Notre Dame was excluded from the College Football Playoff as the loser of a three-team resume showdown that propelled Miami and Alabama into the at-large field and left the Irish to whine, complain and ultimately storm off to their bedroom, slam the door and refuse to come out for bowl season.
Oh, the humanity.
The shock and horror in South Bend was rooted in the CFP selection committee’s last-minute change of heart, mind and soul. After ranking Notre Dame above Miami for five weeks, the committee flipped the teams on Sunday morning even though neither played on Championship Saturday. The Hurricanes, who beat Notre Dame head-to-head, grabbed the final at-large spot, leaving the Irish on the outside looking in.
Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua vented his frustration to ESPN, describing the selection committee’s weekly rankings as a “farce” and “total waste of time.”
Later in the day, the Irish announced they would not participate in a bowl game, sending shock waves through the system and sparking concerns that the bowl structure would collapse. (It won’t.)
Yes, the weekly ranking shows are a “total waste of time” for everyone except ESPN, which pays the CFP handsomely for the right to broadcast five meaningless editions and the Selection Sunday version. And we’ll give Bevacqua full credit for appearing on ESPN and calling one of ESPN’s premier shows a “farce.”
But for Notre Dame to refuse a bowl invitation — well, that’s a joke, an abject embarrassment to a school that has gotten everything it wanted from the CFP for more than a decade and now, its toy taken away, storms off in a huff.
You know which school didn’t refuse a bowl game?
Florida State in 2023, after the undefeated ACC champions were snubbed by the CFP in the most controversial, egregious decision the selection committee has ever made. Absolutely gutted — both emotionally and by subsequent roster attrition — the Seminoles nonetheless accepted a bid to the Orange Bowl.
The truth: Notre Dame has been spoiled rotten by the CFP — by the entire sport, in fact — and now cannot cope with the reality of being treated like the 130-something schools without protections.
Should we discuss the special status awarded to the Irish over the years?
— Former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick was part of the four-man working group that created the format for the 12-team playoff, along with former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, former Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson and current SEC commissioner Greg Sankey.
Swarbrick emerged from the process so content with Notre Dame’s access to the playoff that he doubled down on the Irish remaining Independent.
Part of his glee, no doubt, was rooted in the Irish receiving a full share of the participation revenue. (Every other participant must share their cash with conference peers.)
— And why wouldn’t Swarbrick be delighted? The complications involved in crafting a 12-game Independent schedule are such that Notre Dame chose to partner with the ACC, arguably the weakest of the power conferences on an annual basis, for five games each season. The arrangement grants Notre Dame the easiest possible path to 10 wins.
(The road was too easy this season: The ACC’s historic weakness undermined Notre Dame’s resume, drawing the Irish into the resume showdown with Miami that caused the head-to-head result to become impactful.)
— Within the CFP governance structure, the Irish possess 18 times the voting power of Ohio State and 16 times the power of Texas.
You read that correctly. Notre Dame has the same number of votes (one) on policy issues as each of the nine FBS conferences. One Irish vote equals one Big Ten vote, and Ohio State is 1/18th of the Big Ten.
In too many respects, the sport is forever stuck in the 1950s.
— The CFP governance structure is changing in 2026, with the start of a new contract cycle with ESPN. In the next phase, the SEC and Big Ten will control the format and are obligated only to consult with the Irish and the other conferences.
But when the CFP’s framework for 2026 and beyond was negotiated in the spring of 2024, the Irish again received special treatment: They will be assured of a playoff berth if ranked in the top 12, Bevacqua told Yahoo on Sunday. (In other words, No. 12 Notre Dame would leapfrog the No. 11 team if only one spot remained.)
— Oh, but there’s more. The Big Ten’s radical proposal to stock the expanded CFP field — whether it’s 16 teams or 24 — with automatic qualifiers (AQs) works majestically for the Irish.
Why? Because the conference standings would determine CFP participants in the AQ model, limiting the competitive significance of non-conference games. Except all of Notre Dame’s games are non-conference affairs, meaning the Irish would face 12 opponents with far less incentive to win. It would be tantamount to a red carpet into the CFP every season.
For years, the CFP has contorted itself around Notre Dame’s whims and wishes, offering special access and extraordinary voting power and a willingness to look beyond the scheduling gift that is the ACC partnership. Even the next iteration of the event is crafted to meet Notre Dame’s desires.
Many college sports executives are frustrated with the situation but powerless to take a hard line with Notre Dame — in part because of the underlying risk.
In the ultimate example of a broken industry, college football is actually better off treating the Golden Domers like a golden child and creating a postseason structure that incentivizes the Irish to remain Independent.
They are the finger in the dike preventing a wave of realignment that would lay waste to the system.
The moment Notre Dame joins a conference — and it would be the Big Ten, not the ACC — the chain reaction would be momentous:
— The Big Ten would approve the request on the spot and join Fox, its media overlord, in shedding tears of joy.
— The Big Ten and Fox would then make swift plans to grab either one or three schools from the ACC (to maintain an even number).
— The SEC and its media partner, ESPN, would feel compelled to respond and conduct their own ACC raid.
A few of the Big 12 schools could be drawn into the feeding frenzy, as well, leading to a complete overhaul of the FBS and dozens of schools being left behind — all of it triggered by the Irish.
Said an industry source of Notre Dame remaining Independent: “It means more stability for us all.”
For now, it doesn’t appear the Irish have any intention of joining a conference despite the CFP snub and hard feelings toward the ACC office for its support of Miami in the messaging game.
“We love being Independent in football. It’s part of our DNA,” Bevacqua told Yahoo. “We have zero intention of changing that. It’s part of who Notre Dame is. Quite frankly, this further cements our independence.”
Which is a good thing for a sport so screwed up that special treatment for Notre Dame is the only thing keeping the structure intact.
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