The College Football Playoff Selection Committee is under investigation in Florida over its decision to keep the Florida State Seminoles out of the four-team field, state Attorney General Ashley Moody said on Tuesday.
Florida State finished the season 13-0 and, despite that, were not included in the playoffs. Alabama and Texas – each team that had one loss during the season – hopped over the Seminoles. CFP officials pointed to the team’s make-up as it stood now as the reason why the team was snubbed.
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Keon Coleman, #4 of the Florida State Seminoles, celebrates a touchdown by planting an invisible crown on Jordan Travis, #13, during the second half of a game at Doak Campbell Stadium on Oct. 14, 2023 in Tallahassee, Florida. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
Moody said the state is seeking to determine whether any anticompetitive conduct was involved in keeping Florida State out of the playoffs. Officials are also seeking communications from the SEC, ACC, NCAA, ESPN, Group of Five Conferences and Power Five Conferences.
“I’m a lifelong Gator, but I’m also the Florida attorney general, and I know injustice when I see it,” she said in a video posted on X. “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.
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Florida State Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell holds up the trophy as the confetti flies during the ACC Football Championship Game between the Louisville Cardinals and the Florida State Seminoles on Dec. 2, 2023 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. (John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“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.”
The Committee said it had yet to receive anything from the attorney general.
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“We will carefully review this demand for information, but it sure seems to be an overly aggressive reaction to a college football ranking in which some fans somewhere were bound to be disappointed,” College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock said in a statement, via ESPN.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., welcomed Moody’s investigation.
Keon Coleman, #4 of the Florida State Seminoles, warms up before the start of a game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Nov. 25, 2023 in Gainesville, Florida. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
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“Good! For more than a week, the @CFBPlayoff Selection Committee has been hiding & evading my demands for transparency after excluding #FSU. I welcome @AGAshleyMoody’s efforts to force accountability,” he wrote on X.
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