Tua Tagovailoa plays ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ on ManningCast, Peyton Manning takes shot at Florida State
Miami Dolphins (9-3) quarterback Tua Tagovailoa brought his guitar on set with him during an appearance on the “ManningCast” for the Jacksonville Jaguars (8-3) – Cincinnati Bengals (5-6) game Monday.
While he opted not to sing, he did play the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic, “Sweet Home Alabama,” a nod to his days of playing for the Crimson Tide.
Though Tagovailoa declined to play “Rocky Top” for Peyton Manning, the former Tennessee star, the two-time Super Bowl champion did enjoy the snippet of “Sweet Home Alabama.” He also made sure to take a dig at a fanbase which likely cringed hearing the iconic riff.
“I like that, I respect that,” Manning said. “Florida State doesn’t like that.”
Peyton Manning takes jab at Florida State after CFP snub
Of course, this is in reference to the final College Football Playoff Rankings, which were released Sunday. SEC champions Alabama (12-1) was awarded the fourth and final spot over ACC champion Florida State (13-0). The Seminoles became the first undefeated power-five conference champion to be omitted from the College Football Playoff.
College Football Playoff selection committee chair Boo Corrigan said that the season-ending leg injury to quarterback Jordan Travis played a big role in Florida State being left out.
“We had eight really good teams this year, right?” Corrigan said. “Somewhat of a unique year in the last year of the four [team playoff] as we go through this. But looking at the player availability was really important to what’s going on, and I think someone said it there, you can lose a running back, you can lose a wide receiver, but a quarterback as dynamic as Jordan Travis, it changes their offense in its entirety. That was really a big factor with the committee as we went through everything.”
Since Corrigan noted that Florida State didn’t impress the committee enough without Travis, the ACC Player of the Year asserted that the Seminoles would have been better off losing him earlier in the year so they could have proved how complete a team they are.
“I wish my leg broke earlier in the season so y’all could see this team is much more than the quarterback,” Travis said. “I thought results matter. 13-0 and this roster matches up across any team in those top 4 rankings. I am so sorry. Go Noles!”