The fight over the College Football Playoff Selection Committee’s decision to ignore undefeated Florida State University and pick the University of Alabama spills over into the Senate, pitting Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) against fellow Alabama Republicans.
Scott, who attended the Florida State Seminoles’ last national championship win in 2013 when he was governor, is demanding full transparency about the selection committee’s decision to eliminate Florida State from the national playoffs in favor of Alabama, which lost to Texas earlier in the season. .
For Scott, the secret deliberations to deny Florida State the chance to win another national championship are the latest example of unfair decisions being made in America by irresponsible people behind closed doors.
Scott says Florida State “did everything it was supposed to do” by going 13-0 on the season and beating two highly ranked teams, LSU and Louisville.
“Was this a financial decision? If you did the right thing, you should disclose everything. Be upfront about it. Reveal what happened and how they made the decision.”
He is concerned that the selection committee may have been influenced by outside financial interests and is demanding that the committee turn over all text messages, email and written communications between members of the selection committee and College Football Playoff officials.
He also wants all records of communications between members of the selection committee and individuals not officially affiliated with the College Football Playoffs.
Scott noted that the Southeastern Conference (SEC), home of Alabama, has signed an exclusive 10-year contract with ESPN to broadcast its games starting in 2024. The contract is said to be worth $3 billion.
“And here’s what we know. There was a financial interest by ESPN in getting Alabama. Was that part of the decision? I don’t know. Be transparent. Tell us what happened.”
He argues that the College Football Playoffs Committee “did not follow the process” because Florida State entered the final week of the regular season ranked fourth in the country and had won its final game against 16.y– Louisville was seeded into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tournament. However, they were not among the four teams that reached the playoffs.
Scott noted in a letter to Boo Corrigan, chairman of the selection committee, that the decision to bypass Florida State would cost the school and the ACC $2 million in revenue distribution.
But Scott says the consequences for the FSU football program could reverberate for years.
“Think about it. Now when the NFL wants to hire someone, some kids will say, ‘You’ll never get to play in the playoffs because I can come and play here and do everything right and I still won’t play in the national championship.’ ”
Scott is getting support from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who has pledged $1 million toward litigation expenses that can be used to seek justice for what he called a “really bad decision” to keep Florida State out of the playoffs.
“We’re going to set aside $1 million and let the chips fall where they may,” DeSantis announced this week.
The harsh criticism of the College Football Playoffs was met with a look from Alabama’s senior senator, Tommy Tuberville (right), who had a long and distinguished college football career as head coach of Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech and Cincinnati.
“Oh, that’s a waste of time,” he said of demands that the selection committee turn over its records on the decision to seed Michigan, Washington, Alabama and Texas for the playoffs.
“They adhered to the standards of who played the toughest schedule — all the standards they had,” he said.
“There’s no one more experienced to talk about this than me. I got cut in 2004 and we went undefeated,” he said, referring to the Auburn Tigers, who went 13-0 that year.
He said the committee did “what I thought was right.”
“You feel bad for Florida State. I do. “I was in their shoes,” he said.
But Tuberville said “there’s no reason” to make a fuss with the selection committee now “because everything changes, and it’s going to go to 12 teams next year,” referring to the format change for the 2024 college season when 12 teams will be seeded for the national tournament. Football qualifiers.
But Scott rejected this point. He’s not willing to dismiss Florida State’s snub this year as water under the bridge.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” he said. “How about FSU this year? 13-0, undefeated, Power of Five [conference] a team!”
Meanwhile, Tuberville was shocked when DeSantis allocated $1 million from Florida’s budget to sue the College Football Playoff selection committee.
“Million dollars??” He asked incredulously.
He added: “There will be no benefit,” noting that the qualifiers “will begin in about a month.”
“You won’t have time to get anything done,” he said of a potential lawsuit. “Not worth doing.”
Alabama Senator Katie Britt (R) also defended the selection committee’s decision, noting that Alabama was eliminated from the playoffs last year and Texas Christian University placed fourth.y Seeds instead.
TCU beat Michigan in an upset before being crushed by Georgia 65-7 in the national championship game.
“I think Alabama got shut out last year and then TCU — what was that score? Was it 65-7?” she said, tongue in cheek.
Britt still seemed excited about Alabama’s chances of winning a national championship Thursday as she walked into a press conference with Republican Sen. John Thune (R.D.) and could be heard saying, “Roll Tide!”
Al Weaver contributed.
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The College Football Playoff has been a hotly debated topic since its inception, with many fans and teams feeling left out of the exclusive four-team playoff system. This debate has now made its way to the Senate, as lawmakers are taking up the issue and considering legislation that could potentially change the current playoff format. With so much at stake for college football programs and fans across the country, the fight over the College Football Playoff has become a major point of contention, both on and off the field.