TALLAHASSEE, FL - SEPTEMBER 12: Head Coach Mike Norvell of the Florida State Seminoles during the game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Doak Campbell Stadium on Bobby Bowden Field on September 12, 2020 in Tallahassee, Florida. Georgia Tech defeated Florida State 16 to 13. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Character Lines) (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Character Lines)
The general feeling from Florida State towards ESPN is not ideal these days, after many around the school seemed to point the finger somewhat in the network’s direction for the Seminoles’ historic College Football Playoff snub last year.
Now, the school’s athletic director is going a small step further. In a conversation with SiriusXM Radio, Seminoles AD Michael Alford claims that ESPN may have known Florida State was excluded from the playoff even before the official announcement.
“When we went to the selection show… [I] look up and see who’s covering us and see that Marty Smith is in Tuscaloosa, that hit me that we’re not getting in,” Alford said. “I did not get really worried until I saw that.”
Smith, one of ESPN’s primary college football reporters, was indeed assigned to Alabama’s contingent for the College Football Playoff selection show.
Florida State, meanwhile, had Harry Lyles, Jr. on site.
“I did not get really worried until I saw that,” Alford said. “And then I kind of knew, ‘Okay, we may not be in here.’ And then, when Texas popped up, I knew for sure that it was not going to be us.”
Alford also noted that he had a hint the Seminoles could get snubbed even before then.
“When I kind of knew, when it hit me, walking to the bus out of the locker room with some players, the conversation between the two of them was one of them saying, ‘We’re not going,’ and the other one saying, ‘What are you talking about?'” Alford said, via The New York Post.
“And this player, who is no longer with us, is going, ‘Follow the money. We’re not gonna be in. Alabama won,'” referring to the Crimson Tide’s win over Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. “‘We’re not going.'”
