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Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Writer
College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock responded to Florida Senator Rick Scott and several other Florida Congressmen over their demands for “full transparency” from the selection committee about why undefeated Florida State was left out of the playoff.
In a letter sent Friday, Hancock told Scott the decision to rank Florida State No. 5 was based on two principal reasons: The protocol the committee uses requires it to take injuries into consideration, and it determined Jordan Travis‘ season-ending injury “caused the committee to believe that there were indeed four teams that should rank higher than FSU.”
In addition, Hancock said the Seminoles’ strength of schedule was not as strong as the four teams ranked ahead of them: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama.
“Everyone on the Committee understands the disappointment felt by Florida State fans,” Hancock wrote. “We recognize that no matter what decision was made, fans somewhere would be disappointed. … The Committee members are confident they made the right decisions in ranking the best four teams in the country based on the protocol and we all look forward to great playoff games.”
The day after Florida State became the first undefeated Power 5 team left out of the playoffs, Scott sent a letter to CFP committee chairman Boo Corrigan in search of transparency, demanding the votes of each member on the committee, in addition to notes, recordings, emails, texts and written communication between the committee and a host of others, including the SEC, ESPN and anyone not affiliated with the CFP.
🚨BREAKING: The @CFBPlayoff just responded to my letter with more excuses & still NO TRANSPARENCY.@FSUFootball was #4 before beating #14 Louisville without Jordan Travis…but then after that win, the CFP thinks #FSU is a weaker team? It makes no sense. ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS! pic.twitter.com/nCGPSiJ7qE
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) December 15, 2023
Hancock did not provide that information in his written response. In addition, Hancock sent the response to Florida Rep. Neal Dunn and several other Florida Representatives who criticized the decision to leave the Seminoles out.
Earlier this week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said she would launch an investigation into the committee.