Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua continues to play victim regarding spat with the ACC, but the situation is of the Irish’s own making
The ACC had no choice but to support Miami, thanks to the Irish’s own long-standing position.
The University of Notre Dame has been on one over the last few days after getting passed over by the College Football Playoff selection committee for a spot in this year’s field, with the Irish getting jumped by the Miami Hurricanes on selection Sunday for the final at large spot.
Since that moment, Notre Dame officials, fans, and media have been up in arms publicly over the decision. The school announced that it would not be going to a bowl game in a true “take my ball and go home” moment.
But it was the ACC itself that Notre Dame’s chief individual over the school’s athletics had a bone to pick with. Athletic director Pete Bevacqua made some waves early this week about the ACC supposedly attacking the Irish last week due to their promotions on social media arguing for the Miami Hurricanes’ playoff candidacy over Notre Dame, calling the relationship with the conference “permanently damaged”. The ACC Network also replayed the Miami vs. Notre Dame game from August 31 – a 27-24 Hurricanes win – on loop for two days last weekend as the conference championship games were playing out.
Bevacqua commented further at a press conference on Tuesday, and the victimhood didn’t go down after some time to cool down but went up instead.
Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua says Notre Dame ‘was led to believe all season long’ that they were going to be in
“We were just led to believe all season long that if we just took care of business that we were going to be in, and then to have that shock, that surprise on Sunday in that room with those kids who have given everything that they have since they since August to put themselves in that position. To be told week in and week out that you’re in that position provided you win, and we certainly won when you think about these last ten weeks.”
Well, there was no promise there that Notre Dame would get a spot. That’s just a skewing of expectations, as Irish were never higher than ninth – the next to last at large spot in the rankings – during the entire process. And no one promised anything on the committee or anywhere else to the school, at least this year – unlike 2026 and beyond, where apparently all Notre Dame has to do is be in the rankings top 12 and they’re in according to a written memorandum of understanding they’ve secured, even to the potential exclusion of other schools above them (Miami would have been knocked out this year in favor of Notre Dame under that arrangement).
But again, rather than toning down the rhetoric on the ACC, Bevacqua continued regarding his disappointment with the ACC.
“What we were really surprised by and disappointed was how the ACC conference really went on a social media campaign, in my opinion, attacking our football program,” Bevacqua said. “Miami had done that, and I get it. All’s fair in a rivalry, decades-long rivalry between Notre Dame and Miami, and that’s the spirit of the universities and the football programs and fandom, and that’s what makes college football special, whether it’s Notre Dame-Miami, Note Dame-USC, Michigan, Ohio State.
“But we felt this was different, and it raised a lot of eyebrows. We made our feelings known that we didn’t really understand this, and it kind of puzzled us that a conference that’s home to over 600 of our student athletes walking around this campus today, I guess, chose to go down that road. I guess intellectually I understand it, but I certainly don’t agree with it. And why would you attack an unbelievably important business partner of yours in football and a member of your conference in twenty-four other sports? I’m one person. I don’t see the logic in that.”
Notre Dame got the support it signed up for from the ACC, and there were millions of reasons for the ACC to do what they did
The problem here is that Notre Dame is looking at it in the wrong way. The ACC wasn’t attacking Notre Dame per se. That wasn’t the point of its efforts. Rather, it was supporting a full member institution – Miami – in a push to make it to the College Football Playoff, which means millions of dollars for the conference and its football member institutions. Their duty as a conference regarding the sport of football is to support the schools that are – surprise, surprise – members of their conference in football.
And by the way, did the ACC receive any of the money that Notre Dame made in the playoff last year when they made it to the national championship game? To my knowledge, not a penny. Now, they will earn at least $4 million with Miami in the field.
As far as Notre Dame feeling targeted by the ACC, Miami was naturally in a direct comparison with the Irish during the last week before the final rankings were introduced. Miami was in the same supposed pod or pool of teams as the Irish, and it had shaped up to be between the Crimson Tide, Irish, Hurricanes, and BYU Cougars to fill out the undecided back end of the field. And what was the strongest data point among those immediate teams by a country mile to hammer home to the selection committee? Yes, that’s right: Miami 27, Notre Dame 24.
Ironically, if Notre Dame was a member of the ACC this year, there’s a good chance they would have played for the conference title and perhaps won it, thus ensuring access to the playoff with almost assuredly a home game.
But they chose instead to maintain their independence, and the financial arrangements and resulting incentives are what they are. And speaking of loyalties, the ACC threw the Irish a major lifeline in 2020 by allowing them to take on a one-year membership so they could have a season, which would have been almost impossible without that arrangement.
The conference had no choice but to take the action it did regarding Miami and Notre Dame last week. It would have been a dereliction of duty to not support the Hurricanes, and in the manner they did it. If anything, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips perhaps wasn’t even vocal enough throughout the entirety of the week leading up to selection Sunday.
Notre Dame needs to re-evaluate its aggressive approach with the ACC, which actually greatly benefits the Irish
Notre Dame told the ACC that it did not want to become a full member but rather chose to be a football scheduling partner for the last 12 years. That has worked out well for both the conference and the school.
However, the ACC isn’t the one who so clearly needs Notre Dame more. Because, if Notre Dame isn’t careful, it’ll lose the crutch it’s gotten from the ACC thanks to the new landscape of college football. We’re learning that getting to loss number three – provided it’s not in a conference title game – is a death blow to a team’s playoff chances. The Big Ten and SEC are going to nine-game conference schedules. Their members aren’t going to want to risk adding another loss by taking on Notre Dame in the non-conference, particularly in those two cutthroat leagues.
However, the ACC has offered up a smorgasbord of options for years that qualify as Power Four level opponents and winnable games. It’s been a very, very attractive setup for the Irish in that they check several Power Four boxes on their schedule but don’t have the most challenging one year in and year out as a result. The only other conference that might offer something similar is the Big 12, but commissioner Brett Yormark went on a pretty strong rant against Bevacqua and Notre Dame yesterday for his comments on the ACC this week.
“I will say this, and I’m little outspoken about it, I don’t like how Notre Dame has reacted to it,” Yormark said. “I think Pete, his behavior has been egregious. It’s been egregious going after (ACC Commissioner) Jim Phillips when they saved Notre Dame during COVID. We all knew, and it was very transparent. Hunter was very transparent about it, the chair, that as Notre Dame and Miami got closer together, head-to-head would be a factor, okay? BYU lost. It became closer together. Head-to-head made a difference in that decision. So I think he is totally out of bounds in his approach, and if he was in the room, and tell him the same thing.”
Want out of the ACC business arrangement, Notre Dame? Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it.
College Football
The playoff committee’s decision regarding Miami vs. Notre Dame should create a ripple effect that is a true positive for the sport moving forward
The Canes’ early season win over the Irish carried the day on Sunday.
