CFP Committee Members Informed FBI Of Death Threats Received For FSU-Alabama Decision

Published|Updated

The outrage against the CFP Committee for its FSU snub has officially gone too far.

As we all know, the CFP committee excluded the Seminoles in favor of Alabama to play against Michigan. This enraged everyone from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to FSU athletic director Michael Alford, to most Seminoles fans. The outrage from everyone regarding the decision was justified, regardless of what Paul Finebaum thinks.

However, there’s a proper way to handle this, and an improper way. Unfortunately, a significant contingent of fans handled their outrage incorrectly.

Multiple reports emerged that CFP committee members faced death threats and profanity-laced calls and emails from fans. Additionally, ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported that the committee hired extra security for its members. The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach of confirmed that some of the members alerted the FBI of the threats.

CFP Committee Members Should Not Have Directly Received This Level Of Backlash For Their Decision

Fortunately, nothing substantial has happened beyond this. But the threats shouldn’t have reached this level in the first place.

Yes, FSU got stiffed. The Seminoles got left out because of the subjective argument that they weren’t the “better team” because of Jordan Travis’ injury. As such, Alabama played in the Rose Bowl instead of it, despite the fact that the Seminoles barely looked better than a Tate Rodemaker-led FSU team - with all of their impact players available.

Additionally, the Seminoles played a part in getting themselves some justice. Essentially all starters on both sides of the ball sat out the Orange Bowl to (in part) ruin the game’s ratings. 

So FSU did its part, and Alabama lost to Michigan in the semifinals. While it doesn’t reverse the decision, it’s some form of justice for an unfortunate situation.

But justice does not involve intimidating a group of people so badly that they feel a need to call the FBI. The outrage - while understandable for a time - needs to stop.