Notre Dame opts out of bowl consideration following College Football Playoff snub

Notre Dame decided the only choice it could make in response to its College Football Playoff snub was opting out of the rest of the postseason entirely.

Miami jumped Notre Dame in the committee’s rankings on Sunday despite both teams being off during conference championship weekend and Notre Dame being No. 10 to Miami’s No. 12 the prior week.

The Irish were ahead of the Hurricanes for the first five iterations of the rankings.

Miami gave the ACC a single bid with its champion on the outside looking in.

Notre Dame began the season by losing to two playoff teams — Miami and Texas A&M — by a combined four points before winning 10 straight to end the year, all by double digits and with multiple ranked opponents. Some argued it was a better resume than three-loss Alabama, which was the ninth seed ahead of 10-seed Miami (10-2) and 11th-ranked Notre Dame.

“As a team, we’ve decided to withdraw our name from consideration for a bowl game following the 2025 season,” Notre Dame said in a statement. “We appreciate all the support from our families and fans, and we’re hoping to bring the 12th national title to South Bend in 2026.”

The Fighting Irish fell victim to the committee taking just three Power Four champions after Duke’s win over Virginia in the ACC title, and two group-of-six champions — Tulane and James Madison — got in, with Miami taking the final at-large bid at No. 10.

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger after the snub that “as part of a memorandum of understanding signed by CFP officials last spring, Notre Dame will be assured of making the playoff if it is ranked in the top 12 starting next year.”

The Irish would get in on the specially created automatic bid under this year’s selection day rankings, despite being No. 12 to Miami’s No. 11.

Notre Dame is the third high-profile opt-out as a team this bowl cycle, joining the Big 12’s Iowa State and Kansas State, which were dealing with coaching changes.

While the Cyclones and Wildcats were assessed institutional fines of $500,000 by their conference, the Irish will likely avoid any such fines by being independent.

Baylor joined the group after the Irish, stating it had “already progressed deeply into the offseason timeline of preparation for the 2026 season.”

Reactions from bowls and others to Notre Dame opting out

Notre Dame was invited to play BYU in the Pop Tarts Bowl in Orlando, which it declined, On3’s Brett McMurphy reported.

The opt-out had the potential for massive ripples throughout the bowl landscape, given how highly ranked the team was and how it could allow for lower teams to get more premier spots.

Georgia Tech ended up taking its spot in the Pop Tarts Bowl opposite BYU following the Cougars’ Big 12 title loss.

The Holiday Bowl, which later landed on the Arizona Wildcats and SMU Mustangs as its participants, really said the quiet part for all to see on social media:

once again, we have no idea what this means for our matchup https://t.co/ENqJyUCM4w

— Trust & Will Holiday Bowl (@holidaybowl) December 7, 2025

Maybe it's time for Notre Dame to join a conference…

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) December 7, 2025

How Notre Dame feels after beating a bunch of mid teams & then declining a bowl game pic.twitter.com/SPFt7jcrCY

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) December 7, 2025

I don’t blame Notre Dame one bit for deciding not to play in a Bowl Game when they should have been playing for a chance to win the National Championship in the College Football Playoff. pic.twitter.com/TgB0kAn85r

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) December 7, 2025

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