Trump: Blame DeSantis for NCAA’s snub of FSU for playoff spot
It wasn’t a deep state conspiracy, according to Donald Trump, but a “really bad lobbying effort” by Gov. Ron DeSantis that robbed the Florida State Seminoles football team from a chance to win the national championship next month.
The former president used the outrage to take a dig at his Republican presidential rival, but the ire from Florida’s congressional delegation could spell trouble for college sports’ governing body, the NCAA, and its Capitol Hill wish list.
Nonetheless, on Monday morning, Trump lamented on his social-media platform that FSU “was treated very badly” by the NCAA committee that chose the sport’s final four. Trump, who leads GOP presidential primary polls, said Floridians should put the blame squarely on DeSantis, one of his Republican nomination rivals.
“Really bad lobbying effort … Let’s blame DeSanctimonious!!!” the missive concluded.
Trump’s post broke ranks with Florida’s political leadership, including the governor, all of whom issued blistering criticism of the College Football Playoff Committee, a 13-member panel. This weekend, the panel left FSU on the sidelines despite an unbeaten record and the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
The controversial decision has been the talking point in the sports world since the playoff pairings were announced at midday Sunday.
“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,” DeSantis wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Congratulations to @FSUFootball for an outstanding season and winning the ACC championship!”
Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott issued a lengthy statement calling the snub of FSU “shocking” and ominously added it “raised questions about the integrity” of the process to select the four teams that will compete, including unbeatens Michigan and Washington and once-beatens Texas and Alabama.
Scott’s statement demanded “transparency” from the committee and included a thorough, 10-point call for the committee’s records, including emails, texts and written communications between the panel’s members, notes on their deliberations and even the game video on the Seminoles the committee reviewed in making their decision.
Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, an FSU grad, went even further.
“Any @CFBPlayoff committee member that wishes to come forward to disclose their votes should do so NOW,” he wrote on X. “I’m in conversations with legislators on additional action. Playoff committee members should take steps to preserve all documents.”
U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat whose district include swaths of Palm Beach and Broward counties, said the decision reflects the want for “TV money” and amounted to “a corrupt decision for college athletics.” Moskowitz said he would pursue a resolution “condemning” the action.
While Trump took the opportunity to jab rival DeSantis, Scott and Moskowitz have leverage. The fallout comes as collegiate athletic leaders are hoping Congress takes action on the issue of paying student-athletes.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2021 allows players on college teams to accept payment, and the leaders of the NCAA’s powerful conferences have decried the patchwork of state laws now governing financial remuneration for players on collegiate squads.
They want Congress to settle the issue with federal legislation to establish a national, uniform standard. Scott, Moskowitz and others fuming in Florida’s congressional delegation could very well muck that effort up.
Don’t think so? Ask former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy because Pensacola Congressman Matt Gaetz has also weighed in: “What a BS snub of the Noles.”