Finishing the season 10-2, Notre Dame will be the first team left out of the 12-team College Football Playoff in 2025. The Fighting Irish won’t have a chance to avenge their national championship loss to Ohio State last season.
That is not sitting well in South Bend, as the head-to-head debate with Miami finally came to a head on the CFP final selection on December 7. For four straight weeks, the committee ranked Notre Dame ahead of Miami — until they didn’t.
Shortly after, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua reportedly called for the end of the CFP’s weekly ranking shows, saying they provided “false hope” to the Irish and their fans.
“My feelings and the feelings here are just shock and, really, an absolute sense of sadness for our student-athletes,” Bevacqua told Yahoo Sports. “Overwhelming shock and sadness. Like a collective feeling that we were all just punched in the stomach.”
Well, Notre Dame is going to make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen twice next year, thanks to an agreement made with CFP officials last spring.
Notre Dame to Ensure It Makes CFP Field in 2026
The rules around Notre Dame rarely look like the rules for everyone else in college football. Shortly after the playoff rankings were revealed, news broke from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger that the school and the CFP signed an agreement last spring guaranteeing Notre Dame a playoff berth if it finishes in the top 12.
In other words: if next year played out like this year, Miami would be bumped out regardless of the head-to-head result.
And everyone thought this year was controversial. Whew.
The agreement also includes contingencies should the playoff expand to 14 teams. “If the playoff is expanded to 14 teams and there are more at-large berths added to the field (from seven to nine), Notre Dame is guaranteed into the field if it is ranked No. 13 or better,” Dellenger wrote.
Plenty of fans around the country won’t like the sound of that. But the 2026 selection committee still has the option of simply keeping Notre Dame outside the protected range to avoid triggering the automatic-entry clause. Either way, the Irish now hold a major advantage that no other program enjoys.
Pete Bevacqua Confirms Notre Dame CFP Agreement in 2026
During an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” on December 8, Bevacqua didn’t dance around the question when Patrick asked him directly whether Notre Dame would automatically make the CFP next year if it’s ranked inside the top 12.
“Yeah, I don’t want to say too much about the memorandum of understanding but that’s certainly been reported, that’s out there, and what you said is accurate,” Bevacqua said.
Patrick followed up: “So, next year if you’re ranked in the top 12, you’re automatically in the playoff?”
“Correct,” Bevacqua replied.
Bevacqua added that this was part of broader negotiations with the CFP as the format evolves and as the organization prepared for its expanded media deal with ESPN. On March 19, 2024, the CFP and ESPN agreed to a new six-year, $7.8 billion deal that gives ESPN exclusive rights through 2031-32.
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