If college football were a cartoon, there would have been a moment last December, shortly after the committee knocked undefeated Florida State out of the playoffs, when Mike Norvell would have concluded that things couldn’t get any worse – all while unknowingly standing beneath a piano being precariously hoisted to a 20th-floor window.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that the Seminoles would prefer the piano to reality after Florida State lost 20-12 to Norvell’s former school, Memphis, on Saturday.

Nine months ago, Florida State had the sympathy of the world — at least the parts of the world that don’t chant “SEC, SEC” at weddings, funerals and children’s birthday parties. It was easy to like this team. It was a group that fought harder after losing quarterback Jordan Travis, that gave it everything it had to keep winning, that missed its chance at the playoffs not because of its own mistakes but because of the whims of the committee.

There is no sympathy left now. There is only a strange mixture of shame, frustration and black humor, as if a drink had been poured down your pants.

The beneficiary of the committee’s decision was Alabama, and the 2024 season could easily have been dismal for the Tide, too. They lost their playoff game, said goodbye to the best coach in sports history, and then experienced an exodus of players into the portal, including five who went to Tallahassee.

And yet, on the same day that Florida State hit a new low, Alabama showed the same strength it has so often shown under Nick Saban, crushing Wisconsin 42-10 thanks to a five-touchdown performance by Jalen Milroe.

In a fairer world, Florida State might have earned some good karma after the humiliation of its playoff loss. In a fairer world, Alabama might have been dealt just one bad hand.

But college football has proven time and again that it doesn’t care about fairness, but it does have a damn good sense of humor.

So there was a flood in Madison.

Alabama players jump around during the “Jump Around” pic.twitter.com/OytiNveT43

— Patrick Greenfield (@PCGreenfield) 14 September 2024

And in Tallahassee, the state of Florida is ready to pack up and close.

For Alabama, the roster shakeup has only made room for new stars, like freshman Ryan Williams, who caught four balls for 78 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s win. Williams is only 17 – born just seven months before Saban played his first game as Alabama coach – and he’s not old enough to remember that there was a time when an 0-3 start for Florida State would have been unthinkable.

There is no clear path forward for FSU. DJ Uiagalelei has been awful, the running game has produced little, the offensive line that should be a strength was overwhelmed by a Group of 5 program and the defense that played its best game Saturday is still riddled with weaknesses. For the Seminoles, the only silver lining to be found in this miserable start to the season is that the program’s media rating may have dropped enough that it can leave the ACC for a standard exit fee and some Kohl’s money.

Nine months ago, you could reasonably debate the comparable performances of Alabama and Florida State. On Saturday, during commercial breaks during the Tide’s devastating win over Wisconsin, you could flip back and forth between commercials for “9-1-1: Lone Star,” which featured a massive train derailment, and an FSU game featuring an even more horrific train wreck.

It’s hard to comprehend what has happened to Florida State since the committee announced its verdict; an avalanche of never-ending misery, the likes of which one only sees in the Saw movies or during minor weather problems at LAX airport.

But consider how incredible it is that Alabama is here too — 3-0 with a road win in Big Ten country just months after Saban left. Alabama has been the model of sustained greatness for a generation, and that consistency was usually attributed to Saban’s relentlessness. But even he reached a point where it was time for something new, and yet Alabama keeps going — one dominant win after another, as reliable as the sunrise.

Of course, none of this is proof that the committee made the right decision. That was last season – a different team, a different time. But it is proof that in this chaotic sport, greatness is fleeting and opportunities often slip by like a Florida State linebacker missing a tackle at the line of scrimmage.

And even at a place like Alabama, a program that has defiantly weathered the winds of change for 16 years, it’s always better to appreciate the good things while you have them. Because if we’ve learned anything watching Florida State over the past nine months, it’s this: Things can always get worse.

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LSU survives | Mood swings | Arizona’s hottest team

The first 56 minutes of Saturday’s game against South Carolina were anything but pleasant for LSU.

A series of special teams slip-ups, two turnovers and some big runs by Gamecocks QB LaNorris Sellers often forced the Tigers to play catch-up. South Carolina quickly took a 24-10 lead, LSU briefly pulled away in the fourth quarter and then saw Rocket Sanders explode for a 66-yard touchdown.

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Jump block prevents LSU punt and sets up South Carolina TD

Maurice Brown II blocks LSU’s punt, allowing a Raheim Sanders touchdown to extend the Gamecocks’ lead.

With less than four minutes left, LSU was already down by four points, and Brian Kelly had gone through all six stages of grief: frustration, outrage, hostility, anger, a desire to talk to the manager, and finally, pondering the execution of his players.

But Garrett Nussmeier came to the rescue with his 29-yard pass to Kyren Lacy, setting up a 55-yard touchdown drive that gave LSU a 36-33 lead.

South Carolina had one last chance to win, attempting a 49-yard field goal as time expired, but it missed, giving Kelly a chance to celebrate his hard-fought victory before returning to his office to watch the film and scream into a pillow.

Mood swings in week 3

Downward trend: Complete all throws

The good news for Michigan quarterback Davis Warren is that every pass he threw in Michigan’s 28-18 win over Arkansas State on Saturday was caught.

The bad news is that three of them were caught by Arkansas State players.

So here we are with the defending champions: After decades of cycling through a carousel of quarterbacks who earned their position by finding a golden ticket under a Detroit-style pizza, the Wolverines were rewarded with two seasons of JJ McCarthy and thought maybe things had changed forever. Instead, Warren is averaging 6.1 yards per pass with two touchdowns and six interceptions through three games.

Now it’s USC’s turn next week and Michigan must try to find a solution between Warren and Alex Orji or hope there’s another quarterback hidden in Jim Harbaugh’s abandoned storage room behind the boxes labeled “Signals for Every Opponent, 2020-2023.”

Upward trend: UNLV’s arguments for expansion into the Pac-12

Matthew Sluka led an 18-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took 9:31 off the clock in the fourth quarter on Friday night, and UNLV beat Kansas 23-20. It was the Rebels’ second win over a Power 4 opponent this season, having defeated Houston in the opening game. How impressive is that? Until Saturday, Northern Illinois’ victory over Notre Dame was the Group of 5’s only other win over a power conference opponent.

As with everything in Vegas, it takes a little skill and a lot of luck.

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UNLV somehow manages to land a wild fumble against Kansas

Matthew Sluka drops the ball, but somehow UNLV retains possession after the ball touches the hands of several Kansas players.

Still, it’s safe to say Barry Odom is bringing the Rebels to the peak at just the right time, as UNLV’s selling point for the expanding Pac-12 looks pretty compelling right now: A big market, a good team, and access to countless buffets open all night. Then all Odom has to do is take the Pac-12 payout in chips, bet everything on black on a single spin of roulette, double down two or three more times, and boom—UNLV is playing with SEC money.

Land of the rising sun devils

A year ago, Arizona was the darling of the college football world after a wild 10-3 season, while Arizona State became a laughing stock and was forced to call upon a chorus of struggling quarterbacks, including possibly a few guys they found waiting outside an In-N-Out Burger in Tempe.

What a difference a year makes.

Arizona said goodbye to head coach Jedd Fisch, who left for Washington, and opened this season with two unimpressive wins over New Mexico and Northern Arizona before losing 31-7 to Kansas State on Friday. It was Arizona’s worst offensive performance since the Colorado shutdown in 2021.

The Sun Devils, on the other hand, have found a quarterback in Sam Leavitt and are in top form after beating Texas State 31-28 on Thursday to start 3-0 for the first time since 2019. Arizona State is thus far the surprise team of 2024 (unless you count nasty upsets, which Florida State hopes you don’t) and Dillingham’s turnaround of a program that was in shambles after the Herm Edwards era ended exactly as everyone predicted.