Notre Dame’s ended abruptly after the CFP committee chose Miami over the Irish in the final 12 teams to make the playoffs. In hindsight, that decision has paid off, as the Canes sit one step away from national glory. The people in South Bend didn’t take the decision well. Notre Dame pulled out of its ball game. In a new documentary, we have a complete breakdown of how it all panned out.

“You don’t have much time after the announcement to decide on the bowl game,” Marcus Freeman said in the second season finale of the Here Come The Irish documentary. “The captains had already gotten together, talked with the majority of the leaders on the team, and talked with each other. They already knew that this question was gonna come up. That’s probably been the biggest decision for a group of captains since I’ve been the head coach.”

The documentary has been tracking Notre Dame since last season. This year, we saw clips after Notre Dame’s losses to Miami and Texas A&M. The latest one captured an anxious program waiting for the CFP committee’s decision and its aftermath. After the Irish were snubbed, Notre Dame made a decision on their participation in the bowl game within 24 hours. Head coach Marcus Freeman revealed that it wasn’t borne out of anger.

“If you guys [Notre Dame captains] just were mad and just said, ‘No, Coach, we’re not gonna do it, because we’re mad,’ I wouldn’t have let you do it,” Freeman said. “But it was well thought out. I want you to know how proud I am of you guys for representing the title that you’ve been– you voted for to have. It’s been a tough 24 hours. Everybody has an opinion on what you guys were doing. 

You guys did something; you were asked to do something and did something that hasn’t been done. And don’t forget the challenge that was. Forever, you talk about captains; this is a group of captains I’ll always remember. I’ll always hold other captains to that standard. So I just appreciate you guys, man. So don’t forget that.”

The Irish would have played BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which was the other team that was left out in the CFP seeding in the final list. While Notre Dame opted out of the bowl game, Georgia Tech stepped in to play BYU and lost by 25-21. 

Why was Notre Dame snubbed?

Both Notre Dame and Miami finished the regular season with 10-2 records. However, the days after their final game, each team had an advantage when it came to how the committee had ranked them. Until the final list, Notre Dame was ranked higher than Miami. However, the Canes’ faithful argued against this and cited their head-to-head win over the Irish in Week 1.

On its part, the CFP committee maintained that the head-to-head record would be discussed if the two teams were next to each other. That became a possibility after Texas Tech thrashed BYU in the Big 12 championship game. Since Alabama was always going to make it, it came down to Miami and Notre Dame. The committee chose the Canes over the Irish.

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The reason wasn’t convincing for the Irish, and Notre Dame’s AD Pete Bevacqua took a shot at the committee, stating the decision isn’t fair.

“My feelings and the feelings here are just shock and, really, an absolute sense of sadness for our student-athletes,” said Pete Bevacqua. “Overwhelming shock and sadness. Like a collective feeling that we were all just punched in the stomach. If the rankings shows are legitimate, there is no logical explanation for what happened to us. Have one ranking show at the end, like Sunday. What’s the point of doing anything prior to that?”