Notre Dame AD: ACC has done 'permanent damage' to relationship

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said the ACC has strained the school's partnership with the conference after the Fighting Irish were left out of the College Football Playoff.

"We were mystified by the actions of the conference, to attack their biggest business partner in football and a member conference in 24 of our other sports," Bevacqua said Monday on "The Dan Patrick Show."

Bevacqua added, "They have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame."

Notre Dame's partnership with the ACC dates back to 2014. While the school remains independent in football, the other 24 sports are members of the conference.

Bevacqua was speaking for the first time after Notre Dame was snubbed in favor of Miami for the 12-team CFP field Sunday. He said the Fighting Irish were "singled out repeatedly" in comparison to the Hurricanes and felt the ACC was "taking shots" at the school, which raised eyebrows within the program.

CFP chair Hunter Yurachek explained that BYU's loss in the Big 12 championship game led the committee to put the Hurricanes ahead of Notre Dame based on their head-to-head win over the Fighting Irish in Week 1.

Notre Dame had been in the 12-team field since the first CFP rankings were released this season. The Fighting Irish won their last 10 games after narrowly dropping their first two against Miami and Texas A&M.

Bevacqua said he struggled in particular with the committee ranking No. 9 Alabama ahead of Notre Dame after the Crimson Tide defeated Auburn 27-20 compared to the Irish's 49-20 victory over Stanford in their respective regular-season finales. He said the school is frustrated by the selection process rather than the teams included.

"The rankings can't just be musical chairs at some fifth-grade birthday party. They have to mean something," Bevacqua said. "To me, what happened to us was really alarming."

Notre Dame withdrew from consideration for a bowl game after being left out of the playoff field. The Fighting Irish reportedly declined an invite to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against BYU.

Bevacqua said the team's captains pushed for the withdrawal, as they "couldn't imagine" taking the field as a shell of the regular season's 10-2 squad. Many players likely would have opted out, including stars Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price.

Bevacqua confirmed that Notre Dame will qualify for the 2026 CFP field if the Irish are ranked within the top 12 teams based on a memorandum of understanding signed by the playoff committee last spring. He also advocated for expanding the playoff field to 16 teams.