While Texas A&M fans mourned a playoff exit, the real misery was brewing in South Bend. The playoff snub had Notre Dame seeing red while their archrival, Miami, advanced into the quarterfinals. Shannon Sharpe was ready to pour salt in the wound, especially as HC Marcus Freeman is getting attention from the NFL.

“Vanderbilt, Texas, would have been better in this (playoffs),” 8-time NFL Pro Bowler Shannon Sharpe launched a salty attack on the December 21 episode of Nightcap. “You notice I ain’t mention Notre Dame, right? Until they get in the conversation. They did the right thing. Stay y’all — home crying. ‘We ain’t going to a bowl game.’ Ain’t nobody missing you!”

Notre Dame felt “punched in the stomach” after Miami sneaked past and stole their playoff spot. And as a means to show the CFP what they were missing out on, Marcus Freeman tried to make a statement by opting out of their scheduled bowl game. But that short-sighted bowl game decision forced Shannon Sharpe to call him out after Miami went one step closer to the Natty.

Miami had an advantage over Notre Dame not only because it defeated the Irish, but because it played tougher opponents. The Irish never had the bargaining chip to begin pleading their case. Now, their brash decision to opt out of the bowl game is only coming back to bite back at them. Miami gets to make one more statement by playing in the quarterfinals. But Notre Dame football is done for the season. Once the season ended, the rumors about the coaching search for Freeman began.

The Giants are reportedly seeing him as a Brian Daboll replacement. Last week, it was analyst Josh Pate who floated the news very subtly. “I just think Marcus Freeman is gonna be in play for the Giants job,” Pate said during an appearance with Bussin’ With The Boys. “I think a lot of people in the college football administrative world know that/expect that. The agency world knows that/expects that. Not a done deal. I’m not going, Schefter. If it’s even a remote possibility, and it certainly is, then that means the Notre Dame job may be open, as well. The coaching cycle is not close to done yet.”

Now, even Mike Garafolo reported that Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman is expected to be the Giants’ top college head-coach candidate. So, this has got the ND fans worried. First, they had to face the committee’s decision, and now their head coach seems a frontrunner for the pro league. He has compiled a 43-12 overall record with Notre Dame in four years, winning more than 78 percent of his games. He led them to a No. 2 national ranking and a national championship appearance last season.

But this season, there is no playoff football. Notre Dame’s even pulling out of the bowl game had become a massive controversy. Marcus Freeman and Co. had the right to feel disgruntled about not making the playoffs. But Miami has the right to be in the playoffs this season. Mario Cristobal and his crew of unproven misfits, despite being doubted in the season, established themselves as a playoff contender. Cristobal knows Notre Dame fans are definitely sour about Miami going ahead in the playoffs. Once again, he made his feelings on the whole blame-game clear.

Mario Cristobal threw shade at Notre Dame after defeating Texas A&M

Notre Dame fans complained about Miami not being a deserving team because of how slow the game was. And Texas A&M out-gained Miami offensively. At the end of the day, Miami got to have the last laugh. Cristobal made sure to make that known to those still bitter about his presence in the playoffs.

“Irregardless of what the result was today, [the committee] made the right decision,” the HC said in the post-game interview. “Last year, we had to go to court, I felt, because we had a case, and other teams had a case. But it was fuzzy, it was muddy. And this year, what was fuzzy about it? We come down to the end, we had common opponents with another great football team that I’m sure would do great in the playoffs. But we did better against those common opponents, and we won the head-to-head.

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“God forbid we should ever get away from the meaning of head-to-head.”

Though Cristobal stressed that the intensity in a head-to-head scenario resulted in a lot of player injuries, the head-to-head criteria is exactly where Notre Dame lost the battle. The one game that the Irish needed to make the playoffs was their opener against Miami, and they blew it. Not only that, but Notre Dame also lost to Texas A&M. Of course, it had 30 more points than Miami. But the bottom line remains: Notre Dame lost, and there was no way to go around that fact.