miss.
And there’s the Jordan Travis aspect that clearly weighed heavily. The one-time Heisman candidate’s broken leg in the North Alabama win changed everything in the committee’s mind.
“Florida State is a different team than they were the first 11 weeks,” Corrigan said in that immediate interview on ESPN. “… If you look at who they are as a team, right now, without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic that he brings, they are a different team. And the committee voted Alabama 4 and Florida State 5.”
The human side of this gets even more painful when you consider Travis’ face in the moment of the announcement and the statement he released in the immediate aftermath.
“I wish my leg broke earlier in the season so y’all could see this team is much more than the quarterback,” is one of the saddest sentences an athlete can write.
The internet outrage was immediate and from all over the spectrum. FSU had multi-paragraph statements of condemnation within minutes. Congressmen were taking swings at the NCAA.
None of them were unjustified in their anger.
These circumstances were just that far off the script. I mean, the Pac-12 hasn’t been part of the conversation since 2016 so the fact they returned to the equation threw things into a scramble mode. One-loss teams like Texas and Alabama kept hanging around, surviving countless elimination scenarios that could’ve turned the final committee meeting into a cocktail party.
Instead, all the worst-case scenarios stacked one by one.
The committee stared down its most difficult decision in the finale of the four-team format.
Someone was going to get screwed.
The easy way out was to put the undefeated conference champ in the playoff.
Instead, they got it right.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
Alabama
Update: Heat advisory affecting Alabama until Saturday night
On Saturday at 1:12 a.m. the National Weather Service issued an updated heat advisory valid for Saturday between noon and 9 p.m. for Marion, Lamar, Fayette, Winston, Walker, Pickens, Tuscaloosa and Greene counties.
The weather service states, “Heat index values up to 105 degrees to 107 expected.”
“Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses,” describes the weather service.
Hot weather safety: Weather service tips for staying safe and healthy
- Stay hydrated: Keep yourself well-hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids.
- Seek cool shelter: Stay in an air-conditioned room.
- Avoid sun exposure: Stay out of the sun, and make sure to check up on relatives and neighbors.
- Child and pet safety: Take every precaution to never leave young children and pets alone in vehicles, especially in extreme heat when car interiors can quickly become hazardous.
- Caution outdoors: If you must work or spend time outdoors, take extra precautions.
- Time your activities wisely: Whenever possible, reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening hours when temperatures are more manageable.
- Recognize heat-related issues: Familiarize yourself with warning signs and how tp recognize the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
- Dress comfortably: Wear lightweight and loose-fitting clothing to stay cool.
Additional recommendations for outdoor workers:
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends frequent rest breaks in shaded or air-conditioned areas for outdoor workers.
- If someone succumbs to the heat, promptly relocate them to a cool, shaded location.
- In emergency situations, dial 911 for immediate assistance.
These NWS heat safety directives are essential for safeguarding your well-being when facing high temperatures. Stay well-informed and take the necessary precautions to shield yourself and others from the potential hazards of extreme heat.
Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.
Alabama
Alabama News Center receives top honors from National Federation of Press Women
Alabama
U.W.A. is first in Alabama to offer a Master of Dyslexia Therapy degree
LIVINGSTON, Ala. (WTOK) – The University of West Alabama is launching a new degree this fall, the Master of Dyslexia Therapy program .
According to the International Dyslexia Association 15-20% of the population is dyslexic. That’s one in every five people.
“A lot of times parents see their children come home and they are just struggling to read,” said Sara Reynolds, Coordinator of Clinical Experience. “They are struggling to really capture and decode these words.”
Dyslexia is a learning challenge that is neurological, characterized by difficulties in reading and spelling ability.
“Without that their comprehension skills are going to lack and so with this program we are able to kind of screen those and give them a really good baseline to see where those children are struggling at,” said Reynolds.
The goal of the program is to enhance the number of equipped Dyslexia Therapists ready to help students soar.
“The program is a two-year program. It is thirty hours of course work and throughout those two years you will complete 720 hours of clinical experience. It begins really after you start the program, so this first cohort will begin in Fall I,” said Reynolds. “During the Fall II, which is in about mid- October, you will begin to actually be an actual dyslexia therapist-in-training. So those people will be in the schools wherever they are already employed at or we will partner them with local schools in their area to where they will actually give those services to those students in those schools.”
Studies show that Dyslexia Therapy is working, thanks to educators willing to pave the path toward a brighter future, one student at a time.
For more information on how you can apply for the program visit: https://online.uwa.edu/online-degrees/med-master-education-degree-dyslexia-therapy/.
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