Click Here to view this Link.

Click Here to view this Link.

Click Here to view this Link.

The college football bowl announcements came out Sunday afternoon, and Florida State again was called for jury duty.

For the second time in four years, the Seminoles have the dubious honor of being the sacrificial lamb in college football's major bowls. This time, the opponent is American Athletic Conference champion Houston.

After defeating Temple, 24-13, for the AAC title on Saturday, the No. 18-ranked Cougars earned an automatic bid to one of the New Year's Six bowls by virtue of being the highest-ranked team in what is called the "Group of Five." The Group of Five consists of mid-major programs from the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference and Sun Belt Conference.

This scenario probably sounds familiar to Seminole fans.

After winning the 2012 ACC championship, FSU was matched up with Mid-American Conference champion Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl. That was because the now-defunct BCS system provided that a team from a "non-qualifier" conference could earn an automatic berth into a BCS bowl if it finished in the top 16 ahead of a major conference champion. That loophole allowed the Huskies to slip into the Orange Bowl ahead of Big 12 co-champion Oklahoma.

These David vs. Goliath bowl matchups do little more than placate mid-major programs and provide a huge payout to one of the non-Power Five conferences. Because of that lackluster matchup in the 2013 Orange Bowl, FSU had to offer tickets from its allotment at a heavily discounted rate. And despite normally being a huge national draw, the FSU-NIU matchup drew the lowest television ratings of any of the BCS bowls.

The biggest drawback for the higher-profile team is being presented with a no-win situation. As Boise State has proved on several occasions, the mid-major underdog is usually way more motivated while the favorite may have a difficult time playing with a high level of emotion. And Florida State learned following the 2013 Orange Bowl that even winning decisively may be a losing proposition. Despite defeating North Illinois, 31-10, some in the national media still found a way to belittle FSU's 21-point victory.

Just three years later, Florida State is back in the same unenviable position.

This time the opponent is different, but the obstacles are the same. Florida State will have a hard time selling tickets, television ratings will be down, and the team will have very little to gain but plenty to lose should it get upset by a quality Houston team. The irony of the new setup, which prevents bowls from passing up a deserving mid-major school, is that higher-ranked, big-name schools are now being passed over by lower-ranked schools all in the name of equality.

Welcome to college football's version of the welfare state.

It's obvious the Power 5 conferences decided to throw a bone to the other FBS schools by creating this opportunity for the top team in the Group of Five. So every once in a while, a major program has to take one for the team in a major bowl game. But like jury duty, shouldn't there be a limit to how often one school has to be subjected to these less-desirable matchups?

This probably comes off to fans of other schools as pretentious and/or whining, but like it or not Florida State is one of the premier programs in college football and frankly deserves better. The Seminoles have the highest winning percentage among all FBS teams the last three years, losing just three games in three seasons. It's beyond irritating to see Notre Dame and Ohio State, the other at-large teams in New Year's Six bowls, playing each other in what will be a highly anticipated showdown between two high-profile programs.

Just as bothersome is seeing Florida, a team FSU defeated in Gainesville by 25 points, getting a high-profile clash with Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.

While this all seems unfair to the Seminoles and their fans, the bottom line is Florida State controls its own destiny and will have an opportunity to make sure it doesn't happen again in 2016. As long as FSU finishes ranked in the top four and earns a berth to the College Football Playoff, it won't matter who the opponent is.