Snubbed by CFP, Notre Dame AD says ACC relationship is damaged
A day after learning Notre Dame had been left out of the 12-team College Football Playoff, Fighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua was still angry.
In addition to reiterating his frustrations with the CFP ranking process, Bevacqua also turned his ire on the Atlantic Coast Conference during a Monday morning appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show.”
“We were mystified by the actions of the conference, to attack, you know, their largest business partner in football and a member of their conference in 24 of our other sports,” Bevaqua said. “And I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t say that they have certainly caused permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame.”
With the exception of football and men’s hockey, all Notre Dame sports teams are members of the ACC. Although the Irish soccer team has retained its independent status, it has had an agreement since 2014 to play matches against at least five ACC teams each season.
Miami, on the other hand, is a full member of the ACC.
Notre Dame opened the season on August 31 with a 27-24 loss at Miami, followed by a one-point loss to Texas A&M the following week. But the Irish finished the season 10-0, outscoring their opponents by an average of nearly 30 points (a figure bolstered by their 70-7 win over Syracuse on Nov. 22).
Miami also finished the regular season at 10-2. Despite the head-to-head win over Notre Dame months earlier, the Hurricanes were ranked below the Irish every week since the 2025 CFP rankings launched in early November — until this week, when Miami moved to No. 10 and the Irish landed at No. 11.
No. 20 Tulane and No. 24 James Madison earning automatic bids as champions of the American Athletic Conference and Sun Belt Conference, respectively, left Notre Dame out of the 12-team CFP bracket. Notre Dame subsequently announced that it was withdrawing from all college bowl games this season.
“What makes us so confusing and frustrating is the process,” Bevacqua said. “At every step since the first CFP rankings came out, we’ve been led to believe that we’re there as long as we take care of business. And we’ve certainly taken care of business with this 10-game winning streak.
“Can you think about that first ranking? You know, us and Miami were both 6-2. They had obviously already beaten us in the first game of the year. They were 18th. We were 10th. You know, the only thing we’ve done since then was win every game by an average of over 30 points. And you know, all of a sudden we’re 11th and we’re looking from the outside.”
CFP selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said on the playoff selection show that Miami’s season-opening win over Notre Dame had not been factored into the rankings until this weekend — when it became clear that the two teams would be side by side in the rankings and one team would likely finish out of the playoffs.
At this point, Yurachek said, he asked committee members to review the Miami-Notre Dame game.
“You look at these two teams on paper and they are almost equal in terms of strength of schedule, common opponents, results against common opponents,” Yurachek said. “But the only indicator we had to rely on… was face-to-face.”
Last month, the ACC football account on
Additionally, according to ESPN, the ACC Network broadcast Miami’s win over the Irish more than a dozen times last Thursday and Friday.
“We didn’t appreciate being repeatedly singled out and compared to Miami,” Bevacqua said. “Not in Miami – Miami has every right to do it, but it raised eyebrows here that the conference was taking shots at us.”
Asked by Patrick if Notre Dame would re-evaluate its overall relationship with the ACC after this, Bevacqua simply responded: “I would just say it’s been strained.” »
Patrick then asked if the damage was irreparable.
“Well, you never say irreparable, but it was an eye-opener for us,” Bevacqua said. “And you know, that got our attention.”
The ACC did not immediately respond Monday to The Times’ request for comment.
