Flashback to early December of 2025, and the entire college football world was buzzing about who would be in the second-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. After losing its first two games of the season, one to Miami and another to Texas A&M, Notre Dame went on a 10-game win streak to finish 10-2.
Miami, on the other hand, lost to two unranked teams, and also finished 10-2 and, due to the head -to-head win over the Irish, was given the final spot in the CFP. It was a total outrage to Notre Dame and its fans and led the Irish to opt out of their bowl game.
When the media was debating who deserved that final spot before the bracket was released, the ACC social media team was promoting Miami over Notre Dame heavily. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips didn't do anything to stop the promotion, defending that the conference had a duty to support the 17 football-playing programs, even though Notre Dame has a partial scheduling agreement with the ACC.
This outraged the Irish and simply made matters worse, and had many teams calling for Notre Dame to join a conference. Phillips actions truly had Notre Dame up in arms, no matter how much he called the Irish a "top-tier" team.
Now, it seems Phillips has changed his tune. In a press conference talking, Phillips spoke about how he is advocating for the playoff to expand to 24 teams, and he is using Notre Dame's CFP snub, one he once advocated for, as a way to get there.
Jim Phillips is using Notre Dame's CFP snub to advocate for a playoff expansion
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips: “Notre Dame was a CFP-worthy team this year. They just were.”
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) May 13, 2026
Helluva hindsight sound bite. He surely wasn’t saying that in early December. pic.twitter.com/K0LEiguvWN
"I've been very consistent in what I've indicated to this group," Phillips said. "When you are leaving National Championship-contending teams out of the playoff, you don't have the right number...I've said this very directly, Notre Dame was a CFP-worthy team this year, they just were."
That is not what Phillips was preaching when it came down to Notre Dame and Miami and who would get that last spot. Notre Dame simply wasn't good enough when the time came, and the ACC was advocating for Miami to get in over the Irish.
Phillips can't just turn around now and suddenly start saying Notre Dame should have been in. At this point, it looks like he is just trying to talk out of both sides of his mouth. Phillips has to pick a narrative and stick to it, and not use Notre Dame for his bidding.
Should the playoff be expanded? Probably, but don't use Notre Dame as the reasoning when the Irish had every right to be in last season, and Phillips did nothing then to try and help the Irish.
Notre Dame and Miami will face off again this next season, this time in November, which means it could be a deciding game for both teams when it comes to the College Football Playoff bracket. The game is set for a prime time slot at 7:30 p.m. EST in South Bend on November 7 on NBC and Peacock.
Add us as a preferred source on Google