One day away from studying this Our Lady was left outside 12-team College Football Playoff fieldFighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua was still furious.
In addition to reiterating his frustrations with the CFP rankings process, Bevacqua also expressed anger at the Atlantic Coast Conference during a Monday morning appearance at “The Dan Patrick Show”
“We were perplexed by the conference's actions to attack their largest business partner in football and their conference member in 24 of our other sports,” Bevacqua said. “And I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t say that they certainly did irreparable damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame.”
With the exception of football and men's hockey, all of Notre Dame's athletic teams are members of the ACC. Although the Irish football team has maintained its independent status, it has entered into agreements to play games with at least five ACC teams each season since 2014.
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 to 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 number bolstered by their 70-7 win over Syracuse on Nov. 22).
Miami also finished the regular season with a 10–2 record. Despite a head-to-head win over Notre Dame a few months earlier, the Hurricanes had ranked below the Irish every week since the 2025 CFP rankings were released in early November until this week, when Miami jumped to 10th and the Irish to 11th.
With No. 20 Tulane and No. 24 James Madison receiving automatic bids to the American Athletic Conference and Sun Belt Conference championships, respectively, that left Notre Dame outside the 12-team CFP bracket. Notre Dame subsequently announced that it was withdrawal from consideration of all college games this season.
“What we find so confusing and frustrating is the process itself,” Bevacqua said. “Every step of the way, since the first CFP rankings came out, we've been led to believe that we're in business 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 obviously already beat us in the first game of the year. They were 18th. We were 10th. You know, the only thing we did from that point on was win every game by an average of over 30 points. And you know, all of a sudden we were 11th and on the outside looking in.”
CFP selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said during the playoff selection show that Miami's season-opening win over Notre Dame was not factored into the rankings until this weekend, when it became clear that two teams would be side-by-side in the rankings and one team would likely be eliminated from the postseason picture.
At that 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 evenly matched in terms of strength of schedule, common opponents and record against common opponents,” Yurachek said. “But the only metric we had to rely on… was personal communication.”
Last month, the ACC football account on X published a chart highlighting Miami's win over Notre Dame and showing how the teams compared in certain statistical categories, with the Hurricanes winning two out of three times.
Also, according to ESPNThe ACC Network replayed Miami's win over the Irish more than a dozen times last Thursday and Friday.
“We didn’t appreciate the fact that we were repeatedly singled out and compared to Miami,” Bevacqua said. “Not Miami—Miami has every right to do this, but a lot of people here were surprised that the conference was attacking us.”
Asked by Patrick if Notre Dame would re-evaluate its relationship with the ACC after this, Bevacqua simply responded, “I would just say it was strained.”
Patrick then asked if the damage was irreparable.
“Well, you never say irreparable, but it opened our eyes,” Bevacqua said. “And you know, that got our attention.”
ACC did not immediately respond Monday to The Times' request for comment.
