Notre Dame responded to their playoff snub by opting out of bowl season entirely. But the fallout hasn’t stopped there. Athletic director Pete Bevacqua has been on a media tour launching verbal missiles at the selection committee and the ACC. 

During his conversation with Dan Patrick, Bevacqua disclosed a fascinating detail about how the decision not to play in a bowl game was actually made.

“As you’re kind of dealing with that, you start getting these calls from other bowls,” Bevacqua explained. “The role of a captain on the Notre Dame football team is a role that the program and Marcus takes very, very seriously. He talked to all the captains, said, ‘Hey, what are you guys thinking? What is the team thinking? Let’s talk about this.’ The captains and some of the other underclassmen on the team said, ‘Listen, we are such a close-knit team. We’ve done so much this season. We overcame those two opening losses. We rallied. We dominated in the last 10 games. We can’t imagine taking the field not as that team.'”

It’s a powerful statement that shows the decision came from the players themselves. They felt that taking the field without key contributors lost to injuries and potential opt-outs would diminish what they accomplished during their 10-game winning streak. But the real bombshell from Bevacqua’s interview wasn’t about the bowl game. It was about the ACC. When discussing the conference’s public campaign supporting Miami over Notre Dame in the days leading up to Selection Sunday, Bevacqua didn’t hold back.

“I have tremendous respect for Miami. Great team, great school. Their athletic director, Dan Radakovich, is a good friend. All the teams in the ACC, great, wonderful universities. We have no gripes about any of the schools in the ACC,” Bevacqua said. “We were mystified by the actions of the conference to attack their biggest, really, business partner in football and a member of their conference in 24 of our other sports. I would tell you, Dan, I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t say that they have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame.”

“Permanent damage” is not one you throw around lightly in college athletics, especially when Notre Dame brings massive value to the ACC and helps the conference maintain national relevance.​

Bevacqua’s anger stems from the ACC openly lobbying for Miami to be included in the playoff at Notre Dame’s expense. The conference released statements and had social media digs advocating for Miami’s resume. They were essentially campaigning against one of their own members in 24 non-football sports. 

For Notre Dame, which maintains football independence while competing in the ACC for all other sports, this felt like a betrayal from a business partner that benefits enormously from the Irish brand. Notre Dame’s football independence brings scheduling flexibility and massive television ratings whenever it plays ACC opponents. 

And not to mention the cultural cachet of having one of college football’s most iconic programs associated with your conference. If Notre Dame decides to sever its ACC ties because of this incident, the conference would lose significant leverage in media negotiations and national visibility. The Irish already don’t need the ACC for football. If they start questioning the value of the relationship for other sports, the conference could face a serious crisis, especially given that conference realignment is still reshaping college athletics.​

Bevacqua on joining a conference and ACC future

Bevacqua has made it clear that Notre Dame has no intention of joining a conference even after this snub. He told reporters, “We are out there advocating for ourselves.” But his willingness to publicly declare “permanent damage” to the ACC relationship suggests the Irish are at least considering their options moving forward. 

He’s been consistent in his messaging since Sunday. He called the weekly CFP rankings “a complete farce and a waste of time.” And also said the selection committee “pulled the rug out” from underneath student-athletes who believed they were safely in the field based on previous rankings. 

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His comments about feeling “punched in the stomach” and describing the selection as “overwhelming shock and sadness” capture how Notre Dame views this entire situation. Whether the ACC can repair this relationship or whether Notre Dame follows through on exploring other conference affiliations remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Bevacqua isn’t letting anyone forget what happened. The Irish won’t be going quietly into bowl season exile.​