It's no surprise Notre Dame is miffed after being surprisingly left out of the College Football Playoff bracket Sunday. The school's athletic director, Pete Bevacqua, told Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger as much in the hours followingthe Fighting Irish's snub, saying, "We feel like the playoff was stolen from our student-athletes."
With the wound still fresh, Bevacqua, like many others, took aim at the lack of consistency with the weekly ranking shows and selection committee, which jumped Miami over Notre Dame at the last possible second, giving the Hurricanes a spot in the CFP.
A day later, however, Bevacqua found a new target for his ire: the ACC. Bevacqua appeared on "The Dan Patrick Show" on Monday and claimed the ACC did "permanent damage" to its relationship with Notre Dame, declaring that it pushed for Miami to secure a spot in the CFP bracket.
"We were mystified by the actions of the conference to attack their biggest business partner in football and a member of their conference in 24 of our other sports. ... They have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame."
Patrick then asked Bevacqua to clarify that final comment, which led to the following response from the Notre Dame athletic director:
"We didn't appreciate the fact that we were singled out repeatedly and compared to Miami, not by Miami, Miami has every right to do that. But it raised a lot of eyebrows here that the conference was taking shots at us."
Throughout the interview, Bevacqua made sure to express he wasn't upset with Miami or any other ACC team. It was the conference's alleged actions that have him angry.
ACC responds
ACC commissionerJim Phillips issued a statement in responseto Bevacqua's comments Monday afternoon.
"The University of Notre Dame is an incredibly valued member of the ACC, and there is tremendous respect and appreciation for the entire institution," Phillips' statement reads. "With that said, when it comes to football, we have a responsibility to support and advocate for all 17 of our football-playing member institutions, and I stand behind our conference efforts to do just that leading up to the College Football Playoff Committee selections on Sunday.
"At no time was it suggested by the ACC that Notre Dame was not a worthy candidate for inclusion in the field. We are thrilled for the University of Miami while also understanding and appreciating the significant disappointment of the Notre Dame players, coaches and program."
Notre Dame outraged over CFP exclusion
As Bevacqua also pointed out, while many different Notre Dame sports play in the ACC, Notre Dame football does not full-time. Though it does play multiple ACC football games per season.
It remains one of the only big-name teams without an official conference. The university has faced criticism for that decision, as Notre Dame cannot play for a conference championship due to ... not being in a conference. Winning a conference could have gone a long way toward Notre Dame getting into the CFP, but it wasn't an option for the program.
Losing a conference championship might also impact a team's ranking, though that didn't seem to matter much following Alabama's loss to Georgia on Saturday in the SEC championship. Despite losing by multiple touchdowns, Alabama jumped Notre Dame to make the CFP.
Bevacqua still couldn't understand why that was the case Monday.
Bevacqua reiterated that it made very little sense that Alabama jumped Notre Dame after the Tide struggled with Auburn and the Irish beat Stanford by 29."Our heads were spinning. Where's the logic? Where's the rationale? Why were we being kind of punished?"
— Jack Soble (@jacksoble56)December 8, 2025
Bevacqua also reiterated many of the points he expressed to Yahoo Sports on Sunday, saying he doesn't understandhow the selection committee made the decisionto snub Notre Dame and claiming the university had the rug pulled out from under it.
He also spoke about the team's decision to decline a bowl game invite following the CFP snub, saying it came down to Notre Dame's captains.
Bevacqua said Notre Dame's captains drove the decision to pass on a bowl game.They couldn't imagine taking the field as an incomplete team, with all the opt-outs they would face."It just wouldn't be the same."
— Jack Soble (@jacksoble56)December 8, 2025
Despite a fantastic season, in which the team went 10-2, Notre Dame will not take part in a bowl game. It's an unfortunate result considering Notre Dame — despite the CFP snub — remains one of the best teams in the nation.
But it's clear the snub did damage to both the university and its players. And it might have even caused a rift between Notre Dame and the ACC, which could lead to some unpleasantness when the Fighting Irish's other sports teams gear up for conference games.
