Everyone associated with Notre Dame is furious with the College Football Playoff selection committee for leaving the Fighting Irish out of this year’s tournament, and athletic director Pete Bevacqua says those feelings of frustration extend toward the ACC as well.
During a Monday appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” Bevacqua said the way the lead-up to the College Football Playoff was handled by the ACC has caused “permanent damage” to the relationship between Notre Dame and the conference. The ACC openly campaigned for Miami to be included in the playoff over Notre Dame with posts on social media and by repeatedly showing the regular-season matchup between Miami and Notre Dame — which the Hurricanes won 27-24 — on the ACC Network.
“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. I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t say that they have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame,” Bevacqua said. “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. That’s just not something we chose to do. We wouldn’t do that in the future. People might disagree with us, but that’s just not something we’d be comfortable with.”
"We were mystified by the actions of the conference… They have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame."
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) December 8, 2025
– Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua on their relationship with the ACC. pic.twitter.com/uvpWqrU8PM
Notre Dame does not have a conference affiliation for football, but the majority of their other teams are in the ACC. They also have a scheduling partnership with the ACC for football.
Bevacqua felt that the ACC could have campaigned for Miami without trying to diminish what Notre Dame accomplished this season. Some prominent people believe both Notre Dame and Miami should have gotten into the playoff.
Notre Dame was No. 10 in the final regular-season College Football Playoff rankings. Miami was No. 12. Following conference championship weekend (which neither Notre Dame nor Miami took part in), the Hurricanes inexplicably jumped ahead of Notre Dame and made the CFP. Bevacqua sounded off about that decision on Sunday, and the CFP selection committee chair’s bogus explanation did not add any clarity.
