CFP's Bill Hancock responds to Sen. Rick Scott over FSU omission - ESPN

College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock responded to U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and several other Florida congressmen over their demands for «full transparency» from the selection committee about why undefeated Florida State was left out of the playoff.

In a letter sent Friday, Hancock told Scott that the decision to rank Florida State No. 5 was based on two principal reasons: The protocol the committee uses requires it to take injuries into consideration, and it determined Jordan Travis' season-ending injury «caused the committee to believe that there were indeed four teams that should rank higher than FSU.»

In addition, Hancock said the Seminoles' strength of schedule was not as strong as those of the four teams ranked ahead of them: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama.

«Everyone on the Committee understands the disappointment felt by Florida State fans,» Hancock wrote. «We recognize that no matter what decision was made, fans somewhere would be disappointed.… The Committee members are confident they made the right decisions in ranking the best four teams in the country based on the protocol and we all look forward to great playoff games.»

The day after Florida State became the first undefeated Power 5 team left out of the playoffs, Scott sent a letter to CFP committee chairman Boo Corrigan in search of transparency, demanding the votes of each member on the committee, in addition to notes, recordings, emails, texts and written communication between the committee and a host of others, including the SEC, ESPN and anyone not affiliated with the CFP.