Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua spent Monday swinging at the wrong target. After the Irish fell out of the College Football Playoff field, he went on “The Dan Patrick Show” and accused the ACC of causing “permanent damage” to its relationship with the Irish because the league publicly backed Miami’s playoff case.
Notre Dame ducked full ACC membership for football, lost head-to-head to Miami, then threw a fit because the conference actually supported one of its real football members. That doesn’t sound like “permanent damage.” That sounds like permanent entitlement.
Bevacqua’s complaints center on two things: the ACC Football account posting a side-by-side Miami–Notre Dame graphic with a “No hypotheticals, just facts” caption, and the ACC Network replaying Miami’s Week 1 win over the Irish on a loop heading into selection weekend. The league highlighted the result on the field and reminded everyone which team actually handled business when the two teams met: Miami 27, Notre Dame 24. The Canes never trailed.
Both teams finished 10–2. Both carried strong résumés. One team beat the other in September, then watched that opponent spend December begging for everyone to ignore it. The CFP committee leaned on head-to-head as the difference when BYU’s loss opened a final at-large lane, and Miami grabbed the No. 10 seed while Notre Dame landed first out and then chose to skip bowl season altogether. You want the benefit of the doubt? Don’t spot the Canes a win.
The ACC did exactly what any conference should do: fight for its members. Commissioner Jim Phillips backed advocacy for all 17 football-playing schools, including Miami, which actually sends CFP revenue back into the ACC pot. Notre Dame wants the scheduling agreement, the Olympic-sport home, the TV exposure and the soft landing of ACC bowl ties, yet still demands kid-glove treatment when that same league promotes a full-share member with a better claim to a Playoff spot.
From a Miami perspective, this whole meltdown tastes delicious. The Canes beat the Irish on national TV, watched the league finally act like a modern power conference, then earned a playoff berth while the Irish pouted about mean tweets and too many replays. Miami didn’t need a PR campaign to pass Notre Dame; Mario Cristobal’s team already settled that argument in Hard Rock Stadium. The ACC simply reminded everyone.
The ACC didn’t “attack” Notre Dame. The conference amplified Miami’s résumé and leaned on the scoreboard. Notre Dame chose independence, and independence occasionally delivers cold outcomes. If the Irish want less ACC damage, they can join the league fully, line up in Charlotte and try taking something from the Canes on the turf instead of on talk shows. Until then, Miami fans should enjoy this. Your team locked up a CFP spot, and in the process made one of college football’s most self-important brands lose its mind.
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