Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua States Case For College Football Playoff Bid

With the regular season finished, all Notre Dame can do is wait. And pray. And state their case to be one of 12 teams in the College Football Playoff when the field is announced Sunday at Noon ET on ESPN.

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua chimed in on the debate during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Friday afternoon. Though the Irish began the season 0-2 with losses to Miami and Texas A&M, Bevacqua spoke confidently of their current form compared to the rest of the country.

Why Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua thinks the Irish deserve a CFP bid

Marcus Freeman Notre Dame Football — Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman celebrates after a touchdown against Syracuse at Notre Dame Stadium. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"I think with the exception of [Ohio State and Indiana], who are undefeated, we're the hottest team in the country," Bevacqua said. "I don't think anybody's playing better than Notre Dame. You think about this 10-game streak of dominance we've had, it's some of the best football I've ever seen here and I've been a huge Notre Dame fan literally since the day I was born, a Notre Dame grad. I think we're firing on all cylinders, Pat."

It's nearly impossible to turn on sports television shows or go on social media and avoid conversations about who should get a CFP bid between Notre Dame and Miami. But Bevacqua sees it a bit differently and feels the committee has perhaps already settled that debate.

"When you hear the committee and you hear Hunter [Yurachek] talk, the comparison has always been between Notre Dame and Alabama," Bevacqua said. "I mean, he even said that as recently as Tuesday. We've been clustered with Alabama. Who deserves to be higher, Notre Dame or Alabama? So that's really been what we've been focused on."

"In my opinion, the committee has really spoken about the Notre Dame-Miami issue as I see it. Hey, it was the first game of the season. Miami's a really good team, but quite frankly, as I said to somebody here today, nobody wins the race at the starting line. And I really think right now, there's not a team in the country playing better football than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish."

Even if Notre Dame remains ahead of Miami regardless of what happens during conference championship weekend, there's still a path to the Irish missing the CFP.

BYU came in one spot behind Notre Dame in the latest rankings, effectively making the Cougars the last team out. But if BYU defeats Texas Tech in Saturday's Big 12 title game, the Cougars would jump the Irish and receive a CFP bid as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions. In that scenario, both Notre Dame and Miami would be out.

But if Texas Tech defeats BYU –– likely putting Notre Dame and Miami next to each other in the rankings –– could Miami's head-to-head victory over Notre Dame result in the Hurricanes receiving a CFP bid over the Irish?

"I come back to Alabama," Bevacqua answered. "Certainly we're interested in watching the Georgia-Alabama game, two great teams, SEC, great conference. I think everybody in Notre Dame nation is a Texas Tech fan this weekend. I have great admiration for Texas Tech and BYU, but no secret, we want Texas Tech to win that game."

"And then, we've been ninth, we think we should still be ninth quite frankly. We've made that known to the committee. But you know, we gotta watch these games with great interest for sure. And I just think we went from nine to ten having not snapped the football. I don't see any way where we can drop two spots and Miami can go up two spots. Neither of us have played a game over the course of these two weeks."

"The committee has always had us ahead of them. The committee has admitted that it's always been a conversation –– a fierce conversation, if you listened to Hunter [Yurachek] –– between who deserves to be ahead of each other, Notre Dame or Alabama? Our feeling, our hope is if Texas Tech can beat BYU, we're in. Question is if we're gonna be 10th or ninth, that's what we're going with. And again, I come back to the fact –– hats off to Indiana and Ohio State, amazing seasons –– other than that, I would go toe to toe with anybody saying that we are the hottest team in the country right now."

CFP debates will never end, but soon they may shift further down the rankings. Bevacqua added an interesting comment that there's overwhelming momentum to expand the CFP in future seasons.

"I think there's almost unanimity in that room that we should be at 16 teams with five automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large. And think, if we were at 16 teams right now, I think it would be perfect, right? It would be absolutely perfect. ... Will we get there for next year? I'm not sure, you know, I think a lot of people in the room are certainly fighting for that. But hopefully if it's not next year, it'll be the remaining years after that because, to me, that's the right answer."

The full interview with Pete Bevacqua on The Pat McAfee Show can be seen below, beginning at the 43-minute mark. Bevacqua also addressed topics like Notre Dame's independence, scheduling, the job coach Marcus Freeman has done and more.

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