Did Notre Dame and Pete Bevacqua overplay their hand a bit in the wake of the College Football Playoff snub? Calling out the ACC and the CFP committee while having a possibly easier path to the postseason next year has rubbed more than a few conference commissioners the wrong way.
Bevacqua announced on Sunday that the Fighting Irish won't go to a bowl this year, and on Monday and Tuesday, he took aim at the ACC's Jim Phillips for the way the conference dragged ND on social media in favor of Miami. However, while people were already annoyed by Bevacqua's tactics, a report on Sunday that the Irish have an MOU that would have had them in the field if it were 2026 has outraged them.
According to Dan Wolken of Yahoo Sports, there are more than a few college bigwigs who are thinking about boycotting Notre Dame as far as scheduling goes.
The fallout from the CFP snub of Notre Dame may trigger broader tensions across college football
Wolken started by saying that the Irish schedule next year isn't great, and it could get worse if ND and USC can't work out their scheduling issues.
"Texas, also smarting from missing the CFP, has made noise about canceling its series with Notre Dame in 2028-29. Athletic directors in other leagues, who learned from Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger on Sunday about the memorandum of understanding that grants Notre Dame preferential playoff access, are threatening to freeze them out of future schedules."
The columnist does make it clear that the ADs' talk about no longer scheduling the Irish could be saber rattling. However, there's been more of a groundswell to do just that from all corners of college football.
The argument goes like this:
Notre Dame has an easier go of it because it isn't required to play 9 games against conference opponents. They can schedule easier opponents and have more leeway as to when and where the games are played, even with the ACC scheduling agreement.
For now, there haven't been any moves in a tag team match against Notre Dame, and finding a way to keep them out of the playoffs due to a weak schedule. However, when the 2025 season is officially over, it's a detail to watch closely.