ESPN Shows Its True Colors Regarding Notre Dame Following Epic Miami Victory

Have you ever felt that ESPN doesn't treat all teams the same? Specifically, has it ever felt like Notre Dame gets different treatment on the four-letter network than others, and I don't mean that in a good way.

That was on full display on Thursday night after Miami beat Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.

Shortly after Miami beat Ole Miss in a thriller - one of the best College Football Playoff games we've seen over the last decade - it was Notre Dame that was on the mind of at least one SportsCenter anchor.

SportsCenter Anchor Calls Out Notre Dame After Miami Win

The headline above kind of tells you what you need to know and I don't really know what else to say besides to just watch the short clip below.

The late-night SportsCenter following the Fiesta Bowl began with Nicole Briscoe taking a shot at Notre Dame.

"Uh hello, Notre Dame, hello, are you there? No, they're not. But Miami still is and they're going to the title game. Is that too soon?" pic.twitter.com/Jz5HcpkU0D
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 9, 2026

ESPN continues to push this narrative that it was Notre Dame or Miami for the College Football Playoff, when in turn that shouldn't at all have been the debate.

I've said it from before when the official final rankings and bracket came out, and I've said it again, but I will one more time for Nicole Briscoe, who evidently doesn't get it yet.

Notre Dame Had an SEC/Alabama Problem, Not Miami

Did Miami deserve to be in?

OF COURSE IT DID!

It beat Notre Dame head-to-head, and that has to matter, no matter what happened in 1993 (when Notre Dame was screwed by the voters after beating Florida State).

Alabama had no business being in the College Football Playoff. It didn't deserve to pass Notre Dame, after it narrowly got by what wound up being a 5-7 Auburn team the final week of the regular season.

It didn't deserve to be after it was body-bagged by Georgia in the SEC Championship game.

Nothing that happened to Alabama in the Rose Bowl against Indiana was that surprising to anyone who has been paying attention, but instead, too many people have believed the house of lies that has become SEC football.

The once proud conference will, for the third-straight season, be without a representative in the title game. This comes after the SEC managed to win the national championship in 13 out of 17 years from 2006 to 2022.

Make SportsCenter Great Again

ESPN and its family of networks can't wait to air SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey crying that the conference deserves seven teams in the College Football Playoff, but refuses to look at the debate between Notre Dame and Alabama going into the tournament.

The SportsCenter intro late Thursday night was only more of what we already know about ESPN and the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame doesn't get treated the same, and that's fine, but try and act surprised when Notre Dame wants little to nothing to do with you.

The common thought in Simpletonville is that Notre Dame football has long passed its days of glory and will forever live in the past.

That may have been true in a way previous to Marcus Freeman becoming Notre Dame's head coach but let's be real for a second.

No dynastic sports franchise has suffered a fall from glory quite like SportsCenter over the last two decades. What used to be a must-watch hour of television, every day has become an afterthought.

On second thought, no wonder ESPN and the SEC get along so well.