Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
Notre Dame ended up on the outside looking in when the lineup for the College Football Playoff was finalized, and the school’s athletic director has not been shy about voicing his displeasure with that development. His reaction has drawn plenty of criticism, and the commissioner of the Big 12 got in on the action while throwing some criticism his way.
There was inevitably going to be some drama when the College Football Playoff Selection Committee revealed the 12 teams that had made the cut over the weekend. Notre Dame was one of the schools that ended up on the bubble and didn’t have a conference championship game to help control its fate, and the 10-2 Fighting Irish ultimately failed to qualify.
That was a fairly surprising development when you consider Notre Dame ended up at #10 in the penultimate bracket, as they were leapfrogged by a Miami team that moved up two spots despite not playing another game and were left out in favor of an Alabama squad that lost to Georgia in the SEC Championship.
Fighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua decided to go on the offensive after they were snubbed, as he announced the team had refused an invitation to the Pop-Tarts Bowl before accusing the ACC of staging a campaign to get Miami into the CFP at their expense.
His reaction has garnered plenty of backlash from people who’ve been rubbed the wrong way by Bevacqua’s attempt at martyrdom, and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is certainly a member of that group.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark went after Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua for his reaction to the College Football Playoff snub
As is the case with the ACC, the Big 12 will only be represented by a single team in the College Football Playoff after Texas Tech secured the fourth seed and a bye with a win over BYU in the conference championship game.
The conference would have theoretically benefited from the Cougars getting a win in that showdown, but there was really no way to justify keeping them in the mix after they fell to the Red Raiders.
On Tuesday, commissioner Brett Yormark addressed that development while speaking at Sports Business Journal‘s Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in Las Vegas, saying he was disappointed to see BYU left out while admitting he believed the CFP committee “did the right job” when everything was said and done.
He also turned his attention to Bevacqua and chastised him for taking his anger out on the ACC, saying the route he’s decided to go is “totally out of bounds.”
IAF on stage exclusive:
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark’s full comments on the CFP decision, Notre Dame and athletic director Pete Bevacqua 👇 pic.twitter.com/XWpXRio8mg
— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) December 10, 2025
There are some rumors that Notre Dame is reassessing its alliance with the ACC, and Bevacqua had to know what he was doing when he said SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is the only P4 bigwig he’s had a conversation with since Notre Dame was left out.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see how things pan out.