FSU snub from CFP sparks Florida to investigate selection process: 'I know injustice when I see it'
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced Tuesday her office is launching an antitrust investigation into the College Football Playoff Selection Committee after it snubbed the Florida State Seminoles from competing in the playoff.
Moody said she's "demanding answers" from the Committee when it comes to its "secretive selection process," according to a press release. Her office is looking for more information about possible contracts or other conspiracies "relating to anticompetitive effects of the College Football Playoff," adding that FSU's omission from the playoff will cost the school and the Atlantic Coast Conference millions of dollars.
"I'm a lifelong Gator, but I’m also the Florida Attorney General, and I know injustice when I see it. No rational person or college football fan can look at this situation and not question the result," Moody said. "The NCAA, conferences, and the College Football Playoff Committee are subject to antitrust laws.
"My Office is launching an investigation to examine if the Committee was involved in any anticompetitive conduct. As it stands, the Committee’s decision reeks of partiality, so we are demanding answers—not only for FSU, but for all schools, teams and fans of college football. In Florida, merit matters. If it’s attention they were looking for, the Committee certainly has our attention now."
FSU was ousted from the top 4 teams in the College Football Playoff rankings, despite the Seminoles' undefeated season and conference championship win over Louisville. The decision elicited strong reactions from Floridians and state leaders alike, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott.
UCF's Gus Malzahn blasts College Football Playoff for snubbing FSU: 'That's a bad look for football'
Undefeated FSU was left out of the College Football Playoff – a move that left UCF football head coach Gus Malzahn "disappointed" in the sport as a whole.
In a letter to CFP Chairman Boo Corrigan, Scott demanded answers and transparency regarding the committee's decision to keep the Seminoles out of the playoff – especially if it centers on quarterback Jordan Travis' season-ending injury.
"There are countless other concerns and arguments that could be voiced here, but the main issue is the justified perception of an unfair system that has wrongly disregarded the known strengths of an undefeated team over the speculated impact of losing a single player," Scott wrote in the letter.
Moody's investigation, however, will dive a little deeper into the inner workings of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.
Here's a look at what the civil investigative demand calls for:
- All communications relating to deliberations to or from the SEC, ACC, NCAA, ESPN, Group of Five conferences, Power Five conferences or any other person relating to the deliberations;
- All documents relating to public statements relating to the deliberations, including media talking points and interview notes;
- Documents relating to restrictions of the Conferences against having alternate playoff schedules;
- Documents showing compensation of members in 2023;
- Documents sufficient to show all recusals of Committee members from deliberations; and
- The Committee’s standards relating to ethics and conflicts of interest.
"The Civil Investigative Demand also seeks to identify all individual votes and vote tallies by members in the deliberations, all persons who received access to any votes, all persons present during any vote and any individual knowledgeable about the administration or use of the software or program used to record or tally votes," according to a press release.
Florida State was ranked No. 5 in the final CFP rankings and will face No. 6 Georgia in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30.