Of all the ways Notre Dame could've handled the disappointment of not being selected for the College Football Playoff 12-team bracket, it did it in the most Notre Dame way possible.
The Irish decided to turn down a bowl bid, take their ball and go home. That'll show the committee that chose Miami over Notre Dame on the simple premise that the Hurricanes beat Notre Dame on the football field this season and when all things were relatively equal, the head-to-head result mattered.
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 7, 2025
The committee had to make a choice and they chose right
When the committee had chosen between Miami and Notre Dame, they did the right thing. There is a great argument to include both Miami and Notre Dame in the 12-team CFP bracket, but based on the Hurricanes' Week 1 win over the Irish, Miami had to get the nod.
No one should've expected Notre Dame to handle this disappointment well and athletic directior Pete Bevacqua took the opportunity to air his grievances as was his right. But that should've been the end of it. Instead, the Irish decided to go overboard with their entitlement. Congratulations on losing any bit of the goodwill you had.
In an exclusive with @YahooSports, Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua says the Irish are shocked about snub and calls the weekly rankings process an “absolute joke” and one that gave ND false hope.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 7, 2025
“We feel like the playoff was stolen from our student-athletes.”https://t.co/0v135QyJ7O
The playoffs will go on without Notre Dame and be just fine. Eventually, the bowl directors will find someone that wants to play in the game, and they will move on. I won't sit here and devalue the impact that Notre Dame has on college football, but the last time the Irish won a title was 1988. The sport has continued to function and grow year after year and most of them without Notre Dame being in contention for a championship.
If Bevacqua wants to rail against the weekly rankings or the stupid CFP committee in general, he won't have to look far to find allies. The selection process for the playoffs could use a few major tweaks. But this time, they got a right and the people involved with Notre Dame football just need to accept that.
But BYU is also disappointed. Virginia is disappointed. Georgia Tech is disappointed. Texas is disappointed. Every team that fell just a few plays short of making the playoffs is disappointed, but they all have one thing in common — they lost games that put their fate in the committee's hands.
That's what happened to Miami last season. The Hurricanes lost to Syracuse late in the season and didn't make it. Those players and coaches were rightfully upset, but they brushed themselves off and moved on to a bowl game. That's how adults handle disappointment. They accept it and move on with the hope that next time they can do what's necessary to get a better outcome. Notre Dame had the chance to be the adult in the room and it opted out instead.