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By Marc Lawrence
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Monday, Dec 8 |
The College Football Playoff’s final rankings were revealed on Sunday. To quote John Canzano of the Bald Faced Truth, “The talking heads on ESPN are busy twisting themselves into pretzels trying to justify an SEC-friendly bracket.”
“The selection committee looks like a figure-skating judging panel. Notre Dame has to be steamed.”
The heavyhanded influence of ESPN?
Oregon’s path to the national title?
Alabama’s free pass? It’s a lot to digest.
Notre Dame isn’t just steamed. They are in utter disbelief and shock after being excluded from the 12-team College Football Playoff on Sunday. As a result, the Fighting Irish announced they have decided not to participate in a bowl game this season.
"As a team, we've decided to withdraw our name from consideration for a bowl game following the 2025 season," said a statement credited to the 2025 Notre Dame Football Team. "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."
Talk about picking up your marbles and going home — the Irish had been ranked in the top 10 of every CFP ranking release until Sunday, when they were placed No. 11 and were the first team out. Miami, which beat Notre Dame in Week One, moved ahead of the Irish in the final rankings to take the last at-large berth.
In the first CFP rankings released on Nov. 4, Notre Dame was No. 10 and Miami was No. 18. (See more below in ON TODAY’S CARD.)
Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua told ESPN that any rankings before the final ones are a "farce and total waste of time."
Adding to the confusion was that neither team played this weekend.
CFP selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek said Miami's 27-24 head-to-head victory against Notre Dame on Aug. 31 wasn't a deciding factor until the Hurricanes jumped BYU in the CFP rankings and were evaluated side-by-side with the Irish. Yurachek also said he encouraged committee members on Saturday night to review the Notre Dame-Miami game from Labor Day weekend.
"Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, then we had that side-by-side comparison that everyone had been waiting for," Yurachek said. "You look at those two teams on paper, and they are almost equal in schedule strength, common opponents, and results against those opponents. But the one metric we had to fall back on, again, was the head-to-head."
Notre Dame and Miami finished with identical 10-2 records and had similar results against common opponents.
As part of a memorandum of understanding signed last year that guarantees the field will have at least 12 teams starting in 2026 and beyond, Notre Dame would be guaranteed a spot if it finishes in the top 12 next year.
By not making it this year, Notre Dame missed out on a $4 million payday for just making the field. All 12 schools in the CFP receive that amount, but the difference is that the Fighting Irish, as an independent, don't have to split it with conference members.
And that’s the real issue, at least in the eyes of the viewing public.
The greed of the Irish finally caught up with them and bit them in the ass.
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