College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock responded to U.S. Sen. 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 that 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 that quarterback 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 those of the four teams ranked ahead of them: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama.
In noting the strength of schedule, Hancock wrote, "If being undefeated without regard to a team's strength of schedule was part of our protocol, other universities with undefeated records would have routinely been considered for the Playoff. There have been eight, counting Florida State, undefeated teams that did not make the Playoff. While this is the first year such a team was from a so-called P5 conference, strength of schedule remains a crucial factor."
The phrase "so-called P5 conference" drew consternation from Florida State officials and its fan base on social media because it implied the ACC was not one of the Power 5 conferences and had been treated in a similar manner to Liberty and other undefeated Group of 5 teams that did not make the playoff.
Hancock provided clarification on that phrasing to ESPN on Saturday morning, saying, "It is important to know that CFP doesn't use the term 'Power 5' or 'P5.' While the media and others use the term P5 to refer to the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC, we use the term 'A5' or 'Autonomy 5' instead."
He added that he used the phrase "so-called" to indicate it was not the official language of the playoff committee.
The ACC has had eight teams make the playoff since it began in 2014 and as a conference has the second-best record in CFP games.
Hancock also wrote in the letter to Scott: "Everyone on the Committee understands the disappointment felt by Florida State fans. 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 playoff, 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, which was also sent to U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn and several other representatives from Florida who criticized the decision to leave the Seminoles out of the playoff.
Earlier this week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said she would launch an investigation into the committee.