Notre Dame AD brings up worst point yet over Miami rightfully getting CFP spot

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua is continuing to speak his mind after the Irish were left out of the College Football Playoff in favor of Miami. At a Tuesday press conference, Bevacqua said Notre Dame was "shocked, mystified" by Sunday's decision and claimed the Irish had "one of the most dominant 10-game runs in the history of college football" before being bumped to No. 11 behind the Hurricanes. 

Notre Dame finished 10-2 after opening with narrow losses to then No. 10 Miami and No. 16 Texas A&M by a combined four points, then ripping off 10 straight wins. He argued the Irish "did everything we needed to do," pointing to that streak and insisting the selection process changed on them late in the year.

Those comments built on what he said Monday on The Dan Patrick Show, where Bevacqua described the rankings as having the "rug pulled out from underneath" Notre Dame and accused the ACC of doing "permanent damage" to its relationship with the school by leaning publicly into Miami's case. He has repeated that his frustration is with the process and the messaging, while still acknowledging Miami and Alabama deserve their playoff spots.

How should Notre Dame's 10-game win streak be viewed?

The 10-game run was objectively dominant on the scoreboard. After the 0-2 start, Notre Dame beat Purdue, Arkansas, Boise State, NC State, USC, Boston College, Navy, Pitt, Syracuse and Stanford. Every win was by at least 10 points, and the Irish outscored those opponents by 297 points, an average margin of just under 30 per game. That stretch included a home win over then No. 20 USC and a victory over Boise State, which went on to win the Mountain West.

But even with some nice wins, the streak does need context when talking about being one of the best in college football history. USC was the only ranked Power Four team Notre Dame beat during that 10-game streak, several opponents finished with losing records, Pitt's head coach Pat Narduzzi said prior to their matchup against ND that the outcome of the game did not matter, and while Boise State won their conference, they still lost three other games on the year outside of ND and were hardly a dominant force.

Truly dominant win streaks in college football

Let's take a look at what a truly dominant single season win streak looks like:

• 2013 Florida State (14-0) - Outscored opponents 723-170, an average margin of 39.5 points per game, which is the highest ever for any major-college team that played at least 10 games. Led the nation in scoring offense and scoring defense, then erased a 21-3 deficit to beat Auburn for the BCS title.
• 1995 Nebraska (12-0, part of a 25-game streak) - Average margin of victory over 38 points, the largest by any Division I-A team since World War II. Blew out four teams that finished in the top eight of the final AP poll by an average score of 49-18 and destroyed No. 2 Florida 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl.
• 1971 Nebraska (13-0, repeat national champs) - Outscored opponents 507-104 and held 10 of 13 teams to single digits, including three shutouts. Beat the teams that finished No. 2 (Oklahoma), No. 3 (Colorado) and No. 4 (Alabama) in the final poll during the same season.
• 2001 Miami (12-0) - Outscored opponents 512-117 (42.6-9.8 per game), an average margin of 32.9 points. Set an NCAA record for largest margin over consecutive ranked opponents, beating Syracuse and Washington 124-7 combined, and outscored five ranked teams 236-72 overall.
• 2018 Clemson (15-0) - First 15-0 team in the modern era and first undefeated CFP champion. Won their final 10 games by at least 20 points and finished with an average margin of 31.1 points per game before crushing Alabama 44-16 in the title game.
• 2020 Alabama (13-0 in an SEC-only + CFP season) - Against an all-SEC regular season plus two CFP games, Alabama finished with the best average scoring margin in the FBS that year. Beat Notre Dame and Ohio State by 17 and 28 points in the playoff to cap an undefeated run.
• 2005 Texas (13-0) - Went 13-0 with an average margin around 33.8 points per game. Dropped 70-3 on Colorado in the Big 12 title game and then beat USC in the Rose Bowl.
• 2019 LSU (15-0) - Outscored opponents 726-328 and averaged roughly 48.6 points per game with an average victory margin of about 26.5 points, while running through one of the toughest schedules ever. Beat multiple top-10 teams (including Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma and Clemson) on the way to a national title.
• 1949 Notre Dame (10-0 as part of 36-0-2 stretch) - Let's throw a Notre Dame team in here. The Fighting Irish finished 10-0, outscored opponents 360-86 and won a third national title in four years.

Also these are just single season streaks. Other dominant runs (with 10-game runs in them) have occured. USC had 34 straight wins and two national championships from 2003-05. Miami had streaks of 34 and 29 in different eras. Oklahoma had 47 wins from 1953-57. And FSU, Clemson, Alabama, Georgia all have had 25-plus game streaks with titles in the middle.

I think you get the point.

At the end of the day, the Notre Dame pity party isn't going to change the CFP this season. But, the MOU that they signed last spring which guarentees them a spot if they finish in the top 12 will help. So, for the sake of ND and the brand, it's best if Bevacqua begins to move on.