Dick Vitale, Charles Barkley call out College Football Playoff committee over Notre Dame snub

Six days after Notre Dame missed the College Football Playoff, the Fighting Irish’s absence is still a point of conversation. During Saturday’s Kentucky vs. Indiana basketball game, Dick Vitale and Charles Barkley shared their reaction, calling out the CFP committee in the process.

Vitale, of course, wears his Notre Dame fandom proudly. He spoke out on social media shortly after the final rankings came out this week, when the Fighting Irish became the first team out of the CFP while Miami jumped up to No. 10 due to the head-to-head matchup between the two teams.

As ESPN showed a promo for this year’s College Football Playoff, Vitale made his thoughts clear. He argued Notre Dame deserved to be in the bracket, especially considering the Irish were in that position throughout the five weeks of CFP rankings shows.

“I’m so frustrated looking at that, Notre Dame not in there,” Vitale said on the broadcast. “Notre Dame deserved to be in.

“Five weeks in a row, we have a show on ESPN where we give the Top 12 teams, make a big thing out of it every Tuesday. Big show. Here comes the committee. Bottom line is, they were all five [weeks] in the Top 12. Then, all of a sudden, bumped.”

Charles Barkley: ‘You could see’ Notre Dame absence coming

Charles Barkley agreed with Dick Vitale, expressing his disappointment with Notre Dame’s absence. However, he said it might not have been entirely surprising considering the penultimate rankings announcement. The Fighting Irish dropped to No. 10 while Alabama moved to No. 9. BYU sat at No. 11, putting a team between Notre Dame and Miami, therefore avoiding the head-to-head discussion.

That said, Barkley argued Notre Dame is a different team than it was when it played Miami in Week 1. As a result, he thought the Irish should have been in the field.

“I actually agree with you. … I was disappointed,” Barkley said. “But you could see it coming in the last couple polls. They were creeping up on Miami. And my biggest problem with the whole thing, everybody’s talked about head-to-head. First of all, that was in August. … They were very close games [against] A&M and at Miami.

“But your team is not the same in August as it is in December. Notre Dame is playing as well as anybody in the country other than Indiana and probably Ohio State. And I don’t want to leave out the [Georgia] Bulldogs. Kirby Smart, that man can really coach.”