Social Media Seethes As Notre Dame Inches Closer To CFP Berth

The Irish must keep their eyes on the CFP prize, and many weigh in with their own thoughts.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, left, celebrates with wide receiver Jordan Faison (6) after a touchdown during the first half of a NCAA football game against Navy at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The November playoff push brings out the best and worst of everyone

Here we are, folks. After a fast-moving and thrilling college football regular season, it's getting to be crunch time as the calendar moves through November. Each team in the CFP hunt only has a few games left to either impress the CFP committee or prove to be a pretender and not a contender.

This time of year always creates animosity. Fans, media members, and even coaches of teams that don't feel the CFP rankings are fair lash out, while others celebrate what they deem to be a well-earned spot in the latest bracket. As always, whenever Notre Dame is involved, the sparks fly.

While the Notre Dame vs Miami head-to-head debate is one that could be seen and has been debated multiple ways, the Irish's independence is a hot-button issue.

Some would have you think that the Irish hand-pick the easiest schedule possible each season and get rewarded for it while ignoring any metric that proves otherwise.

This is the cost of being different, being an outlier, forging your own path. Notre Dame Nation welcomes the hatred. Because it means you matter. For all of the "Notre Dame is irrelevant" talk I see, the evidence proves otherwise, as the Irish dominate social media traffic come playoff talk time.

“Independence is not just a thing for Notre Dame. If any of these schools really think it’s that much of an easier life, they are welcome to do it, as well.”

“All these other people are with a conference because they NEED to be or they wouldn’t be able to exist.”

🗣️🗣️🗣️ pic.twitter.com/vkWbxs4n6P

— Notre Dame Recruiting (@NDrecruiting01) November 12, 2025

The Notre Dame program itself will not be distracted by the CFP debate chatter

While someone like me spends hours a day on social media for my job, debating and debunking mistruths being stated about Notre Dame, the actual Irish football team can afford no such distractions.

If Notre Dame doesn't win its remaining three games, none of the CFP debate will matter, the Irish will be knocked out of the bracket and the "haters" will be proven correct all along about Notre Dame's CFP worthiness.

While this is a daily battle for Irish fans and media types, I believe the actual football team is singularly focused on beating Pitt. This team knows what is on the line, fought hard to get back into CFP position after a rough start to the year, sees the light at the end of the tunnel, and is locked in for the final stretch.

All of America will be tuning into Notre Dame's matinee matchup with Pitt, waiting and hoping for the Irish to falter to open up a CFP spot. In the infamous words of Lee Corso, "not so fast, my friend". I expect the Irish to be fully engaged and ready for this battle. They've come too far for a letdown now.