The Notre Dame Fighting Irish declined their bowl game after feeling like a CFP bid was stolen. That's the risk of not being in a conference, and they learned that the hard way.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish sat idle on conference championship weekend, seeing as they decline to join one. That may have come back to bite them as they were left out of the final College Football Playoff 12-team field by the selection committee on Sunday. The team was shocked and won’t be playing in a bowl game as a result of feeling like a playoff berth was stolen from them. They were left out in favor of the Miami Hurricanes, who had sat beneath them in the rankings in the previous weeks. Notre Dame released a statement on X on Sunday following the selection show results.
“As a team, we've decided to withdraw our name from consideration for a bowl game following the 2025 season. We appreciate all the support from our families and fans, and we're hoping to bring the 12th national title to South Bend in 2026,” the statement read.
Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports was in South Bend to get comments from the Fighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua following the selection show. He called the CFP weekly ranking shows a “farce” after keeping Notre Dame ahead of the Hurricanes
“There is no explanation that could possibly be given to explain the outcome,” Bevacqua said. “As I said to Marcus, one thing is for sure: Any rankings or show prior to this last one is an absolute joke and a waste of time. Why put these young student-athletes through these false emotions just to pull the rug out from underneath them having not played a game in two weeks and then a group of people in a room shatter their dreams without explanation?
“We feel like the playoff was stolen from our student-athletes.”
Well, on the one hand, Bevacqua has a point. There’s really no logic in a rankings show that arbitrarily changed a seed-defining order with neither team in question playing a game this weekend, and it does provide false hope. But was it earned hope?
It was always bizarre how high Notre Dame started in the CFP rankings despite beginning the year 0-2, and being ahead of Miami, who beat them to begin the year in a 27-24 contest that would be season altering for them both. The fact that CFP selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek had to urge the committee to rewatch that game before the final seeding was objectively alarming. Did it not resonate the first time? But the fact that it didn’t always felt weird to begin with.
It's also something the Fighting Irish had to know was coming the moment the Duke Blue Devils made the title game. There are five guaranteed spots for conference champions, and there was no world where the committee was going to put in an unranked 8-5 champion that had to win in overtime. They had to know the Power Four favoritism wasn’t going to allow one P4 conference to be shut out of the Playoff, and they had to know that was a possibility this season and frankly every one moving forward by continuing to remain independent.
Instead, they beat four teams with winning records, and two of which were in the Group of Five. Arkansas, Purdue, and Boston College had two wins. Syracuse had three. None of their wins were marquee ones, and while both losses were to playoff teams, those were the wins that would’ve made a difference.
And now, they make a choice that benefits really no one. Bowl practices are like an extra spring ball period, and it’s a chance to see young guys develop and get to make a case on the field. Their final memory of this season will be a disappointing bowl selection show.