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Jon Gruden rips College Football Playoff committee following controversial decisions

Rowan Fisher Shotton|
Former NFL Coach Jon Gruden have a laugh while attending an NFL training camp session ten at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]
Former NFL Coach Jon Gruden have a laugh while attending an NFL training camp session ten at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] | Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On Sunday, the College Football Playoff selection committee released its second 12-team bracket, handing automatic berths to five conference champions and filling the remaining slots with seven at-large selections.

The field featured a mix of Group of Five champions Tulane and James Madison and, controversially, at-large picks Alabama and Miami while leaving Notre Dame and BYU on the outside. 

Indiana drew the No. 1 overall seed; first-round matchups include (12) James Madison at (5) Oregon, and (11) Tulane at (6) Ole Miss; Alabama will travel to Oklahoma, and Miami will play Texas A&M in the opening weekend.

Former NFL coach Jon Gruden weighed in on Monday’s episode of Wake Up Barstool, calling the committee’s work “horrific” and saying, "I think a lot of these ADs that are on this committee, these are the people that are firing coaches like me, left and right, some of these people need to be fired on this committee."

Selection Sunday produced immediate pushback.

Notre Dame, which entered the final ranking cycle with a 10-2 record and a season of signature wins, was passed over for Miami (also 10-2) after the committee invoked head-to-head and résumé comparisons. 

The Notre Dame athletic department publicly protested the snub and announced it would decline to participate in a bowl game. 

BYU, Texas, and other programs that hoped to leap into the expanded field were also left out, and social media outrage spread across fanbases and pundits.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman takes the field with his players before a NCAA football game against Syracuse at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Committee chair Hunter Yurachek told broadcasters the group had weighed conference championships, strength of schedule, and head-to-head results, specifically noting Miami’s season-opening win over Notre Dame and BYU’s lopsided loss in the Big 12 title game as factors that reshaped the final ordering. 

However, that explanation did little to tamp criticism from college football fans and analysts like Gruden. 

Expect more debate in the coming days over specific committee criteria, renewed lobbying from power conferences, and increased urgency around whether the CFP will grow again to limit these headline-making snubs.

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Rowan Fisher
ROWAN FISHER SHOTTON

Rowan Fisher-Shotton is a versatile journalist known for sharp analysis, player-driven storytelling, and quick-turn coverage across CFB, CBB, the NBA, WNBA, and NFL. A Wilfrid Laurier alum and lifelong athlete, he’s written for FanSided, Pro Football Network, Athlon Sports, and Newsweek, tackling every beat with both a reporter’s edge and a player’s eye.

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