The College Football Playoff bracket is set, and it has stirred up plenty of debate. A three-loss Alabama team in the top 10 after the Georgia Bulldogs devastated the Crimson Tide in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championship game? Which Group of Five teams would make it in as conference champions? Congrats to Tulane and James Madison University. (I’m sure my colleague Scott Pinsker is beaming with pride at that last one, and you'll hear more from him later in this column.)
I’m not going to lie: I’m miffed that Ohio State got into the #2 spot instead of my Bulldogs, but I understand that decision. The biggest debate point revolved around who would be the first team left out of the twelve-team playoff, and that honor went to one of the marquee teams in college football history: the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
How did Notre Dame respond to the snub? By opting out of its bowl game.
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 7, 2025
Naturally, X users were quick to roast Notre Dame for the decision to take its ball and go home.
— Justin Spiro (@DarkoStateNews) December 7, 2025
— bob truck (@TruckBon) December 7, 2025
They’re enjoying the entire bowl season from the couch 😭 pic.twitter.com/pqaTCncN3y
— Henry Hua (@Henry_Hua) December 7, 2025
Alright, Notre Dame…
— Glass | Bennett (@GlassHalfUte) December 7, 2025
Show us which of these Pop-Tarts hurt you. pic.twitter.com/ZZIdr8FKkp
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky told Stephen A. Smith and Cam Newton that Notre Dame should be in the playoff over a three-loss Crimson Tide team, and I’m inclined to agree. My friend and colleague Stephen Kruiser said that he thought Notre Dame made a good decision because it’s always such a good draw for television viewers.
“Walking away from the season looks bad on the surface for Notre Dame,” writes Pete Sampson at The Athletic. “It’s taking [its] golden football and going home. Notre Dame usually gets what it wants, including the full $20 million payout last year for making the title game, money usually given to a school’s conference. But this is a protest vote against the system more than anything, even if Notre Dame hasn’t articulated that well.”
Related: Faith, Freedom, and Football: The TPUSA Tailgate That Gave Me Hope for the Future
Nevertheless, I think it’s a bad look. Notre Dame looks like it’s pouting, and I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Paul Finebaum told Mike Greenberg on ESPN that “the crying from Notre Dame is, quite frankly, embarrassing. Everything Notre Dame has done since the moment this was announced is really beneath a great institution that should stand for principles. Instead, they cried, they didn't get their way, and then they said, ‘We're going home, we're taking our ball like a five-year-old on the playground by not going to a bowl game.’”
Most experts highlight the problem that hurt Notre Dame’s chances of getting into the playoffs. The Fighting Irish play football as an independent, and if they’d been in a conference, they probably would have had an easier path to the playoffs.
“University of Notre Dame, you were a brand in college football,” charged ESPN’s Matt Barrie. “You were one of the founding fathers of what makes this sport great. You should not have the right to do this as a team. And if you want to figure it out, and you don't want to opt out on the ball game as the University of Notre Dame, I can fix this whole thing with you with one phone call. ‘Hi, can we join your conference?’ You cannot be an independent. Control your own schedule, and then pout when you don't get in, because you don't have the conference championship at your weight.”
Sampson also places blame at Notre Dame’s feet for other reasons. The school loaded its early schedule with tough opponents that made the Irish get off to a rough start. Some of Notre Dame’s coaching decisions played into those early losses, Sampson insists.
Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal pointed out that the College Football Playoff selection committee had a thankless job.
"'If you want to make everybody happy, don't coach and get involved in football. Go sell ice cream, because the ice cream man makes everybody happy,'" Cristobal said, quoting Nick Saban. "In football, not everybody's going to be happy."
I asked Scott Pinsker, our resident PR expert, about Notre Dame's reaction to the playoff snub. He told me, "Honestly, boycotting bowl games won't make people sympathetic to their plight. It would've been a much better statement to take on a team like Texas & dismantle 'em, letting their performance speak for itself."
At the end of the day, Notre Dame got shafted when the committee put Alabama in the playoffs instead. Notre Dame couldn’t control the committee’s decision, but I can’t help but wonder if it could’ve handled its reaction to the news a little better.
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