CFP Officials Contacted FBI After Committee Members Received Threats Over FSU Snub

Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, told reporters on Monday that the selection committee received threats and "profanity laced emails and calls" after choosing a one-loss Alabama for the final spot in this year's four-team postseason in favor of then-undefeated Florida State.

He added that he and the CFP members were "totally disappointed" in the anger directed toward them from politicians in Florida.

"It's ridiculous," he said.

Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott led the charge in demanding "total transparency from the Committee regarding how this decision was reached and what factors may have been at play in reaching this outcome," writing a letter to the CFP Committee he shared publicly.

Scott, who called into question "the integrity of the process employed by this 13-member body," later claimed the Committee wasn't transparent for a second time after Hancock wrote him a letter explaining the decision to leave out Florida State:

Hancock offered two main arguments for FSU's snub—the team was less competitive after the season-ending injury to quarterback Jordan Travis, leading to the belief that one-loss teams in Alabama and Texas were better than the Seminoles, and that Florida State had a weaker strength of schedule than Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama.

Alabama losing in overtime to Michigan in a competitive, exciting game while Florida State was absolutely demolished by Georgia in the Orange Bowl, 63-3, seemed to at least somewhat justify the Committee's decision.

There were caveats, of course, namely that Florida State had a rash of opt-outs that left them extremely undermanned in the Orange Bowl. But Alabama certainly looked like a deserving playoff team (and also beat the Georgia team that annihilated FSU).

Granted, many argued that the results of those games were a moot point since Florida State went undefeated in a Power 5 conference and deserved to be in the playoff, regardless of the Travis injury. Their undefeated season was résumé enough for many people.

But that was where Hancock cited the strength of schedule argument.

"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," he wrote to Scott and the other outraged Florida politicians. "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."