Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua unloaded on the ACC in the wake of Sunday’s College Football Playoff snub, saying the conference that houses almost every Fighting Irish sports team has caused “permanent damage” to the relationship.
Bevacqua told “The Dan Patrick Show” on Monday that he has great respect for Miami, Alabama and all the teams that stated their cases for CFP inclusion and ultimately were included in the field of 12. However, Bevacqua is upset with how the ACC pushed for Miami over Notre Dame leading up to the selections.
“We were mystified by the actions of the conference to attack their biggest, really, partner in football and a member of their conference in 24 of our other sports,” Bevacqua told Patrick. “… They have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame.”
Last month, the ACC’s official account on X posted a side-by-side comparison of Miami and Notre Dame, accompanied by the text, “No hypotheticals, just facts.” Miami beat Notre Dame 27-24 in the season opener, a game the Hurricanes never trailed, and finished with an identical 10-2 record.
No hypotheticals, just facts.
Team A ✅ https://t.co/2SshUcSWhK pic.twitter.com/eyHadwcQYt
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) November 11, 2025
ACC Network also replayed the Miami-Notre Dame game more than a dozen times Thursday and Friday, heading into championship weekend, despite Miami not participating in the league’s title game. Duke, which won the ACC but had five regular-season losses, did not make the CFP.
The Hurricanes earned the No. 10 seed and will visit No. 7 Texas A&M in the first round of the CFP. Notre Dame announced Sunday that it would decline a bowl invitation and end its season, rather than accept the ACC’s tie-in at the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Other than football, which is an FBS independent, and men’s hockey, an affiliate member of the Big Ten, Notre Dame has all of its other varsity sports in the ACC. Since 2014, Notre Dame and the ACC have a scheduling partnership where the Irish play at least five ACC opponents per season.
“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,” Bevacqua said. “But it raised a lot of eyebrows here that the conference was taking shots at us.”
Bevacqua was asked by Patrick whether Notre Dame would reevaluate its relationship with the ACC.
“I would just say it’s been strained,” Bevacqua said. “You never say irreparable, but it’s opened our eyes and it’s caught our attention.”
The ACC did not immediately respond to ESPN’s request for comment.
Bevacqua reiterated Notre Dame’s frustrations with the CFP selection process, including the weekly rankings where the Irish were in the field until Sunday. After an 0-2 start, Notre Dame won its final 10 games, all by 10 points or more.
“We’re confused, we’re sad and we’re frustrated,” Bevacqua told Patrick.
“… If we had assembled as a team on Sunday and rankings hadn’t told us for the previous weeks, ‘We’re in, we’re in, we’re in. Take care of business, take care of business’ … Hey, I get it. But these rankings shows, like, what’s the point? Why send these signals and get the hopes [up] of these teams, these coaches, these kids on the team, that believe they’re doing everything necessary. It just felt, in that room, a collective sense of the rug being taken out from under us, without any explanation.”
Bevacqua said Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman talked to the team’s captains after the CFP snub about other bowl opportunities. The captains told Freeman they knew a number of players with NFL draft potential would opt out and didn’t want to play a game with a dramatically different roster.
“It just wouldn’t be the same,” Bevacqua said.
Bevacqua will address the media at a news conference called for noon ET Tuesday.