When Notre Dame didn't make it into the College Football Playoff back at the beginning of December 2025, the Irish were heartbroken and very upset. The selection committee has put in a three-loss Alabama team and a two-loss Miami team, with the worst losses compared to Notre Dame's.
There was the big speculation that Notre Dame was mad about the snub because they believed they should have been in over both Alabama and Miami, but that actually wasn't the case at all. Head coach Marcus Freeman was a guest analyst on ESPN College Gameday before the National Championship, and he shed some light on how Notre Dame really felt after the snub.
"This was never a situation where we deserved to be in the playoffs in front of Miami or Alabama or anything like that," Freeman said. "It was, okay, the rankings show if we continue to win in the fashion that we were winning, it looks like we are going to make the playoffs, and we didn't."
Marcus Freeman says he got over Notre Dame being left out of the College Football Playoff within 24 hours. He quickly turned his focus to 2026 and the Fighting Irish’s motto for this year — “leave no doubt.”
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) January 19, 2026
That earned a handshake from @KirkHerbstreit. pic.twitter.com/g1gJJuhY62
In no way did Freeman or the rest of Notre Dame believe they should have been in over anyone else, but they were going based on what every single College Football Playoff ranking had said for five rankings. The selection committee had the Irish in the field of making the playoffs in every single rankings and it wasn't until the bracket reveal that the Irish were then suddenly out.
Marcus Freeman is already moving forward towards the 2026 football season and leaving nothing to chance
There is nothing Freeman or the rest of the Notre Dame football team can do about the 2025 season and how it ended. That is all in the past, and this team has to move forward with the people that are still in the building and start preparing for the 2026 season.
Freeman spoke on the snub on Colleg eGameday, but his biggest point of emphasis is what the Irish will focus on in 2026, and that is leaving no doubt next season.
"Our first team meeting we just had for 2026, my message was 'it's us to us to leave no doubt,' we left doubt," Freeman said. "We lost by four or five points in the first two games, we left doubt."
That mindset actually prompted Kirk Herbstreit to stand up and walk over to Freeman to shake his hand because he respected how Freeman is looking at it all now. Freeman could easily sit back and continue to blame everyone else, but instead, he is taking everything on the chin and motivating his team to not leave anything up to chance next season.