After being ranked ahead of Miami for weeks, and in front of Alabama before their lackluster win over (5–7) Auburn (followed up by a 21-point loss to Georgia), the CFP Committee decided to put both teams ahead of the Irish. This was after the AP Poll, Coaches Poll, ESPN FPI, and even Vegas oddsmakers had the Fighting Irish in the playoffs. The Disney machine (ESPN and ACC) matched “war time” propaganda levels. Ultimately, the Atlantic Coast Conference severely hurt a relationship with one of their top business partners.
ACC’s Anti-Notre Dame Campaign
First of all, this is America. The Atlantic Coast Conference had it within their right to publicly deter the committee from picking the Irish and “re-play” whatever games they saw fit. But by doing so, the ACC decided to make their relationship with Notre Dame personal, which will have a dramatic effect on their business.
I hope replaying the “Notre Dame vs. Miami Week 1 Game” was worth it, because no school in the country wants to join the ACC. In fact, the conference itself is hanging on by a thread. If it weren’t for their contracts, most schools would have left for greener pastures a long time ago.
ND AD Pete Bevacqua News Conference
As a Notre Dame fan, I fully stand behind Pete Bevacqua and his next course of action. I believe that he is one of the best athletic directors in the country and an even better businessman.
When asked about his thoughts on the playoff dilemma last week, the Notre Dame athletic director said, “We were definitely being targeted.” Pete Bevacqua expanded on Notre Dame’s influence by stating, “ACC football stadiums sell out 23% of the time, but 90% when Notre Dame visits.” He added that TV ratings also rise when ND is involved.
He summarized his feelings when he said, “Why would you attack an unbelievably important business partner in football?” For a conference that is vastly behind the Big Ten, SEC, and maybe even the Big 12, it was not a good idea. The Notre Dame athletic director stood up for the university and any conference in America would gladly accept the Irish.
It Is All About the Money
I understand how the other programs are jealous of Notre Dame for being a part-time member. But that is how desperate the Atlantic Coast Conference is for Notre Dame’s business. They will allow them to only play five games because it is better than “zero games” for their revenue. Besides a buyout (which I am sure ND could write a check for tomorrow), the ACC has no leverage over the Irish.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is forcing programs under contract to stay in the league. Am I the only person that finds that ironic? It is almost like they have a fence around these schools telling them they do not have “free will.” Florida State and Clemson’s buyouts are currently projected to be around $165 million, but will be reduced to $75 million starting in 2030. Notre Dame’s buyout is said to be less, since they are not a full member.
Whenever the traditional football programs in the ACC can afford it, they will be headed to the Big Ten or SEC. Schools like Duke or North Carolina would have left a long time ago if there was as much money in basketball as football. The smaller schools will head to the Big 12, American Athletic Conference, or even Pac-12 (still around).
Final Thoughts
To the ACC social media team, I sure hope throwing your best business partner under the bus was worth it. Considering Miami likely won’t even make it out of College Station, the Atlantic Coast Conference may have cost themselves hundreds of millions of dollars if Notre Dame ends up leaving—which will create a trickle-down effect in the upcoming years by other programs.
I would not be surprised to see the ACC become the next Pac-12 in the next decade.
I’m sick that Alabama moved ahead of Notre Dame just had a huge blow out win! The writing wa on the wall then! Alabama should have fallen out of the race after getting smoked by Georgia! It’s embarrassing how corrupt the last 3 weeks were!
You are right that Alabama has no business in the playoffs, ND was one of the 12 best teams, and ND should be in playoffs. No g5 teams belong in this field period.
Where you are wrong is that the ACC needs ND more than ND needs ACC. The truth is that no one NEEDS either ND nor the ACC. Watch how the playoffs and national championship will happen, and it will be awesome, and no one will miss or care that ND isn’t there. It’s not the 60s or the 80s. ND is just this annoying team that you have to hear about (at best) or a mere afterthought (at worst).
Sure, ND has their lucrative NBC deal, so i guess they can sit and count their money while man programs keep playing ball.
ND needs to join SEC or BIG 10 if they want to be taken seriously and avoid getting left out.
If they join the SEC, they’ll get left out for going 7-5, so i suggest the big 10, ND will still go 9-3.
Yall have good reason to gripe about this, but your solution of doubling down on the idea that anyone under 70 has any connection to ND greatness is over playing a weak hand
This take makes total sense. Break off the ACC relationship. USC and the SEC are never scheduling ND again. Big 12 will follow suit. Even if the ACC folds (which it ultimately will), they’ll just get picked up as relegation style league to one of the other conferences. Being an independent with the schedule quality of the Group of 5? Good luck with that.
None of this is about ND. Big conferences are setting the rules and know the tactics. Their conference schedules are good enough to get into the CFP. All ND is doing is dying on a hill that isnt worth dying on.
I don’t see the ACC “needing” Notre Dame at all.
Some are still using “data points” to figure out why ND was left out, bless their hearts. Keeping it simple:
“Follow the money!”
ESPN sponsors the CFP & keeping ND in it the last six weeks was great for their Tuesday ratings.
ESPN sponsors the SEC ( Alabama & Oklahoma) and the ACC ( Miami).
Quit looking for data points to justify any exclusion and recognize the key data point that defines college sports:
“Follow the money!”
Very biased article here lol, your not part of the ACC, so why would the ACC advocate for ND over a team that actually is its conference. They wanna be independent in football then dont expect support pretty simple. Im a Huricane and they have said they have no issue with UM. But feel free to partner with the SEC or
Big10 lets see what your record would be then. Definitely more than 2 losses.
ND was the first team in the history of college sports to get snubbed… oh, wait. That’s not true. That’s just the way they reacted…
Glad they got robbed. Should get a 5 year ban to top it off…
CFP is a joke
When every single poll has ND above Miami at seasons end, to have 12 men with their own demands of who gets in make the Final Cut is ludricous, as Mike Tyson would say. I’ll never forget seeing Miami pop up as the 10th team last Sunday
Yes that would be the same Miami team that defeated ND head to head. Alabama should not be participating. That spot should have gone to ND
Notre Dame belonged in. Alabama did not, they played poorly all month and got destroyed by Georgia. If BYU fell a spot by losing the title game the Bama should have fallen a spot. No need to blame the ACC, it’s their duty to talk up their teams. Plus Miami beat ND and Bama had been just awful. Minus 3 yards rushing. It’s a joke.
I’ve never seen such a group of spoiled and arrogant brats. The U beat you all plain.and simple. Grow up and act like adults. Most college football fans would agree ND should be included instead of ALABAMA. Instead you all have stomped around kicking rocks throwing a temper tantrum. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway cause MIAMI gonna stomp ass.
Maybe this is too simple an idea. Move back to the Big East. Keep you football independence. Put James Madison and Tulane on the schedule every year. I think we all know the playoff snub was to punish ND for not being in a conference.
Alabama didn’t merit getting in last year nor this year. They lost 4 games last year including their bowl. They were not that good. And anytime a team loses, they should go down. That’s not punishment – that’s the reality of all games for the last 50 years. Punish AL for squeaking by a losing Auburn team with the help of a questionable ref call that canceled an Auburn TD. Punish AL for getting shutout by GA except for a penalty call aided TD drive in garbage time. Punish AL for losing to losing record FL St. Punish AL for losing at home to a weak OK team and for only outscoring its conf opponents by 4.5 ppg. Punish AL because after the GA win was at least canceled out by their disaster in the rematch their only win over a ranked team is Vanderbilt. They didn’t play TX, A&M, MS and showed they don’t belong with GA or OK. Punish AL for getting worse as season went on. Instead they continue to fall up toward the top of rankings like gravity draws them there, even when they suck.
If anything this season provides more proof why ND should NOT join a conference. First of all the conference championship game is obviously meaningless. So that old argument about playing in the conference championship to help your resume is DOA. Alabama got smacked and had -3 yards rushing, plus 2 other losses. And the committee was like that never happened. And ND would be giving up scheduling freedom, money and yes a lucrative NBC contract for absolutely nothing.
And make no bones about it. Haters don’t want the Irish to join a conference because they think it will help the Irish. Quite the opposite. They want ND to join a conference because it would actually hurt the Irish.
I think this will only solidify NDs refusal to join any conference.
No, the conference championship game is not meaningless. Instead, the committee was not going to punish Alabama for losing a conference championship game that Notre Dame will never play in. For all the This is consistent with what happened with the Baylor/TCU debacle in 2014 leading to Ohio State leapfrogging both and making the field. The only reason why that didn’t have longer lasting effects was Ohio State’s … actually winning the title. But it did cause the Big 12 to add, or rather restore, its conference title game (which they only dropped because Texas didn’t want to play in one).
As for last year, SMU got in because even after they lost the ACC title game on a 56 yard field goal kicked with 3 seconds left on the clock, they still had an 11-2 record. As last season was even worse than this one in terms of elite teams, that was still one of the best records among P-4 teams. And the team that the committee picked SMU over? 9-3 ALABAMA. (Or 9-3 Ole Miss. Or 9-3 South Carolina. Or 10-2 Miami. Or 10-2 BYU. Or 10-3 Iowa State. Like I said: bad year).
Alabama didn’t deserve to be in last year nor this year. Not sure why something there is injustice with Alabama being left out if it loses less than 4 games. Alabama also got dominated in their bowl game last year, further proving they didn’t belong. But for the SEC refs calling back an Auburn TD in a questionable call, they finished 8-4 against FBS schools. They were 5th best in their conference going into the SEC championship and got absolutely dominated. With the exception of 1 penalty call aided drive, they got shutout. And for all that, they didn’t even go down 1 spot. Absolutely absurd.