CFP committee defies Florida AG’s antitrust probe over FSU playoff snub with daring decision

The FSU playoff snub had taken the college football world by storm. Many fans started to question the factors that affected the College Football Playoff selection committee's to leave Florida State – who emerged as the undefeated ACC champions – out of a playoff spot in favor of Alabama and Texas, who both have a one-loss record this season.

The FSU playoff snub issue became such a controversial topic that Florida's top prosecutor, State Attorney General Ashley Moody filed an antitrust probe against the CFP selection committee in search of answers as to why the Seminoles were kept out of the four-team playoffs.

Now, a new turn has taken place, making this situation more interesting. According to reports, the CFP Committee missed the first deadline in their antitrust investigation and failed to come up with justifiable reasons behind the FSU playoff snub.

The subpoena demanded all the communications with ESPN and the SEC about Florida State's exclusion along with documents of member compensation and individual vote tallies behind the decision. While the hard deadline was set for Jan. 11, 2024, Moody requested that the selection committee start producing answers "no later than Dec. 26, 2023."

With the CFP selection committee now failing to meet the Dec. 26 deadline, the State of Florida can now potentially file a lawsuit against them. This would make all the communications between the committee, SEC and the ESPN public.

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Selection committee responds to criticisms of FSU playoff snub through 2-page letter

After the backlash behind Florida State not making it to the playoff picked up heat, CFB Executive Director Bill Hancock tried to make the decision behind not choosing Florida State more transparent through a two-page letter.

In that letter, he talked about the factors behind Florida State's exclusion but went on to admit that it was the first time that an undefeated team from the Power Five conference had failed to qualify for the playoffs.

"The protocol requires the committee to consider the unavailability of key players that may affect the performance of the team in the postseason. Simply put, Florida State isn't the same team without their star quarterback.

"FSU's strength of schedule was not as strong as the four teams ranked ahead of them. As I am sure you are aware, strength of schedule is a key metric the committee takes into consideration."

Unfortunately, this did not satisfy the justification behind the FSU playoff snub for fans. Thus, it will be interesting to see what steps Ashley Moody will take in the coming days following the missed deadline.