Your College Football Team Went Undefeated? Sorry, That’s Not Good Enough.

The metaphorical white puffs of smoke sent up by the College Football Playoff selection committee on Sunday signaled that the panel had chosen the four teams that would vie for this season’s championship — and that Florida State, unbeaten champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference, was not among them.

This caused smoke of a different sort to emanate from the Seminoles’ ears.

Florida State’s résumé was hard to beat. The Seminoles began the season by walloping Louisiana State, which was led by the presumptive Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Jayden Daniels. They won at Clemson in overtime. In other weeks, Florida State showed the mettle of an elite team by persevering when not at its best — something that unbeaten Michigan and Washington were able to do but that Texas and Alabama, both with one loss and chosen to fill out the playoff field, were not.

The Seminoles’ only shortcoming was being shorthanded: Their star quarterback, Jordan Travis, broke his leg last month against North Alabama.

When his backup, Tate Rodemaker, suffered a concussion in a win the next week at Florida, it left Brock Glenn, a true freshman who had thrown four passes to that point, in charge against Louisville.

The Seminoles’ defense stiffened, the running game eventually got unstuck, and Mr. Glenn accomplished his most important task — he did not lose the game.

Still, the unsightliness of Florida State’s offense (and memories of last year’s championship game fiasco, when Georgia trounced Texas Christian, 65-7) moved the committee to a new precedent: It did not allow an unbeaten conference champion from one of the five marquee conferences to participate in the playoff.