While the competition is extremely stiff, Notre Dame Football remains the grand master champion for the most entitled fan base in the history of athletic competition on planet Earth. After their disappointing two-loss season, here is what their athletic director, Pete Bevacqua said, out loud, in a stunning but still predictable failure of self awareness: "There is no explanation that could possibly be given to explain the outcome … As I said to Marcus (Freeman), one thing is for sure: Any rankings or show prior to this last one is an absolute joke and a waste of time. Why put these young student-athletes through these false emotions just to pull the rug out from underneath them, having not played a game in two weeks, and then a group of people in a room shatter their dreams without explanation? We feel like the playoff was stolen from our student-athletes … Any rankings or show prior to this last one is an absolute joke and a waste of time."Wait, you mean to tell me, Mr. Notre Dame Athletic Director, the TeeVee show on our rival network was fake? What’s next? There’s gambling in Casablanca? Professional wrestling is scripted? It was not the Tooth Fairy who left a quarter under my pillow?An easy tell is that when an athletic director (or anyone else) uses the term “student-athlete”, some artistry de la bullshit is about to be unleashed. And there is some high-level tightrope walking in this case. Whose fault is it, exactly, that the student-athletes on the Notre Dame football team have not played a game in the last two weeks? Why is it that we see the Fighting Irish compete in the ACC tournament in college basketball, but they never appear in the ACC standings when it comes to college football?It is because Notre Dame continues to make the decision that their interests are better served by operating as an independent in college football and not officially affiliated with an FBS conference. The ACC would take them in a heartbeat. The Big Ten would be happy to share in the Fighting Irish’s football revenue e. But the Notre Dame interests, not of their now victimized student-athletes, but of their administration operating the business that is the University of Notre Dame, had previously come to the conclusion that operating independently in football with the benefit of their broadcasting deal with NBC (a direct rival of Disney/ABC-TV/ESPN) ensures them to make at least a nickel more than being officially tied to a conference. And make no mistake that the rules of the college football playoff system already codify certain built-in advantages only for Notre Dame. These exclusive benefits for this private institution include the following: (1) They retain 100% of the financial revenue derived from qualifying for the college football playoff. Teams coming from conferences share the revenue with all the other conference members.(2) A guarantee that they make the college football playoff if they finish in the top 12 in the final rankings — meaning that their placement cannot be bumped by the one Group of Five program or the five conference champion guarantees. However, this carve to protect Notre Dame begins in 2026. This is why the 11th-ranked Fighting Irish are on the outside looking in this year, because two Group of Five teams, James Madison and Tulane, are the fourth and fifth-highest-ranked conference champions yet rank below them.(3) The top four seeds in the playoff who currently receive first-round byes into the quarterfinals are no longer required to be a conference champion. This is a modification to the previous guidelines last year, when Notre Dame was not eligible for earning one of the top four seeds and was required to play a first-round game. This is all before the implicit assumption, all but codified in 2026, that Notre Dame can play an easy schedule filled with bad ACC and AAC teams and make the playoffs with two losses. Of course, this format is a joke given the inevitable third loss in the Conference Championship Games from teams previously ranked in the top 12, but that will only present risk to those who have to play this game — and Notre Dame gets the benefit of avoiding it. But on the other hand, the ACC and Big Ten members on the committee can continue to skim the skim by simply dropping the Irish to 13th in the final rankings. I have not seen a screw job like this since Brett Hart was pinned after a fast pin count from Earl Hebner! To paraphrase the great philosopher, Vince McMahon, reflecting on the quick count that Hart endured: Notre Dame screwed Notre Dame.The fact that the “committee” is choosing not to punish Alabama for losing a conference championship means that is the Irish would have simply parlayed their schedule of the second tier in the ACC into a conference championship game (which they could have even lost!) by sacrificing the extra nickel they make by being independent (and owning NBC) is the perfect bow on this gift to neutral observers. Of course, the beautiful irony is that if Notre Dame had simply joined the ACC years ago and qualified for the ACC championship game this season, they could have lost to Virginia and still probably made the college football playoff above the second Group of Five team. As Alabama demonstrates, the committee is not anxious to punish teams that qualify for their conference championship game but lose to another playoff qualifier. There is money to be made by all in those games, even if they represent an awkward remnant of money made in the past that does not quite fit in the new venture capital of the expanded playoff system. But Notre Dame thought they were made men, above having to jump through these inconvenient hoops that are meant for other, lesser, football, I mean, institutions of higher learning. I have not seen Catholics tie themselves in this many knots trying to explain this all away since listening to the defense as to why wine still tastes like wine after Transubstantiation for the priests at my Catholic high school. At least with Transubstantiation, embracing the “mystery” has become central to the explanation. Bevacqua feels there is no explanation that can possibly be given to their exclusion, because a resume that is headlined by wins against USC and Boise State, along with two close losses to the two playoff teams that managed to slip into their 2025 schedule, is somehow self-evident? When you are bragging about beating a four-loss Group of Five team, you are losing. Badly.Even more lacking in self-awareness, Notre Dame chose to decline their bowl invitation to, presumably, play BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. As if taking their football and running home would rob the world of this classic matchup of mediocrity. While Going Galt has its appeal in some limited circles, missing those bowl practices was arrogant and a misstep they will regret. That roster needed the work, notwithstanding their statement of a 63-point victory against a three-win Syracuse team in late November when they were in style-points mode.For the record, Alabama and Miami (FL) did not have great arguments to qualify for the playoffs either. The committee is making it up as they go along, it's a mess, and the mess makes it better TeeVee (in their mind) since it creates content for their subsequent 24-7 Hot Take Sports Industrial Complex. I'm sorry if your disillusionment is recent about this selection committee that, for years, included Condoleezza Rice. How did the Tooth Fairy always find out I lost another baby tooth? Back to the subject, it is the pinnacle of entitlement when the bad arguments your rival have becomes the best reason why you should continue to get everything you want. Notre Dame and their fans look in the mirror and see Ohio State, Georgia, and Alabama. In reality, they are much closer to the rotating second tier of football teams — like Miami (FL), Texas A&M, Penn State, Florida State, name the other programs that can float from making the playoff to a below .500 record from one season to the next.The transfer portal and NIL have made it more difficult for the blue blood programs to dominate each and every season. There is a lot of mediocrity out there these days. Of course, a sweetheart schedule and owning your own broadcasting company help to artificially elevate one’s status. But when other football programs counter with the same games, it can be frustrating. It is reminiscent of Artie Piscano lamenting in Goodfellas: “What's the point of skimming if we're being skimmed? It defeats the purpose!” Let’s leave the last word on the subject to Joe Pesci’s Nicky Santaore from the same film: “You gotta know that a guy who helps you steal, even if you take care of him real well, I mean, he's gonna steal a little bit extra for himself. Makes sense, don't it? Right? Well, you go try and make these hard-headed old greaseballs understand that.”Best of luck — Frank.
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