Florida attorney general investigating FSU snub from College Football Playoff

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced that she is investigating the College Football Playoff committee for its decision to exclude the Florida State Seminoles from its four-team championship.

The Seminoles finished the season undefeated, 13-0, and won the Atlantic Coast Conference, a Power Five conference, but the committee chose the 12-1 Texas Longhorns and 12-1 Alabama Crimson Tide over Florida State for the four-team playoff. Moody, an alumnus of the University of Florida, a rival to FSU, called the decision an “injustice” and said she would examine if the playoff committee had committed any “anticompetitive conduct.”

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“I’m a lifelong Gator, but I’m also the Florida Attorney General, and I know injustice when I see it,” Moody said in a 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.”

“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,” she added.

Moody said she sent the committee a Civil Investigative Demand seeking various communications, including those “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 deliberation.” She also requested information about the final vote, including tallies of the committee members.

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The investigation comes after several Florida politicians expressed their outrage over FSU’s exclusion from the playoff. This type of controversy with College Football Playoff will cease to exist after this season, with change coming to a 12-team playoff in 2024, with a set formula giving automatic bids to the top four conference champions. The four-team playoff began with the 2014 season and has seen several controversial selections in its decade of existence.

Florida State will play the Georgia Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30.