President Ron DeSantis ‘would use the bully pulpit’ to hash out College Football Playoff controversy

DeSantis Law Enforcement
The Governor's grievance over FSU's exclusion continues.

Ron DeSantis is giving some insight into how he would handle the College Football Playoff exclusion of the Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles if he were in the White House.

He said that if he were President, he would “use the bully pulpit,” while suggesting that both the current four-team setup that shut the Seminoles out and the expanded format for next year are each defective in their own ways.

“Is there some type of happy medium where you could do six teams?” DeSantis said. “Someone that’s No. 1 in the country would, would have a bye or something. That would probably make more sense.”

DeSantis said a 12-team format “dilutes the regular season.” The Governor made the comments on the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.

DeSantis has already pledged $1 million from the new state budget to sue the College Football Playoff committee, assuming that grounds for a legal challenge actually exist.

“I don’t know whether there’s going to be any action. Obviously, the games aren’t going to change, but it has cost the university a lot of money,” DeSantis told Iowa reporters Friday. “If you think about the damages being in that College Football Playoff versus being in the Orange Bowl is a big, big difference.”

DeSantis has told Iowans before about his grievance with the selection process.

“That decision cost the university a lot of money. I mean, like a lot,” he said in Cedar Rapids.

Yet despite the seeming assertion that FSU is owed the difference between the playoff payout and that from the Orange Bowl, DeSantis acknowledged Monday the argument that the current Seminoles are diminished from where they were when Jordan Travis was hurt.

“They won all their games. And I understand they lost their quarterback, who’s a great player, you know. But my view would be if you win a Power 5 conference and you’re undefeated and there’s only two other undefeated teams, you should be in one of the top four playoff spots,” he told the radio hosts.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


7 comments

  • WHO CARES???

    December 11, 2023 at 2:59 pm

    FIX. THE. FLORIDA. INSURANCE. CRISIS.

  • rick whitaker

    December 11, 2023 at 3:12 pm

    who cares, this sports kerfuffle is a distaction desantis is using to trick floridians. did he learn that ploy from trump or harvard? did you vote for desantis? hopefully not, because if you did, you helped cause the problem

  • Biscuit

    December 11, 2023 at 3:26 pm

    NewsLittle from the North: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, speaking to Iowa reporters, bedazzled them with his vision of Presidential Leadership for America with a near future President DeSantis making darn sure that college football playoffs are fair and square. Using language and a tone of conviction reminiscent of FDR’s address to the nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he decried, “Is there some type of happy medium where you could do six teams?”
    One emotionally overwhelmed reporter fainted, while three others admitted getting wobbly legs at the candidate’s stirring message.
    Arf.

  • My Take

    December 11, 2023 at 5:02 pm

    A pandering babbling buffoon.

  • Dont Say FLA

    December 11, 2023 at 5:04 pm

    People are saying that, same as with Rhonda’s teleprompter and other setup problems, undefeated FSU was excluded from playoffs simply because Everybody Hates Rhonda.

  • Michael K

    December 11, 2023 at 5:26 pm

    The Rhonda bully will never get their pulpit.

  • Sonja Fitch

    December 13, 2023 at 6:33 am

    Wow Every headline gives us the personality traits exposed by Desantis! “Bully-Pit” yep that is the way this White Man is governing Florida!

Comments are closed.


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