by This past Sunday, after the final playoff bracket was announced, Notre Dame—one of the major football schools—promptly announced it would withdraw from any bowl game, thus ending its season after failing to make the playoffs.
While Notre Dame has not specified exactly when it declined the bowl invitation after the playoff bracket was revealed, it appears the decision came soon after learning that Miami, not Notre Dame, received the final playoff spot. At that point, the school chose to end its season rather than play in a bowl game.
Had they participated in a bowl game, Notre Dame would have faced BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Fans speculated that fear of playing BYU, another strong team with an 11-1 record, was a reason for the withdrawal.
Last year, Notre Dame reached the College Football Championship and lost to Ohio State, 23-34. This season, the team rebuilt with younger starters after six top players joined the NFL.
If Notre Dame had not withdrawn, it could have finished the season with an 11-2 record, a strong outcome for a rebuilding team.
Texas Christian University, my school, made the College Football Championship. Like Notre Dame, we had to rebuild after losing key players to the NFL. We missed a bowl game due to our 5-7 record. Notre Dame had a strong 10-2 season, was bowl eligible, and still withdrew. Withdrawing when eligible for postseason recognition is surprising, since only the overall champion goes beyond that.
To make it into the playoffs, teams are evaluated based on their on-field performance, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, and results against common opponents.
Notre Dame felt that because they are one of the stronger teams in college football, they deserved to be in the playoffs over Miami, when really, they’ve been going up and down in the Poll rankings. Miami remained consistently in the top five until Week 10, when it started dropping, with Notre Dame above them. Over the last couple of weeks, Miami has started to rise in the rankings. With BYU’s loss in the Big 12 Championship against the Texas Tech Raiders, Miami was a spot above Notre Dame.
Notre Dame leads in rushing yards per game (99.3) and total offense (312.7 yards), while Miami holds a higher pass completion rate (73.9%).
Given the side-by-side comparison between two teams, since only one could go to the playoffs, the committee had to fall back on the Week 1 game between Notre Dame and Miami, which Miami won, 24-27, making it the obvious choice to pick Miami over Notre Dame.
While Notre Dame had a tougher schedule, its losses came to two ranked teams—Miami and Texas A&M. Notre Dame beat only one ranked team, USC. Miami, however, beat three: Notre Dame, USF, and Florida State. As an independent team, Notre Dame has never had the opportunity to play in a conference championship game. They’ve had to rely on their record and their performance on the field to be considered for the playoffs.
The situation is ridiculous. Notre Dame is independent in football, but its other sports compete in the ACC. Their deal requires them to play at least six ACC football games. Claiming they are fully ACC in football is odd, while Miami is a full member.
Given Miami’s strong season, a win over Notre Dame, and late momentum, their playoff selection is reasonable. Notre Dame’s reaction—bypassing the bowl and denying its players a postseason opportunity—only complicates its image. Ultimately, playoff selection reflects on-field performance. Amid ACC tensions, Notre Dame’s stance seems more about frustration than fairness.
