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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/MadameGopher on 2024-04-15 21:54:14.
Disregarding injuries that affected a single game’s outcome, what player injuries had the biggest impact in which teams ended up making the College Football Playoffs their respective year? A few that come to mind:
2017: Auburn RB and SEC Offensive Player of the Year Kerryon Johnson suffered a shoulder injury late in a win over Alabama that took him out of the remainder of the game. Though the extent of the injury was downplayed to the media, Johnson only totaled 45 yards in the loss against Georgia the following week in the SEC Championship (an opponent he had put up 233 yards against three weeks prior). Had the Tigers won that game, not only would they have propelled themselves into the playoffs, but would have created a legitimate possibility that both future CFP title game participants, Alabama and Georgia, would be excluded in favor of Auburn and Ohio State.
2019: Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa suffered a high ankle sprain against Tennessee in the second quarter, a game in which he did not return nor did he play the following week against Arkansas. In his first game back in action, a matchup against future national champion LSU, Tagovailoa coughed up an unforced fumble on a scramble into the endzone as well as an uncharacteristic interception to close out the first half. Had Tua’s performance looked as it did pre-injury, the Tide offense might have been clicking enough to adjust the eventual 5-point deficit in their favor, thereby creating an eventual logjam for Alabama, Georgia, and LSU for the fourth spot in the playoff race going into the SEC Championship (assuming the other three non-SEC participants were still selected).
2023: Florida State was sitting squarely in the driver’s seat for playoff berth when they suited up for game #10 against FCS opponent North Alabama. During the game QB Jordan Travis, a strong Heisman contender, suffered a season-ending leg injury. While the Seminoles won the remainder of that game as well as their following two, thereby winning the ACC Championship, the offensive performance was a shell of itself without Travis at the helm. In the most controversial decision to date, the CFP committee viewed a Travis-less but undefeated FSU as only the fifth-best team in the country, thereby not selecting them for the playoffs. Had Travis stayed healthy and the Seminole offense clicked at the same rate it had all season, FSU likely would have taken the #3 spot in the rankings (bumping actual #3 Texas to #4 due to the Longhorns being the sole team with a loss on their schedule).