There was already plenty of momentum to leave FSU out of the playoff before Travis ever got hurt. Herbstreit and the Gameday crew were doing it live on TV. Herbstreit even tweeted it himself publicly. Florida State was not getting into the playoff even if Travis was healthy, unless Georgia had beaten Bama knocked both Alabama and Texas out of the conversation.
An ACC schedule sans UGA IS a schedule full of nobodies in the eyes of the national media. They literally just told you so. Beating 8 ACC teams and 2 nobodies doesn’t do anything for you, even if you also beat 2 SEC teams and win the conference along the way. Going 10-2 against a schedule that only includes 2-3 teams people respect will not do anything for Georgia Tech’s program. Winning (and/or consistently playing tight games) against UGA, Clemson, Notre Dame, FSU, etc. is the best way to put yourself on the map. Just look at NC State, a very solid program, they’ve won 8+ games every year but 1 since 2017 and they’ve only started the season ranked once in that span, yet they’ve finished ranked 5 out of 7. Florida on the other hand has won 8+ only twice since 2017, and they’ve been pre-season ranked 4 times in that span, ditto for Auburn. NC State is much more solid, much more stable, and much better program than those other 2, but they get no love from the media ever. Mostly because they don’t play enough compelling games. Their games against Clemson, FSU, and when they occasionally play ND are the only ones that bring them national attention. When they’re playing Wake Forest, Boston College, Duke, and Syracuse nobody cares. That’s where Tech has an advantage on these other ACC teams. We have the possibility of one of the biggest wins of the entire college football season baked into our schedule every year, accompanied by some other pretty big time programs. Going 2-1 or even 1-2 against FSU, ND, and UGA this year would bring attention our way. Beating Georgia State, VMI, and Syracuse will not.
Right, wrong, indifferent, people outside of the ACC don’t respect the ACC as a football conference. Playing 8 ACC games and 4 garbage OOC games is not going to get us anywhere near the national conversation. If you payed any attention to this past football season you would know that. Watch the video in the tweet I linked. Literally none of them had undefeated FSU in the playoff BEFORE the Travis injury. McAfee actually campaigns for Alabama and Georgia to both be in over 1-loss Big 12 champ Texas (who beat Bama) and undefeated ACC champ FSU.