No, Florida State, you didn't get a raw deal | Williams

Betting lines for all the major-college postseason football games came out Monday, and Georgia's a 14-point favorite over Florida State in the Orange Bowl, underscoring an unpopular point of view; The College Football Playoff committee has no reason to apologize.

By reading or listening to the hysterics on Sunday, you would have thought the 13 committee members had committed a high crime or misdemeanor — strike that; a high crime or felony — for not including the Seminoles in the four-team bracket for the national championship.

FSU not only should not be in the CFP semifinals; the Seminoles shouldn't even be the first team out. I'm one of 62 voters on the panel for The Associated Press Top 25. Our deadline to submit ballots this week was 8:30 a.m. Sunday, allowing time for The AP Top 25 to come out before the CFP ranking.

Here's how I ordered the six teams in question: 1. Michigan, 2. Washington, 3. Texas, 4. Alabama, 5. Georgia, 6. Florida State. If there was angst over whether to move one team higher, that team was Georgia, which slid from No. 1 after having its 29-game win streak snapped Saturday in the SEC championship game. If you believe the Bulldogs are one of the four best teams, there's a case to be made.

Not, however, for Florida State, whose 13-0 record was built by running through the ACC, easily the weakest of the power-five conferences this year. The Seminoles can't control that, but it makes the point no less true and no less damaging. Their best victories came against a couple of pretty good teams in LSU and Louisville (CFP's No. 13 and No. 15), a down-year Clemson, chronic underachieving Miami and Duke.

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For the people incredulous about FSU's exclusion, a talking point was that the Seminoles beat two SEC teams! True, except it fails to mention one was Florida, which finished 5-7. Unfortunate that these were not Steve Spurrier's Gators; in that case, FSU's 24-15 triumph might have meant something.

Based on the previous week's CFP ranking, only Florida State among the top six had not beaten — still hasn't — a team ranked in the top 12. Michigan beat Ohio State and Penn State. Washington beat Oregon twice. Texas' victory at Alabama was the biggest in college football this season until Alabama beat Georgia. Georgia's win over a top-10 team was the one against Missouri.

FSU quarterback Jordan Travis's suffering a season-ending injury was offered up as a main reason not to include the Seminoles in the playoff. That their resume came up short of the other five was an even better reason. The degree of difficulty in FSU's schedule doesn't match that of Alabama's, the fourth team in.

That didn't stop FSU coach Mike Norvell from putting the selection committee on blast, nor stop theatrics from others, among them ESPN's Booger McFarland, who called the committee's choices "a travesty to the sport." Robert Griffin III said the committee "screwed Florida State."

In contrast, there was ESPN's Joey Galloway, who delivered smart, levelheaded analysis and rejected ever-present conspiracy theorists who believe the committee is in the tank for the SEC. Or delivering what ESPN orders. The conspiracy theorists might be able to identify Boo Corrigan, the face of the group, but 99 percent couldn't name one committee member, let alone the background of any.

Who's down, as the theorists allege, to come through for the SEC? Chris Ault or Jim Grobe, the former coaches at Nevada and Wake Forest? Chet Gladchuk, Mark Harlan, Gene Taylor, David Sayler or Joe Taylor, the ADs at Navy, Utah, Kansas State, Miami of Ohio and Virginia Union, respectively?

Will Shields, the great offensive lineman from the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Kansas City Chiefs? Rod West, who played at Notre Dame and has degrees from Tulane? Kelly Whiteside, a sportswriter with degrees from Rutgers and Columbia?

Michigan AD Warde Manuel whose team, most people agree, was a sure thing and he had to leave the room when the Wolverines were discussed anyway?

Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart, whose football team has beaten Alabama twice in 41 games?

These aren't federal judges, appointed for life. The composition of the committee changes from year to year, as Galloway pointed out. Yet, people believe that an ever-changing cast of 13 members from all different regions check their integrity at the door when they go into that suite in Grapevine.

Their charge, as it should be, is to put the four best teams, not someone's idea of "most deserving," into the playoff. They got it right on Sunday under difficult circumstances, a year in which the top four were less clearcut than usual. And if anyone outside the final four merited a spot, Kirby Smart, not Mike Norvell, was the one who should have been complaining.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: No, Florida State, you didn't get a raw deal | Williams