Some losses hurt for a few moments, while others sting even months after. One such was Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s loss to Miami Hurricanes in their second game of the 2025 season. It ultimately led to Notre Dame losing their place in the College Football Playoffs to Miami, and Marcus Freeman could not be more honest about how devastating the program felt at the time.

“In the moment when it was announced, I didn’t have the words to say, because we were shocked, surprised, disappointed,” Head coach Marcus Freeman said during his appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast. “I remember telling the players, ‘Í don’t know what to say right now.’ Usually, I do. I remember telling them, ‘don’t let this decision steal the joy of what you guys accomplished this season. Where we started to where we finished, be proud of that journey.”

Notre Dame finished with the same 10-2 regular season record as Miami and was ranked 10th in the College Football Playoff rankings ahead of Miami.  But when it was time for the playoff selection, the CFP selection committee moved Miami over Notre Dame, with a very controversial reason behind their action. The committee cited Notre Dame’s 27-24 Week 1 loss to Miami as the reason behind the decision. However, they also highlighted the influence of the BYU Cougars in the last-minute decision.

According to the committee chair, Hunter Yuracheck, the committee only considered Notre Dame’s loss to Miami after BYU’s loss in the Big 12 title game. Just before then, BYU was ranked No 11, a spot above Miami at No 12. However, the loss saw the Cougars lose their place on the rankings, moving Miami closer to Notre Dame. At that point, the committee found an issue with placing Notre Dame over Miami and used Miami’s head-to-head win as the ultimate decider. This decision broke Notre Dame so much that Freeman could not deny its effects.

“And then, the next day, I remember going back into the team meeting and saying, ‘I want to apologize to the seniors, that this is your last year and the ones that this was your last season. But to the guys who are coming back, we have to use this. Don’t lose the loss, use it. Use it as a reminder that we left doubts. There was doubt. There’s an argument that we should have been in the playoffs. We should. And it doesn’t matter how you feel about the decision, we left doubts.’

“And we have to make sure we use this as motivation and reminders to leave no doubt as we continue to go forward. And so, that’s what we do now, we use it. We don’t pass blame. We don’t blame Miami or anybody. We look at ourselves and say, ‘we fell short.’”

Regardless of how bad the Irish felt about their playoff snub, nothing can be done about it. Freeman understands this fact, and rather than keep mourning about the past, he wants his team to use the snub as a reason to kick off their preparations earlier. 

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are gunning for a “revenge” in 2026

Following their playoff snub, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were so devastated that they declined a bowl bid. The team’s athletic director, Pete Bevacqua, was disheartened at the CFP committee’s decision and called it a robbery.

“There is no explanation that could possibly be given to explain the outcome,” Bevacqua said. “Why put these young student-athletes through these false emotions just to pull the rug out from underneath them having not played a game in two weeks and then a group of people in a room shatter their dreams without explanation? We feel like the playoff was stolen from our student-athletes.”

Clearly, Freeman has transmitted his beliefs to his players. Notre Dame’s cornerback Leonard Moore was bold and vocal about the program’s mission ahead of the season.

“We’re on a revenge tour now,” Moore said. “We got to get back. We got to make it right from last year.”

Freeman’s final submission is that the Irish “have to make sure that everything we do from January to August, there are better ways to do it, and that’s what we’re trying to do, and that’s what we want”. This forward-looking mindset, born from the frustration of the snub, has the team eyeing revenge in 2026.