ESPN college football reporter Harry Lyles Jr. was minding his own business when he was the subject of a barb from Florida State director of athletics Michael Alford.
Alford was talking with Danny Kanell and Dusty Dvoracek on SiriusXM on Tuesday, and they were rehashing how the undefeated Florida State team got left out of the College Football Playoff last season in favor of one-loss Alabama and one-loss Texas.
Alford was under the impression that ESPN, the rightsholder for the playoff and for Florida State’s conference, the ACC, was aware the Seminoles would be out before the results were publicly revealed.
“When I kind of knew — when it hit me — walking to the bus out of the locker room with some players, the conversation between the two of them was one of them saying, ‘We’re not going,’ and the other one saying, ‘What are you talking about?'” Alford said.
“And this player, who is no longer with us, is going, ‘Follow the money. We’re not gonna be in. Alabama won [the SEC championship game versus Georgia]. We’re not going.'”
Alford still thought that the team was on solid footing, having gone 13-0 and won the ACC, but the following day, he changed his mind.
“The next day, when we went to the selection show, and when I get there and look up and see who’s covering us, and see that [veteran ESPN reporter] Marty Smith is in Tuscaloosa, that hit me. We’re not in. I did not get really worried until I saw that. Then I kind of knew we might not be in.”
But it was Lyles who was covering Florida State, which had lost star quarterback Jordan Travis for the season, for the selection show.
Seeing the clip on Tuesday, Lyles tweeted a meme from the Netflix series “I Think You Should Leave,” in which the character, played by Tim Robinson, thinks the hat he is wearing is cool but comes to find out that everyone else thinks it’s stupid.
Lyles joined ESPN in 2020 after working at SB Nation.