In all the chaos following the CFP’s mysterious exclusion of Notre Dame from the 12-team field after having the Irish ranked in the Top 12 for over a month, Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua revealed this little nugget in a conversation with Yahoo Sports.
Beginning in the 2026 season, if the Irish are ranked in the top 12 by the committee, they’ll be guaranteed a spot in the CFP bracket, per a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by CFP officials.
In addition, should the CFP field expand to 14 teams, the Irish would be guaranteed a spot if they’re ranked 13th or higher.
Should the much-talked-about 16-team bracket become a reality next year or at any point in the future, the Irish would need to sign a new MOU with the committee.
Of course, to Irish fans, this revelation comes too late.
Had the MOU been in effect this year, it would have guaranteed the 11th-ranked Irish a playoff spot rather than excluding them as the first team outside the playoff bracket.
As Breitbart Sports reported Monday:
The tension centered around the committee’s handling of the debate between Notre Dame and Miami. While Miami defeated Notre Dame in the first game of the season, the committee’s first rankings had the Irish ranked 10th, and the Hurricanes ranked 18th.
It’s important to note that the committee was well aware of Notre Dame’s opening-season loss to Miami. Yet, they had Notre Dame ranked eight spots higher than the Canes. All that happened over the next five weeks was that Notre Dame won all their games and Miami won all its games.
Neither Notre Dame nor Miami lost a game over the next five weeks, and Notre Dame remained ahead of the Canes until the final poll, when the committee suddenly moved Miami ahead of Notre Dame.
Bevacqua aired his frustrations with the committee’s mixed signals in an interview with Yahoo Sports.
“There is no explanation that could possibly be given to explain the outcome,” Bevacqua told Yahoo. “As I said to [head coach] Marcus [Freeman], one thing is for sure: Any rankings or show prior to this last one is an absolute joke and a waste of time. Why put these young student-athletes through these false emotions just to pull the rug out from underneath them, having not played a game in two weeks, and then a group of people in a room shatter their dreams without explanation?
“We feel like the playoff was stolen from our student-athletes.”
Notre Dame declined its bowl invitation after learning of its exclusion from the College Football Playoff.
Breitbart News
Read the full article .
