The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were hopeful to be included as an at-large in the College Football Playoff. That did not happen, as Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua has called the process a joke. In the midst of the disappointment, the team has announced via X, formerly Twitter, that they will not be playing in a bowl game.
“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,” said the post placed on the social media site.
Notre Dame becomes the third team this year that has declined a bowl game invite. Both Kansas State and Iowa State have already declined bowl game invites.
The Irish have been ranked above Miami in prior ranking shows. As players, staff, and other administrators gathered to watch the final rankings show, the expectation was that they were watching to see if they were the ninth or tenth seed.
“An utter disbelief and sadness from our student-athletes, who were led to believe since the CFP rankings started of what they needed to do and did everything they were asked to do,” Bevacqua told Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports about the reaction of the team of not making the playoff.
According to Brett McMurphy of ON3, Notre Dame was invited to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on December 27. The Irish would have faced BYU in the game. Instead of playing in a final game, the Notre Dame season comes to an end at 10-2, and looking forward to the 2026 campaign.
