Notre Dame Must Turn College Football Playoff Snub Into National Title Fuel

The Irish were the first team out of the College Football Playoff field. They have to use this.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates with his players after winning a NCAA football game 70-7 against Syracuse at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame suffers heart wrenching CFP snub

After finding itself safely in the CFP bracket since the first one was released, the CFP committee caved to media and conference pressure and bounced the Irish for Miami in the only ranking that means anything, the last one. The stated goal of the committee is to put together a field of the 12 best teams in the country. Notre Dame, a team with the third-best title odds, didn't make the cut.

I could understand Miami being ranked ahead of Notre Dame. But not like this, and not now. There is no logic in the path the committee took to arrive at this decision. Hyperbole, contradiction, and hypocrisy rule the day.

Yes, Notre Dame put itself in this position by losing twice, but the Irish and every other team at least deserve a fair and logically sound selection process.

That isn't what we have. From head to head not mattering then sometimes mattering, to BYU dropping in ranking after an ugly title game loss while Alabama gets a free pass for doing the same, the powers that be in this process are inconsistent at best and incompetent at worst.

Once all of the griping commences, the real next question in the aftermath is, where does Notre Dame go from here?

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— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 7, 2025

Notre Dame must turn this nightmare into CFP title fuel

All Notre Dame can do now is move forward. Despite this frustrating setback, the Irish are still trending up by every measure and just landed by far the best Notre Dame class in the modern era. I'm looking for Marcus Freeman to lean into this feeling of frustration, anger, and rage.

Perhaps Notre Dame can turn this bitterness into title fuel. My hope is that this off-season, the Irish lean into their anger to reach a new level of toughness, resilience, rage, and proper football violence. This all starts with Marcus Freeman. I think you will see an edge from Coach Freeman from now on that will permeate his locker room.

When we ask the question of where the Irish go from here, the answer is literally nowhere in the short term, as Notre Dame has decided not to play in a lower-level non-CFP bowl game. This decision will be met with a wide range of reactions that will add another log to the Irish drama fest fire that has already been raging.

A lot had to go wrong for a 10-2 Notre Dame team to be left out of the CFP, and unfortunately, a lot went wrong. This is a bitter pill to swallow for the extended Irish family, but could lead to the next Notre Dame title if used in the right motivational way.