South Carolina mayor criticizes playoff committee after Gamecocks’ snub | Sporting News

South Carolina was notably snubbed from the final College Football Playoff rankings this past Tuesday, and people are incredibly unhappy — though perhaps none as much as the mayor of Colombia, South Carolina.

In a recent post, Colombia mayor Daniel Rickenmann stated that “The Gamecocks should be in the college football playoffs.”

He went on to say “The CFP committee’s recent ranking is a mistake. For this reason, l’m introducing a resolution of disapproval at the next city council meeting. The Gamecocks deserve a spot in the playoffs and we’ve been excited because of their hard work this entire season. Columbia is proud of our flagship university and its positive impact on our state. This team deserves recognition and the committee made its decision behind closed doors without a clear process. Throughout the season, the Gamecocks have consistently exceeded expectations and fought through adversity. Clearly strength of schedule, losses to unranked teams, and margin of victory were not taken into account. The committee’s decision will result in lost benefit to our community which will be detrimental to Columbia. The Gamecocks are a top-12 team. Forever To Thee.”

The CFP Selection Committee has had some backlash over the last couple of years, most notably the Florida State situation last year, but nothing that has ever truly compared to this. Or, at the very least, nothing that has been taken to a governmental level.

If the CFP Selection Committee were to make changes to the rankings due to this “resolution of disapproval,” a dangerous legal precedent would be set in which city and state governments would be able to have direct influence on college football. 

With such a threat looming large, the Committee would be wise to not give much credence to the Mayor’s post. That said, they’ll still likely have to do something in response.

It should be noted that even though a resolution would put the mayor’s voice on official record, it’s solely up to the Committee to decide the 12-team playoff field.