Can Florida State sue CFP? Potential legal challenge looms as FSU faces playoff snub

The world of college football is still reeling from the CFP committee's decision to exclude the Florida State Seminoles from this year's edition of the playoffs. The Seminoles had a perfect 13-0 season, that saw them being crowned as the ACC conference champions for the first time since 2013.

This is the first time in the 10-year history of the playoff era, that an unbeaten Power Five champion is excluded from the CFP. Considering that there are five power conferences, it would be an acceptable compromise if those five champions went undefeated.

However, the outrage in this case stems from the fact that Florida State was passed over not for one, but two teams with an 11-1 record (Alabama and Texas). Alabama is the most outrageous pick in this case, taking into account that the Crimson Tide lost a game this season to the Texas Longhorns.

The committee's decision has been justified by the fact that star quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending leg injury towards the end of the season. In the committee's estimation, the Seminoles are no longer the same team.

No other sport would penalize a team for overcoming such difficulty and still managing to come out undefeated. It's also abhorrent that a team is being judged solely on their last month of performance and not their entire season's resume.

Criteria like "Passing the eye test", or "Most deserving vs Best teams" are so uncompetitive, that they even bear mentioning. In the wake of this outrage, many fans have wondered what legal recourse, if any, does Florida State have in this case.

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Can Florida State sue the CFP?

Initially, it doesn't seem possible given that the CFP committee has wide criteria to make its choice, and nowhere in the bylaws is it stated that an undefeated team has to make the playoffs.

One of the factors the committee can ponder is injuries and coach availability, which is what they based their decision on.

They must also take into account championships won, strength of schedule, head-to-head results (if applicable) and comparative outcomes against common opponents.

However, some politicians have begun to raise questions as to the validity of this choice including former President Trump (R), Florida Governor Ron De Santis (R), and former Florida Governor and current Senator Rick Scott (R).

Scott, in particular, has pressed CFP chairman Boo Corrigan about more transparency in the selection process and has asked for records and material from the committee. The Senator has emphasized the financial loss that not appearing in the playoffs means for the school and the players.

Under this light, some lawyers have put forward the theory that Florida State could sue the CFP under antitrust legislation (the set of laws that are supposed to prevent monopolies and other unfair business practices).

According to this theory, the Tallahassee school could argue that the decision to exclude them is illegal, given that it was taken by the leadership of business competitors that wanted to exclude FSU.

They would then argue that the industry is colluding to prevent the consumers from getting the product that the Seminoles represent, which is illegal.

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Why was Florida State left out of the college football playoffs?

The main argument of the committee is that after losing their starting quarterback Jordan Travis, the Seminoles effectively ceased to be the same team.

The value the player brings to the team was deemed so great, that despite winning all their games since his injury, they are no longer considered one of the top four teams in the nation.