It’s a little rich hearing Notre Dame cry about unfairness.
For the better part of a half-century, Notre Dame has insisted on playing by its own rules. It has its own TV deal. It has refused to join a conference, aligning with the ACC only so far as it’s convenient for the Irish. At the same time, Notre Dame has exacted carveouts in negotiations for the College Football Playoff and its predecessors so it can keep its place at the table.
And now that the Irish aren’t getting the special treatment they believe is their due, they’re throwing a tantrum.
“I’m not going to be overly dramatic,” Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said Dec. 9.
Oh yeah? Starting when?
We’re going on Day 3 now of Bevacqua whining about Notre Dame being passed over for the CFP, claiming it’s a travesty that’s done damage to the playoff, college football, the ACC and the national GDP. OK, maybe not that last part, but the week isn’t over.
Bevacqua is incensed that the playoff committee had the audacity to rank Notre Dame in the top 10 throughout the season and then bypass the Irish when it came time to select the 12-team playoff bracket.
Upon finding themselves on the outside of the CFP, the Irish decided to sit out this bowl season entirely.
“We’re one of the best teams in the country. We’re one of those handful of teams that can absolutely win the national championship this year,” Bevacqua said. “What frustrates me, and I know what frustrates (Irish coach Marcus Freeman), is there’s just no good explanation.”
There is, though. Two of them, actually.
The first is that life isn’t always fair. The second is that actions have consequences. And Notre Dame has long been due a reminder of both.
Notre Dame made its CFP bed with early losses
While the CFP can be criticized for its selections — why wasn’t Alabama penalized for losing its conference title game like BYU was? – Notre Dame put itself in this position.
The CFP is not a come-one, come-all operation. There are 12 spots in the bracket and choices have to be made on who deserves to fill them. Those calculations were further complicated this year by Duke upsetting Virginia in the ACC title game, locking James Madison and Tulane into two of the five spots reserved for conference champions and effectively leaving one spot for Notre Dame and four other schools.
Though Notre Dame won its final 10 games to finish at 10-2, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation had the Irish beaten Miami in the season opener. Or held off Texas A&M in its next game, for that matter.
But they didn’t.
The larger issue, though, is that Notre Dame continues to live in the past. And expects others to, too.
Though the Irish have won 13 national titles, their last was in 1988. That’s almost 40 years ago. And since national champions began being decided on the field rather than in the polls, Notre Dame has made the national title game just once, last year when it got manhandled by Ohio State.
It has not had a Heisman Trophy winner since 1987. Running back Jeremiyah Love is the first Notre Dame player to even be finalist in more than a decade.
The Irish remain one of the biggest names in college football, but they are no longer the powerhouse around which the entire sport turns. If they want to be given deference, if they want to assure themselves of being in the CFP, they either need to win more games, and win them decisively, or join a conference.
Notre Dame doesn’t want to do that, of course, because that would mean either giving up its TV deal with NBC or having to share the money from it. God forbid anyone but Notre Dame should get something they don’t deserve. Instead, Notre Dame has chosen to go half-in and half-out, being part of the ACC except in the one sport in which the Irish really matter.
Notre Dame’s beef with ACC highlights program’s entitlement
Bevacqua was angry with the ACC for taking what he perceived as “shots” at Notre Dame on social media in the leadup to the CFP selection. But what does he expect? For the ACC not to do everything it can to champion one of its own out of deference to the Irish?
Apparently, yes.
“I don’t understand why you would go on a social media campaign to attack an important partner,” Bevacqua said.
Maybe because, when it comes to football, Notre Dame treats the ACC as more of a subordinate rather than a partner. Everyone else, too.
Bevacqua has acted like a toddler in need of a nap these last few days, stomping his feet and crying because he didn’t get what he wanted. A great example he’s setting for Notre Dame’s players, by the way. But the height of privilege is thinking you are owed something you did not earn and, by that measure, Notre Dame is at the very top.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
