Cam Newton’s Comments About Notre Dame Are Raising Eyebrows

Quick, outside of Indiana, who went 16-0 and just won the national championship to cap a perfect season, who has the longest current winning streak in FBS college football?

Also, who is the last team to beat almighty Indiana in a football game?

The answer to those questions is of course a team that played for a national championship at the end of the 2024 season, and has won 27 of its last 31 games and will enter the 2026 season as one of the favorites to win the national championship: Notre Dame.

Despite that, one of the bigger names at ESPN continues to do the ESPN thing, and talk about Notre Dame football like its Nebraska.

Cam Newton Talks Down to Notre Dame Yet Again

Speaking on ESPN's First Take on Friday morning, a show always full of well thought out points, Cam Newton shared a doozie about Notre Dame.

“Bump Notre Dame,” Newton said. “Notre Dame hasn’t been relevant in years. They haven’t been relevant for years. You take that one national championship with Coach Freeman out of the equation, they have not been relevant for years.”

Cam Newton: "Notre Dame hasn't been relevant in years."

Shae Cornette: "They were just in the national championship game one year ago" pic.twitter.com/E59b7FaiAr
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 23, 2026

Shae Cornette, an Indiana graduate and wife of former Notre Dame hooper Jordan Cornette, tried to come to the defense of the Fighting Irish, but Newton was having none of it, talking right through.

Newton's thought couldn't be dumber if he wanted it to be, but logic isn't exactly his strong suit when it comes to discussing college football. I'm not sure if his hat is too tight, if his glasses are making his eyes hurt, or what, but he's even more out of touch than all his ESPN teammates that thought picking Alabama to beat Indiana in the Rose Bowl was a good idea.

ESPN Continues to Show True Colors Regarding Notre Dame

ESPN has become a television network where you can apparantly just say whatever you want, and not get checked by anyone in charge. Here I am talking about Newton, so I'm probably being part of the problem, but I'm trying to keep a running tally of the times ESPN just flat-out disrespects Notre Dame unapologetically.

It happened right after the Fiesta Bowl, when, for whatever reason, Notre Dame became the focus despite Miami and Ole Miss having just played in a classic battle.

It was ESPN that pulled a fast one on the nation, shoving the Miami vs. Notre Dame debate for the final playoff spot in our faces, when anyone with a hint of common sense should have known the debate should have been between Notre Dame and Alabama all along.

And here's Newton, making his ever so thought out point available for the world to enjoy.

This of course comes on the heels of Marcus Freeman working as an analyst on College GameDay ahead of the national championship earlier this week, something I fully support him doing because of the positive attention it brings on a place Notre Dame doesn't usually get it.

Newton's stance is the latest in a long line of ESPN being more than willing to be entirely unfair to Notre Dame.