Midnite Madness - The Irish are Living TCU's 2014 Nightmare, and the Big 12 Knows the Solution.

On behalf of TCU and Big 12 fans,

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yorkmark needs to strike while the iron is hot.

That is, strike while Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua is hot.

TCU and Big 12 fans, as well as college football fans across the country, are well aware that Bevacqua is mad at the Atlantic Coach Conference (ACC) for pushing Miami, instead of the Fighting Irish, to be included in this season’s College Football Playoff.

The Playoff Committee, during its final ranking on Sunday, December 7, selected Alabama and Miami for the final two at-large playoff spots, Nos. 9 and 10, respectively, leaving No. 11 Notre Dame out of the field.

In the Tuesday, December 2, playoff ranking, Notre Dame was ranked 10th and Miami 12th, with BYU positioned between them at No. 11.

Neither Notre Dame nor Miami played on Saturday, December 6.

Texas Tech Wins the 2025 Big 12 Conference Championship — Texas Tech's Ben Roberts lifts the title belt after being named most outstanding player of the Big 12 Conference championship football game, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In the Big 12 Conference Championship game on Saturday, December 6, BYU was defeated by No. 4 Texas Tech, 34-7. The Cougars fell to 12th in the final playoff ranking. Before Yormark joined the Big 12, a similar scenario happened to TCU’s football team in 2014.

The Irish Are Living TCU's 2014 Nightmare

In the inaugural year of the four-team College Football Playoff, TCU finished its 2014 regular season 11-1 and moved up to the No. 3 spot in the penultimate rankings. Despite a dominant 55-3 victory over Iowa State in their final game, the Horned Frogs were leapfrogged in the final play ranking by eventual national champion Ohio State, which had a 59-0 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game.

TCU head football coach Gary Patterson noted at the time that he felt the drop from third to sixth, despite the Frogs’ huge win over the Cyclones, meant the committee had not truly evaluated the "body of work" as they claimed, but rather focused on the results of the final week. He even predicted the snub before the final rankings were announced, telling the Iowa State coach, "Paul (Rhoads), we aren't going to the playoffs.”

Instead, the Horned Frogs went to the Peach Bowl, where TCU took out its frustrations on Ole Miss, 42-3.

TCU finished its 2014 campaign with a 12-1 record and ranked third in the nation.

Notre Dame’s football team plays as an independent; therefore, it does not compete in the ACC, but 24 other Notre Dame athletic teams compete as members of the ACC.

The Big 12 Should Step In

Yormark should invite the angry Bevacqua and Notre Dame’s 24 conference-affiliated athletic teams to ditch the ACC and join TCU and the 15 other teams in the Big 12 Conference.

Adding Notre Dame’s brand and its 24 conference-affiliated teams would further strengthen the 16-team Big 12 Conference during this ever-changing college sports landscape.

How mad is Bevacqua?

On Monday, December 8, Bevacqua was a guest on “The Dan Patrick Show.” "We were mystified by the actions of the conference to attack their biggest business partner in football and a member of their conference in 24 of our other sports,” said Bevacqua during the show. “They have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame. We didn't appreciate the fact that we were singled out repeatedly and compared to Miami, not by Miami; Miami has every right to do that. But it raised a lot of eyebrows here that the conference was taking shots at us."

Notre Dame, Miami and Alabama had 10-2 regular-season records.

Notre Dame lost the first two games of its season, then won 10 in a row.

The Irish lost its season-opener, 27-24, to Miami, in Miami.

Miami won on a 47-yard field goal with just over a minute left in the game, after Notre Dame had tied the game at 24-24 with just over three minutes left in the game.

Notre Dame lost its second game of the season, 41-40, to Texas A&M in South Bend. Notre Dame scored a touchdown to go ahead 40 to 34 with just under three minutes to play. A two-point, after-touchdown attempt failed.

A&M scored a touchdown and kicked the decisive extra point with 13 seconds remaining in the game.

Texas A&M placed seventh in the final playoff ranking.

After defeating Notre Dame in the two teams’ season-opener, Miami won four in a row before losing, 24-21, to Louisville in Miami.

The Hurricanes then beat Stanford, before losing in overtime, 26-20, to SMU in Dallas. Alabama lost its first game of the season, 31-17, to Florida State in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Tide then won eight in a row before losing, 23-21, to Oklahoma in Tuscaloosa. Oklahoma placed eighth in the final playoff ranking.

Alabama was blown out in the SEC Championship Game on December 6 by Georgia, 24-7, to finish its season at 10-3.

Georgia placed third in the final playoff ranking.

The Irish Make Their Own Exit

In addition to Bevacqua being miffed by the playoff snub, the Fighting Irish declined a lesser bowl invitation.

Supposedly, Notre Dame was going to be invited to play BYU of the Big 12 in the Pop-
Tarts Bowl in Orlando, Florida.

Evidently, the Irish don’t eat or like Pop-Tarts.

While Texas Tech qualified for the playoffs, TCU and BYU are two of seven other Big 12 teams that will be playing in bowl games. TCU, of course, will be playing No. 16 USC in the Alamo Bowl.

Iowa State and Kansas State, both from the Big 12, qualified for bowl games but declined invitations because their football programs are undergoing head coaching changes.

The Big 12 issued $500,000 institutional fines to both Iowa State and Kansas State for opting out of their participation in the Conference’s bowl pool.

The Big 12 bowl replacements for Iowa State and Kansas State were determined based on the 5-7 teams with the highest Academic Progress Rates. That included UCF, Baylor, and Kansas, all of which declined to participate in a bowl game.

The Big 12 did not fine UCF, Baylor, and Kansas for declining, as they were substitute bowl teams that were not technically eligible because they did not have the requisite six wins.

Notre Dame’s captains drove the Irish’s decision to decline a bowl invitation, believing that they couldn't play as an incomplete team, with expected player opt-outs, and also wanting to begin an early focus on the goal of a 2026 national title.

That 2026 football national title aspiration should come with Notre Dame being aligned with the Big 12, and not the ACC.

How about it, Brett?

The Irish Are Living TCU's 2014 Nightmare

The Big 12 Should Step In

The Irish Make Their Own Exit

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