Notre Dame’s Rooting Interest in Miami vs. Texas A&M Explained

Notre Dame's season came to an abrubt end after missing the College Football Playoff and then choosing to not participate in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

Instead of getting ready for a glorified exhibition game in college football's closest thing to the Savannah Bananas, Notre Dame is now shifting its focus to 2026 as it figures to be among the best teams in the nation again.

When the College Football Playoff gets started this weekend, Notre Dame will be at home watching. That's not what any Notre Dame football staffer, player, or fan wants, but its what the present brings.

So who should Notre Dame be rooting for this College Football Playoff, specifically in the game between two teams it lost to in 2025?

Miami at Texas A&M - Noon, ET, Saturday

The two teams that combined to make Notre Dame 0-2 to start the 2025 season, meet in the First Round of the College Football Playoff.

The seventh-seeded Texas A&M Aggies host No. 10 Miami in the first of three playoff games Saturday, in what should be an impressive setting in College Station.

Miami is the lone representative from the ACC, despite not winning the conference. Meanwhile, Texas A&M earned a home game after an 11-1 regular season, falling only to rival Texas in the final week of the regular season.

Who Should Notre Dame Root For?

If Notre Dame had won either of the first two games of the regular season, it would have easily been in the College Football Playoff.

Instead, it sits at home, getting ready for 2026.

So when its watching on Saturday, is there a team that it'd rather see win than another?

The answer is yes, but it's not the team that history suggests Notre Dame should root for.

The Fighting Irish and Miami have been rivals for decades, although the two haven't played regularly since 1990. However, it would be better for Notre Dame, and college football as a whole for that matter, if Miami walked out of College Station with a victory.

As I've tried to make clear since before Notre Dame was even left out of the College Football Playoff, the Fighting Irish had an SEC problem this season regarding the CFP. It was an Alabama and Oklahoma problem that kept Notre Dame from the Playoff, not Miami, even if the rankings changed.

ESPN is in bed with the SEC and the College Football Playoff, both. What is good for the SEC in the College Football Playoff is therefore GREAT for ESPN.

Far and away the best thing that can happen for Notre Dame this postseason is to see the SEC again struggle in the College Football Playoff.

The conference only won two games in last year, as Texas defeated a three-loss Clemson team and Arizona State en route to the semi-final.

2022 was only a four-team tournament but it saw the SEC shutout of victories as a whole, as Michigan defeated Washington in the national championship.

The best thing for Notre Dame and college football as a whole this College Football Playoff is for the narrative that the SEC is ungodly compared to everyone else to take a hit. That starts Saturday when an longtime Notre Dame rival has a chance to put a dent in the armor of ESPN's favorite conference.