Florida State sends a furious letter to the College Football Playoffs following a historic snub.
Following Florida State’s exclusion from the national semifinal of the College Football Playoff, the university reacted angrily.

Florida State was not one of the top four teams for the national semifinal when the College Football Playoff selection committee made its announcement. Alabama, the SEC champion, defeated the Seminoles for the final, No. 4 spot, despite the fact that they were the undefeated ACC champions.

The school is reacting now. In an open letter, Michael Alford, the athletic director at FSU, addressed the selection committee directly and stated that “the consequences of giving in to a narrative of the moment are destructive, far reaching, and permanent.” For Florida State specifically as well as all of college football.”

The argument of whether a team is the ‘most deserving OR best’ is a false equivalence,” Alford said in his letter.

“It renders the season up to yesterday irrelevant and significantly damages the legitimacy of the College Football Playoff. The 2023 Florida State Seminoles are the epitome of a total TEAM. To eliminate them from a chance to compete for a national championship is an unwarranted injustice that shows complete disregard and disrespect for their performance and accomplishments. It’s unforgivable.”

Alford went on:

“Given our current quarterback situation, this team’s ability to finish games in a dominant manner should have strengthened our argument for a playoff berth earned on the field. Rather, in a move that deviates from what makes this sport great—excluding an undefeated Power 5 conference champion for the first time since the start of the BCS/CFP era 25 years ago—the committee chose to elevate themselves and “make history” today. The competitive standards that have endured throughout college football history are not met by this absurd choice.”

He added: “”Wins matter. Losses matter. Those that compete in the arena know this. Those on the committee who also competed in the sport and should have known this have forgotten it. Today, they changed the way success is assessed in college football, from a tangible metric – winning on the field – to an intangible, subjective one. Evidently, predicting the future matters more.

“For many of us, today’s decision by the committee has forever damaged the credibility of the institution that is the College Football Playoff. And, saddest of all, it was self-inflicted. They chose predictive competitiveness over proven performance; subjectivity over fact. They have become a committee of prognosticators. They have abandoned their responsibility by discarding their purpose – to evaluate performance on the field.”