Paul Finebaum Says No One Watches Notre Dame, But Why Should That Matter?

As the debate rages on about whether Notre Dame's exclusion from the College Football Playoff was fair or unfair, plenty of influential voices have voiced their opinions on the matter.

Even former Tennessee Vols coach Derek Dooley weighed in on the situation earlier today.

One man who has never shied away from controversial topics is ESPN's Paul Finebaum.

The Voice of the SEC was on First Take today to discuss the College Football Playoff selection process, and when the topic got around to Notre Dame's falling out of the field of 12, Finebaum went in on the blue blood program.

While most of his points were salient and agreeable, I took exception to one thing he mentioned in particular.

Listen, I understand everyone's desire to dunk on the Fighting Irish, and their latest stunt of opting out of their bowl game wasn't exactly a popular decision, but Finebaum is a little out of line with this one.

The fact that not a lot of people watch their games (whether truth or fiction) is irrelevant to the topic at hand. Why should it matter whether the Notre Dame brand is as much of a draw as it was in the 1970s and 80s?

To his credit, Finebaum backtracked a little toward the end of his rant, saying, "that has nothing to do with the playoff."

If that's the case though, then why even bring it up in the first place.

I don't want to put words in Finebaum's mouth, but was that his way of subconsciously tipping ESPN and the selection committee's hand?

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I wouldn't be the first one to suggest that one of the criteria for selecting the playoff teams is their "watchability factor."

Is it the only factor? Of course not. But when it comes down to hairsplitting time, perhaps that weighs into it.

It remains to be seen whether the Irish are a top brand in college football, but that shouldn't have any bearing on whether they're included in the CFP.

The same goes for their bowl opt out, too.

The theory is that Notre Dame decided to sit out bowl season to punish ESPN, but I really think it's just a simple case of not wanting to play in a now-meaningless bowl game, so bringing up their ratings shouldn't be relevant in this scenario either.

I get it. It's in vogue to clown Notre Dame right now, but let's try and stick to the metrics that matter.

I think Finebaum knows better than that, and he just got caught up in the bloodlust of kicking the Fighting Irish while they're down.

Believe me, they don't need any help in that arena right now, as the internet is almost universally united against them.

Hey, maybe that's the answer to all the divisiveness in our country right now!

It doesn't matter if you're a liberal or a conservative, because we all have one thing in common: hating on Notre Dame.

Thank you, Irish fans. You saved America!