Florida’s attorney general has issued a subpoena to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee to find out why undefeated Florida State University (FSU) was left out of the NCAA national championship playoffs.
Attorney General Ashley Moody issued the civil investigative demand to the committee Dec. 12 in the wake of FSU not being designated one of the top four NCAA teams in the nation, despite its 13-0 record this past season and the team’s ability to hold competing teams to 30 points or less.
Moody’s Antitrust Division sent the subpoena to the committee in an effort to get information “about the nature of possible contracts, conspiracies in restraint of trade or monopolization of trade and commerce relating to anticompetitive effects of the College Football Playoff,” the Attorney General’s Office said in a news release.
“... I know injustice when I see it,” Moody said in a prepared statement. “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.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis has indicated that he wants $1 million in state funds set aside for a possible lawsuit against the committee.
The Antitrust Division is seeking information relating to the committee’s work, including statements about its deliberations, media talking points, the compensation of committee members and committee standards relating to ethics and conflicts of interest. Moody gave the committee until Dec. 26 to provide the information.
“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,” the attorney general said. “In Florida, merit matters. If it’s attention they were looking for, the committee certainly has our attention now.”
A College Football Playoff (CFP) spokesman characterized Florida’s reaction as heavy-handed.
“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,” Bill Hancock, CFP’s executive director, said in a statement emailed to the Florida Record.
During a CFP press conference held on Dec. 3, Boo Corrigan, CFP’s selection committee chairman, indicated that part of the reason FSU was ranked No. 5 rather than in the top four was due to a serious injury sustained in mid-November by Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis. The leg injury put Travis out of action for the remaining games of the football season.
“In the eyes of the committee, Florida State is a different team without Jordan Travis,” Corrigan said. “One of the things we do consider is player availability, and our job is to rank the best teams, and in the final decision looking at that, it was Alabama at (No.) 4 and Florida State at (No.) 5.”
He acknowledged that Florida State had a great year, however, according to a transcript of the press conference.
“Really hard for everyone down there, but the injury to Jordan Travis is something that in the eyes of the committee changed them as a team,” Corrigan said. “... They're a different team with Jordan Travis on the field.”
The four teams competing for the national title are the Michigan Wolverines, Washington Huskies, Texas Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide.
Among the criteria used by the committee to rank the football teams are strength of schedule, head-to-head game results and conference championships, according to the CFP.