On paper, the 2023 season should have become one of the happiest years in the history of Florida State. Right from the team going 13-0, defeating LSU, Miami, Clemson, and Louisville, to winning the ACC title. FSU dominated the field on every turn. They survived close games, ugly games, and pressure games, even some without their QB1. But nearly three years later, most college football fans remember that season in a different light.

They remember Florida State as a team that never got its chance. And somehow, the center of that entire storm became QB Jordan Travis. Not because he failed. Not because he made mistakes. But because his injury changed how the playoff committee looked at FSU. That’s the strange sadness attached to the whole saga even today. Travis unknowingly became both the reason FSU believed it deserved a playoff spot and the reason the committee believed it did not.

“I think I still carry that burden a little bit, like saying I let everybody down,” Travis said on today’s Trials to Triumph podcast episode. “It su-ks. I felt like I let the whole university down, in a way. You start looking at stuff like you always can find a way to blame yourself… Looking back now, it’s like, ‘Hey, man, like you did everything you can. Like, you’re not going to sit here and blame yourself.”

Before his injury, Florida State looked unstoppable emotionally. The Seminoles were not blowing everybody out every week, but they kept winning. Travis was the heartbeat of everything. He was the player teammates trusted when games got messy. It wasn’t a season like Joe Burrow or, say, Johnny Manziel, as Jordan passed for 2,756 yards. But he was clean (2 interceptions), reliable, and persisted with his legs.

In that season, Jordan led FSU to wins against teams like LSU, Clemson, and Miami, as the team easily won its game against North Alabama, the second-to-last of the regular season. Before that journey, Travis had survived some of the most brutal defenses, but on a routine scramble against North Alabama, he landed awkwardly and suffered a fractured and dislocated ankle. It was the end of the season for him, but FSU survived without him against Florida and Louisville (the ACC championship game).

Tate Rodemaker started those two games and led the team to a dominant 24-15 win against the Gators. Playing against the Cardinals later, he did a decent job as FSU defeated them 16-6. That 13-0 record should have been enough for the playoff committee to keep FSU in the playoffs. But it determined that Travis’ absence would affect viewership and competitiveness and kept FSU out of the four-team playoff.

“Everyone on the Committee understands the disappointment felt by Florida State fans,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock said about FSU’s playoff snub. ” [Travis’ injury] caused the committee to believe that there were indeed four teams that should rank higher than FSU. We recognize that no matter what decision was made, fans somewhere would be disappointed.”

It wasn’t just any heartbreak for Travis; it felt like the earth moving away from his feet. The former FSU QB never planned his injury and yet became the center of attention of a ruthless decision by the playoff committee. What made the playoff snub more gut-wrenching was what Travis wrote on social media after the program’s playoff snub.

“I wish my leg had broken earlier in the season so y’all could see this team is much more than the quarterback,” Travis said. It wasn’t just a team player talking; it was a player who had grown with Florida State for almost 5 years, seeing all the ups and downs. That love to see his program lift that natty trophy was all he ever dreamed about in the process. Beyond those passing yards, NFL ambitions, or even personal injury battle. Looking back, that ‘injustice’ still feels fresh for him.

Jordan Travis still questions the committee’s decision to exclude FSU from the playoffs

After FSU’s 2025 season ended, Travis went into rehab, working on his injury and preparing for the draft process. He was a top QB with immense potential, but that injury had complicated everything, even his NFL ambitions. The Jets, though, showed belief and drafted him in the fifth round as the QB continued his recovery process. But slowly it became clear that his body had given in to that North Alabama scramble. He wasn’t going to play football ever again. And yet, despite all of it, the FSU snub remains the biggest regret for him.

“Do I agree with what they did?” Travis added. “I don’t. I would never agree with what they did because it kind of takes the winning out of the game and the team out of football, and that’s the part that sucks the most. The team was so special, and as we see, that team is so special. We have guys playing in the XFL, the UFL, all these different leagues, and in the NFL. … Maybe we would have won it all, maybe we wouldn’t have. I would have liked the chance.”

In his time at FSU, Travis has notched more than 8,500 passing yards, along with rushing for almost 2,000 yards. That alone shows how good the West Palm Beach, Florida native would have turned out had he successfully recovered from that injury. But despite an abrupt retirement, seeing FSU’s snub and becoming one of the most talked-about players in college football, he still thinks “everything happens for a reason.”