When Notre Dame fans thought that everyone was done talking about the Irish being snubbed from the College Football Playoff, it suddenly came back up. It all started with ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips suddenly changing his stance on Notre Dame and that they should have been in the CFP after all.
This came as a big surprise, given how the ACC was lobbying for Miami to be in over Notre Dame, and Phillips backed his conference and what was being put back on social media. This was all even with Notre Dame having a partial scheduling contract with the conference.
Phillips decided to change his tune, saying Notre Dame was a championship-caliber team, using the Irish for his campaign in expanding the CFP to 24 teams. Notorious college football talking head Paul Finebaum went on ESPN's Get Up and spoke about Phillips' comments, and in the process took an unnecessary shot at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame caught in cross hairs of Paul Finebaum and Jim Phillips
Finebaum has a lot to say about Phillips' comments about the CFP expansion. He believed it was ridiculous that the ACC was campaigning against Notre Dame to get into the CFP, but now he is suddenly saying they should have been in because they were a Championship-caliber team.
Finebaum went on to say that Notre Dame wasn't a championship-worthy team because it had two losses and didn't have a good argument. Can someone please remind Finebaum that Miami, which did make it in, had two losses as well, and Alabama, which had three losses with the SEC Championship loss, still made it in.
Paul Finebaum concerning Notre Dame:
— CathVSConf☘️ (@CathVSConf) May 14, 2026
"It's laughable that after Jim Phillips (ACC) campaigned against Notre Dame by pushing Miami is now saying they were a Championship worthy team. They weren't a Championship worthy team. They lost two games, they didn't have an argument."
🎥… pic.twitter.com/9tYFoG4mCD
That comment from Finebaum was totally uncalled for because Notre Dame might have had two losses, but those two losses were to teams that did make the College Football Playoff. Miami's two losses were to teams that were nowhere close to making the CFP, and the Hurricanes couldn't even get into their conference championship.
Clearly, the drama from the snug for Notre Dame still isn't over, and the Irish are still getting the short end of the stick. Notre Dame is ready to move on from that drama and focus on the season ahead of them, but those in the media keep sucking them back in.
The comments from both Phillips and Finebaum are not needed. If the CFP wants to expand to 24 teams, then it will. It is a win-win for Notre Dame either way, especially with the deal the Irish have, where if they are ranked in the Top 12 in the final rankings, they get an automatic spot in the playoff.
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