Sen. Rick Scott among politicians seeking details of College Football Playoff process
Maybe it’s political grandstanding, maybe it will get some real information and answers, but either way its apparent that Sunday’s College Football Playoff Selection show angered some very influential people in the state of Florida.
With undefeated Florida State being left out in favor of two one-loss teams, Texas and Alabama, the CFP Committee broke precedent by making the Seminoles the only undefeated Power 5 team to ever be left out of the playoffs in the 10-year history of the event.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott sent a letter Monday to Boo Corrigan, the Chairman of the CFP Selection Committee, demanding answers and full transparency in how the group came to its conclusion.
“Given the unprecedented nature of your recent decision, an unprecedented commitment to transparency is required,” Scott stated in his letter.
Here is an excerpt from his letter to Corrigan, who is the athletic director at N.C. State:
Dear Chairman Corrigan:
Yesterday, for the first time in its 10 year history, the College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee (the “Committee”) made the shocking decision behind closed doors to exclude an undefeated, Power Five conference champion from the playoffs. The Committee’s decision to drop the 13-0 Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles from its previous 4th-place ranking, and thereby exclude the team from the upcoming playoffs altogether, mere hours after they won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship game has rightly raised questions among millions of Americans about the integrity of the process employed by this 13-member body, which consists of just five (38%) individuals with relevant experience in coaching or playing football at the collegiate level or higher. 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 then went on to request all text messages and electronic communication between committee members in the days and hours leading up to the final vote, and he requested all text messages and communications between committee members and ESPN employees as well as with SEC employees.
Whether Corrigan chooses to honor those requests remains to be seen.
But if he doesn’t, there are other politicians in Florida that have hinted at bringing a lawsuit against the CFP Committee.
Jimmy Patronis, the Chief Financial Officer for the state of Florida, said he, too, demands a full explanation from the committee on what transpired on Sunday. On Monday, he tweeted that any committee members who want to go public with their votes can do so now.
Otherwise, “I’m in conversations with legislators on additional actions. Playoff committee members should take steps to preserve all documents.”
Again, will anything actually be revealed? Is any of this going to lead to tangible action?
Who knows? But a day after the bombshell, it was obvious people were still very mad, confused and wanted real explanations as to what happened on Sunday afternoon.
Because it was unprecedented. Sort of.
Not counting the COVID season of 2020 (Ohio State only played five games) there have only been two instances in the history of the College Football Playoff in which an undefeated Power 5 team was ranked behind any one-loss teams.
One was in 2014.
The other in 2023.
Both were Florida State.
Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.
