Frustration in South Bend has quickly turned into a full-on public spat. After being left out of the 12-team College Football Playoff in favor of Miami, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua has doubled down on his criticism of both the process and the ACC’s role in it.
Notre Dame AD Bevacqua on the CFP weekly ranking shows: “They can’t be a game of musical chairs at a fifth-grade birthday party. And that’s what it felt like for us,” he said, as relayed by Nicole Auerbach on X.
That image captures exactly how Notre Dame views the late flip that pushed Miami into the field and shoved the Irish out. From Bevacqua’s perspective, the committee spent weeks signaling one hierarchy, only to reshuffle at the eleventh hour under pressure, with the ACC aggressively lobbying for its full-time member.
He’s already said the conference has done “permanent damage” to its relationship with Notre Dame by pushing Miami’s case so hard.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has tried to calm the waters, insisting there was “no time” when the league suggested Notre Dame was not a worthy CFP candidate, and emphasizing that the conference has a duty to advocate for all 17 football-playing members.
Publicly, the ACC is trying to strike a balance, praising Miami, reaffirming respect for Notre Dame, and denying that it undercut its biggest football partner behind closed doors.
The fallout has bled directly into bowl season. Notre Dame chose to withdraw from consideration entirely, and former Irish quarterback Brady Quinn used that decision to warn that non-CFP bowls are “destined to become the Pro Bowl,” essentially headed toward irrelevance.
On X, he argued that asking players to risk injury in what amounts to an exhibition, one that benefits everyone but them, makes little sense in the current landscape.
Between Bevacqua’s “fifth-grade birthday party” jab, the ACC’s defensive posture, and alumni like Quinn questioning the value of traditional bowls, Notre Dame is sending a very deliberate message.
If the Irish are going to be treated like just another data point in the room, they’re more than willing to flex the power that comes with being college football’s highest-profile independent.
