Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua is shredding the Atlantic Coast Conference following the selection of the College Football Playoff 12-team field. The Fighting Irish, who were ranked inside the top-12 in every ranking leading up to the ultimate field selection, were left out at the last second, to the shock of many fans and insiders, in favor of Miami. Notre Dame later declined its invitation to a bowl game, and there was much shock and disappointment around the Fighting Irish program and its fan base following its exclusion from this year's CFP.
The hottest topic of discussion heading into the CFP selection was between Miami, Alabama, and Notre Dame, which were three programs essentially fighting for two spots. Miami did have a head-to-head victory over Notre Dame, but the Irish finished the season on a 10-game win streak and had every reason to believe they would make the field. After it was all said and done, Alabama and Miami got in, and Notre Dame did not. Now, Bevacqua is blasting the ACC, citing that the conference has done "permanent damage" to the relationship between itself and ND.
Pete Bevacqua says the ACC has "done permanent damage" to the relationship between Notre Dame and the conference
Bevacqua appeared on The Dan Patrick Show, and didn't hesitate to rip the ACC apart for its actions against the Irish.
"We have no gripes against any of the schools in the ACC," Bevacqua said. "But we were mystified by the actions of the conference, to attack, you know, their biggest business partner in football, and a member of their conference in 24 of our other sports. I would tell you, Dan, 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.”
“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, and that’s just not something we choose to do. We wouldn’t choose to do that in the future. People might disagree with us, but that’s just not something that we’d be comfortable with."
The ACC publicly campaigned on social media for the Hurricanes to be included in the CFP over Notre Dame, which ultimately happened.
Notre Dame does have a scheduling partnership with the ACC for football, and the majority of its other sports compete within the ACC. Although Miami did have the head-to-head victory over the Irish, Notre Dame ended the campaign with ten straight victories and, based on every CFP ranking leading up to the selection of the field, was expected to be in. Whether both Miami and Notre Dame "should've" gotten in is a whole other debate, but the Irish were cast to the side at the very last second, sparking outrage from the program.