(NewsNation) — Undefeated Florida State’s failure to secure a spot in the playoffs left many college football fans, sports analysts and even political leaders up in arms. But sports personality Stephen A. Smith thinks it boils down to the college football committee wanting controversy.
“It’s college football, and we always understand that perpetually, we’re going to have something to complain about because the college football committee wants it that way,” Smith told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo.
As far as Florida State’s snub goes, Smith says: “Undefeated is undefeated.” It’s a sentiment sports radio host Mike Francesa shares.
“The bottom line is they (Florida State) earned the right because they did it on the field,” Francesa told NewsNation host Dan Abrams.
The controversy has reached beyond sports enthusiasts and into the political arena. It sparked reactions from GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and Florida Sen. Rick Scott.
In a letter to Boo Coorigan, the chairman of the selection committee, Scott called for “total transparency from the committee regarding how this decision was reached and what factors may have been at play in reaching this outcome.”
Ahead of the fourth GOP debate, DeSantis ripped the College Football Playoff committee on X, former known as Twitter.
“What we learned today is that you can go undefeated and win your conference championship game, but the College Football Playoff committee will ignore these results. Congratulations to @FSUFootball for an outstanding season and winning the ACC championship!” DeSantis posted.
NewsNation political editor Chris Stirewalt called the controversy a “high salience Republican issue.”
“A lot of college football fans are inside the Republican Party,” Stirewalt said during an appearance on “The Hill.” “So, if you’re Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, theoretically, the executive in charge of the state that operates Florida State University, you need to have an opinion about it. So, he did.”
Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama were selected for the College Football Playoff on Sunday. The decision made Florida State the first unbeaten Power Five conference champion to be left out of the field.
Michigan is slated to play Alabama in the Rose Bowl, and Washington will play Texas in the Sugar Bowl. The winners will face off for the national championship Jan. 8 in Houston.