Notre Dame AD Addresses Controversial Snub in CFP: ‘We Were Punched in the Stomach’

Kristen Wong | 4 Hours Ago

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua shared his candid reaction to seeing the school get snubbed from the College Football Playoff this year. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The talk of the college football world this weekend surrounded Notre Dame getting left out of the playoff, despite the school putting together an impressive season that saw them finish 10-2 and clinch a few standout wins.

Notre Dame finished with the same record as Miami, who beat the Fighting Irish, 27-24, months ago back in Week 1. Still, it didn't seem like the College Football Playoff committee put a lot of weight in that head-to-head game given that Notre Dame was ranked above Miami in every CFP ranking for the last month.

After the committee gave the controversial bump to the Hurricanes for the final spot in the playoff field, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua didn't waste any time ripping the decision. Bevacqua shared his candid initial reaction to seeing Notre Dame get snubbed: “Overwhelming shock and sadness. Like a collective feeling that we were all just punched in the stomach," the AD told Yahoo Sports in an exclusive interview.

Bevacqua went on to rip the CFP's weekly ranking shows in particular, claiming like many others that the shows were misleading and should be put to an end, given all the latest drama.

“There is no explanation that could possibly be given to explain the outcome,” Bevacqua told Yahoo Sports. “As I said to Marcus, 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.”

CFP selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek said the decision to drop Notre Dame in favor of Miami came down to one metric: their head-to-head contest. But if that was truly the case, why wouldn't the CFP weekly rankings show reflect that? Notre Dame's sole two losses this season were by a combined four points, with their most recent loss taking place on Sept. 14th. They don't belong to a conference, so that potential ranking metric goes out the window, but there's still plenty of arguments that could be made that Notre Dame deserved a spot instead of Miami or three-loss Alabama, who just got blown out in their conference championship game.

“Marcus said it perfectly: Usually there are reasons and answers and explanations, but we don’t have one for you with this,” continued Bevacqua. “This is shocking and upsetting. An utter disbelief and sadness from our student-athletes, who were led to believe since the CFP rankings started of what they needed to do and did everything they were asked to do.”

No. 10 Miami will face No. 7 Texas A&M on Saturday, Dec. 20 for a spot in the Cotton Bowl, while Notre Dame announced they were opting out of their bowl game and will not play again this season.

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