Florida politicians want answers after FSU football’s playoff snub

Florida State’s exclusion from the College Football Playoff has drawn the attention of some of the state’s top politicians.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott posted a letter to CFP selection committee chairperson Boo Corrigan on social media after the “unprecedented exclusion” of the 13-0 Seminoles.

“Today, I write to demand total transparency from the Committee regarding how this decision was reached and what factors may have been at play in reaching this outcome,” Scott wrote.

Corrigan cited several factors Sunday on why the committee put 12-1 SEC champion Alabama fourth, one spot ahead of the undefeated, ACC champion Seminoles. Among them: the injury to star quarterback Jordan Travis that dramatically changed the offense and FSU’s “significantly” lower strength of schedule.

In his letter, Scott referenced the millions of dollars FSU and the ACC could have had, if the ‘Noles had earned the final spot in the four-team playoff ahead of 12-1 SEC champion Alabama. He also said it could have “profound impacts” on players’ future earnings.

Scott’s main issue was “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 acknowledged a reversal was unlikely but asked for any notes or recordings from the meeting. He also asked for relevant emails and text messages between committee members and officials from ESPN, the SEC or anyone else unaffiliated to the CFP.

Scott wasn’t the only Florida politician in Washington taking up the issue.

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Parkland, wrote on social media that he is “circulating a letter and will be doing a resolution condemning” the decision. “This decision is about TV money, a corrupt decision for college athletics,” Moskowitz added.

Gov. Ron DeSantis also weighed in, writing Sunday on X (the platform formerly called Twitter): “What we learned today is that you can go undefeated and win your conference championship game, but the College Football Playoff committee will ignore these results. Congratulations to @FSUFootball on an outstanding season and winning the ACC championship!”

Monday morning, former President Donald Trump suggested the culprit for the decision could be DeSantis, who is running against him in the presidential race.

”Florida State was treated very badly by the ‘Committee,’” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “They become the first Power Five team to be left out of the College Football Playoffs. Really bad lobbying effort ... Lets blame DeSanctimonious!!!”

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The state’s chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis, wrote the decision was made “by CORRUPT bureaucrats obviously colluding with ESPN and the SEC.” He said on X that he’s “in conversations with legislators on additional action” and told committee members to preserve relevant documents.

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