Round One CFP Results Add To Notre Dame's Frustration

The Irish cannot wait to turn the page to 2026, but they keep being reminded of the brutal finish to 2025.

Dec 20, 2025; College Station, TX, USA; Miami Hurricanes defensive back Bryce Fitzgerald (13) celebrates after he intercepts a Texas A&M Aggies pass to clinch the Miami win at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

It has been two weeks since Notre Dame learned that it would be bounced from this year's CFP field and then decided to decline any other bowl bid.

Since this time, Notre Dame has been a punching bag nationally and on social media, rightfully or wrongly, for contesting the CFP ranking results and bowing out of lower tier bowls.

After all of the debate and ridicule, finally, the first round playoff games arrived, and the results of these games have only intensified, not lessened, the Irish vitriol.

"This proves the CFP committee got it right"

Heading into the round one games, there was a possibility that the results would embolden Notre Dame's CFP argument and lighten the national argument against it.

Instead, the opposite happened and has led to an awful argument being made. Both Alabama and Miami won their round one CFP games, leading many to conclude that this proves the committee made correct CFP decisions.

The flaw in this argument is that it assumes that Notre Dame wouldn't or couldn't win the round one games that Alabama and Miami won. This assumption is one I disagree with.

That being said, both teams did notch tough road CFP wins and will have their chance to advance while Irish fans watch along in a daze of bitterness and frustration that is directed across multiple entities, starting with Notre Dame itself for losing its first two contests and finishing with the CFP committee and the games it seemingly played with the Irish's positioning.

“Let us never devalue the meaning of head to head” - Miami head coach Mario Cristobal pic.twitter.com/g2IXyoV3QR

— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) December 20, 2025

Two group of five teams lead to boring CFP games

Aside from the Miami and Texas A&M discussions, in which there's no denying Notre Dame lost to both teams, the Group of Five debate is a different kind of frustration altogether.

The CFP cannot honestly say that its goal is to find the 12 best teams in America. If this were the case, any combination of Notre Dame, BYU, Texas, and Vanderbilt would be in the field over JMU and Tulane.

Instead, two precious playoff spots were taken by teams that were physically unable to compete in their round one games. Is this what the committee wanted?

Are they proud of putting together a gathering of what is supposed to be the best teams, only to have two games that are non-competitive?

This tournament isn't about finding the 12 best teams in the country; rather, it's a selective invitational that depends on contracts, allegiances, and alliances.

Notre Dame nation has plenty of reasons to be frustrated right now, but the most important one is internal and productive. Don't lose the first two games of the season, and none of this nightmare would exist. This is the Irish's fault.