Florida AG announces investigation into CFP selection committee, Florida State snub

It’s been more than a week since what some thought was unthinkable happened and an undefeated Florida State — also a Power 5 conference champion — was left out of the four-team College Football Playoff. But people in power in the state of Florida aren’t letting go of the issue yet.

On Tuesday, Florida attorney general Ashley Moody announced an investigation into the College Football Playoff selection committee and it’s “secretive selection process.” Moody has sent a Civil Investigation Demand to the CFP selection committee seeking a number of communications and other documentation.

Moody, who claims to be a “lifelong Gator,” called the exclusion of the Seminoles an injustice in a statement announcing the investigation.

“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. The NCAA, conferences, and the College Football Playoff Committee are subject to antitrust laws,” Moody said in the release. “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.” 

Florida State finished the season 13-0 but was left out of the CFP for 12-1 Alabama, fresh off an SEC Championship Game win. The dealbreaker for the Seminoles was a catastrophic injury to Jordan Travis suffered in Week 12.

Moody, as part of the investigation, is trying to suss out the specific votes and deliberations of each of the committee’s 13 members.

Moody is also seeking a spate of communications from the committee, including the following, per the CID and the press release:

• 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 investigation is apparently being handled by the AG’s antitrust division. The CID was sent to the CFP “for more information about the nature of possible contracts, conspiracies in restraint of trade or monopolization of trade and commerce relating to anticompetitive effects,” per the release.