Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua joined the Pat McAfee Show on Friday afternoon to discuss the college football playoff.
On the Miami-Notre Dame playoff debate:
“I appreciate it and Kirk (Herbstreit) you'll appreciate this more than anybody being an Ohio State grad – hats off to Ohio State and Indiana to have two undefeated seasons like they've had this year in 2025 is such an accomplishment. I think with the exception of those two teams that were undefeated, we're the hottest team in the country. I don't think anybody's playing better than Notre Dame.
“You think about this 10-game streak of dominance, we've had some of the best football I have ever seen here, and I've been a huge Notre Dame fan literally since the day I was born, Notre Dame grad. I think we're firing on all cylinders, Pat.
“For us, when you hear the committee and you hear Hunter (Yurachek) talk, the comparison has always been between Notre Dame and Alabama. I mean, he even said that as recently as Tuesday. We've been clustered with Alabama, who deserves to be higher, Notre Dame or Alabama? So that's really what we've been focused on.
“In my opinion, the committee has really spoken about the Notre Dame-Miami issue as I see it. Hey, it was the first game of the season. Miami is a really good team, but quite frankly, as I said to somebody here today, nobody wins the race at the starting line. I really think right now there's not a team in the country playing better football than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.”
On if college football is headed toward expanding the playoffs:
“I have the privilege of being in that room due to my role here at Notre Dame. I think there's almost unanimity in that room that we should be at 16 teams with five automatic qualifiers and 11 at large. I think if we were at 16 teams right now, I think it would be perfect. It would be absolutely perfect.
“These conference championships are great. They're interesting. But you think about a Notre Dame team, again, I'm biased, right? I think we have absolutely the best player in the country in Jeremiyah Love. I haven't seen somebody this electrifying. I go back to Reggie Bush before that, the rocket here at Notre Dame. But yeah, 16 is the answer. Five automatics, 11 at large. I hope we get there sooner than later.
“When you think about it, you think about the conference championships and hey, we know our parole, we're independent. But even think about the conference championships this year. I mean, you think about Miami, we're talking about Miami. They had two tough losses deep into the season. But you know, Miami should be playing in their conference championship, for a chance to win that conference with as talented of a team as they are.
“I think corrections can be made. But as it relates to the CFP, I think 16 teams is the answer. I don't want to speak on anybody's behalf, but being in that room, I think there's an overwhelming momentum to try to get that done."
On a timeline for when there could be expansion:
“It got pushed back with your company, ESPN. Will we get there for next year? I'm not sure. I think a lot of people in the room are certainly fighting for that. But hopefully, if it's not next year, it'll be the remaining years after that because to me, that's the right answer, Kirk.”
On an independent team taking a playoff spot over a program in a conference:
“The regular season is more important for us than anybody because we don't have the opportunity to play in a conference championship. We can't play in the SEC championship, the Big 12, the Big 10, or the ACC championship. And like you said in the lead into this conversation, there's teams that are playing in these conference championships, particularly in the SEC and the Big 10, that regardless of the outcome, they're both going to get a spot in the CFP. There's comfort in that.
“A lot of people talked about last year that magical run we had to the national championship. They talked about the CFP economics and the money that Notre Dame earns through that. But they didn't talk about the other side of the coin, whereas if we don't make it and we don't get any money. We kind of eat what we kill. We're kind of out there dangling on our own and trying to schedule the best teams we can.
“When you look at our future schedules, we have Texas and Alabama and hoping to get something done here with USC and an annual series with Clemson. We feel really bullish about our independence. It's part of the DNA of Notre Dame.
“When you have alignment like we do at this university, when you have a coach like Coach Freeman, and I joke with people like if we went into a laboratory and had to create the perfect coach for Notre Dame, you'd walk out with Marcus Freeman. He's not just a football coach. He has become such a part of the fabric of this university. You go to a women's basketball game, a hockey game, you walk around campus, you see Marcus with his wife, Joanna, you see him with his kids.
“We're blessed to have him here in Notre Dame. He's a big part of why we can stay independent, because you got to be relevant when you're independent. If you're not winning, you become irrelevant in a second. And we've got to keep winning. We’ve got to keep these seasons going like they have here the last few years.”
On balancing scheduling big games while still setting up Notre Dame to make the playoffs:
“We don't make a scheduling decision without talking to Marcus and bringing him into the conversation. Marcus is wired in a way where he's not looking for the easy way out. He's like, come one, come all, let's prove it on the field. He's wired that way, it makes the team wired that way.
“One of the blessings we have here in Notre Dame is when we go on the road, think about that Pitt game this year, right? We went on the road to Pitt, the place was sold out, Game Day was there, I bumped into Pat there, they retired Aaron Donald's jersey, and that was like a Super Bowl for the University of Pittsburgh.
“Every game we play, and we're fortunate, that's not because of me, it's because of a 100+ year history at Notre Dame. So we're used to big games and we want to play the best teams in the country each and every year.”
On what he’s watching this weekend:
“I come back to Alabama, certainly we're interested in watching the Georgia-Alabama game, two great games, SEC, great conference. I think everybody in the Notre Dame nation is a Texas Tech fan this week, I have great admiration for Texas Tech and BYU, but no secret, we want Texas Tech to win that game.
“We've been ninth, we think we should still be ninth, quite frankly, we've made that known to the committee, but we got to watch these games with great interest. We went from 9 to 10, having not snapped the football, I don't see any way where we can drop two spots, and Miami can go up two spots, neither of us have played a game over the course of these two weeks, the committee has always had us ahead of them, the committee has admitted that it's always been a conversation, a fierce conversation, if you listen to Hunter, between who deserves to be ahead of each other, Notre Dame, Alabama, our feeling, our hope is, if Texas Tech can beat BYU, we're in, question is, are we going to be 10th or 9th?
“That's what we're going with, and again, I come back to the fact, hats off to Indiana and Ohio State, amazing seasons, other than that, I would go toe-to-toe with anybody in saying that we are the hottest team in the country right now.”
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