(Photo: Chad Ryan)
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I’m sad.
Not the ordinary kind of sad that comes after a season ends, when helmets are packed away and the lights in Notre Dame Stadium finally go dark. This is a deeper sadness — the kind that sits in your chest because you know something true and good was taken from a team that earned far better.
And while some might be gleeful that Notre Dame was kept out of the playoff, let me be clear: that reaction doesn’t make you clever — it makes you look foolish. Because if you watched this sport, if you followed this team, if you paid attention with even a hint of honesty, you know the Irish were one of the best teams in the country. And they were shut out anyway.
After 30 years of covering college football, I don’t say that lightly.
The Best Notre Dame Team in Years — And the Committee Looked Away
The 2025 Fighting Irish were the strongest, most balanced Notre Dame team we’ve seen in over a quarter century. The numbers alone were staggering:
- Fifth-best scoring offense in the nation
- A unit that could run it and throw it with equal efficiency
- The best player in the country carrying the football — Jeremiyah Love
- A front seven you simply could not run against, and a secondary that turned passes into interceptions
And Vegas saw what the committee pretended not to: as of this week, Notre Dame held the third-best odds to win the 2025 national title.
They knew.
The Irish didn’t play a single FCS cupcake. They lined up against 10 Power Four opponents. And they didn’t just survive — they dominated.
They won their final 10 games by an average of 29.7 points.
Let me say that again: 29.7 points.
Teams like that don’t get left out.
Unless someone decides they should be.
The Plot That Started on a Tuesday
The sadness of this week is rooted not in Championship Saturday, but in the Tuesday before — the moment the College Football Playoff committee elevated Alabama over Notre Dame.
For no logical reason.
Alabama had concluded the regular season by barely escaping a 5–7 Auburn team. They needing a last-second fumble and a late touchdown to survive. Such a performance that would typically hurt a résumé was treated like a gift-wrapped climb up the rankings.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame crippled Stanford — thoroughly, cleanly, unquestionably.
Yet the Tide moved up. The Irish moved down.
That wasn’t oversight. It felt like intention.
The explanation that came after was a stew of double-talk and circular logic. Simply put, it was laughable. And when you strip away such tortured wording, what remains smells like deceit — the kind that hints at a system more interested in protecting brands than honoring results.
Call it whatever you’d like, but the appearance of corruption can’t be denied.
Championship Weekend: The Final Twist of the Knife
Then came the final rankings — the moment the plot completed itself.
Alabama lost to Georgia, 28–7, in a game where they were never competitive. Their offense sputtered. Their run game remained nonexistent. They looked like exactly what they are: a 10–3 team with significant flaws.
Every other conference title game loser in America dropped in the rankings.
Except Alabama.
They stayed exactly where they were — protected, insulated, rewarded for a blowout loss.
And then came the final insult: idle Miami flip-flopped positions with Notre Dame. The head-to-head argument is tired at this point, and people wield it selectively. Anyone watching football with clear eyes knows Notre Dame was the better team right now, today, when the rankings were released.
But logic wasn’t the point.
Justification and protecting conferences was.
A System Broken Beyond Recognition
This season also exposed the deeper rot:
- Sub–Top 20 teams in the CFP field
- James Madison and Tulane in the playoff while Top 10 teams stay home
- Criteria more ambiguous than the old BCS ever was
The playoff was created to avoid the “beauty pageant” era of voters deciding the champion. Instead, we’ve reinvented the same system — only murkier, more political, and more arbitrary.
This didn’t just fail Notre Dame.
It failed the sport.
For over 50 years I have been obsessed with the sport, and that is sad.
A Season Too Good to End Like This
One of the top teams in the nation will now stay home.
No Playoff stage. No bowl game.
No final chapter for a season that deserved one.
This abrupt ending closes the book on a team that gave us so much joy and so many unforgettable moments:
- Ten straight wins by nearly 30 points
- A defense that took the ball away like it was owed to them
- An offense that finally looked like modern Notre Dame at its best
- Jeremiyah Love — a singular talent we may never see the likes of again
That hurts.
And yes, I understand the University’s reasoning for opting out of a second-tier bowl.
Some will mock the decision as petty or emotional, calling it “take my ball and go home.” But when you’re treated unfairly and without honesty, walking away isn’t weakness — it’s dignity.
Notre Dame refused to participate in a postseason that refused to uphold fairness. I respect that choice. It was the only move that matched the insult delivered.
Cornered, but Not Quiet
Independent Notre Dame was backed into a corner by a system that didn’t respect them — or perhaps feared them. A system that calls itself the CFP but behaves more like a gatekeeping cartel.
But here’s the thing about cornering someone:
They don’t just stand their ground — they strike back.
Notre Dame is more than capable of doing exactly that.
Notre Dame will not go quietly into the next era of college football.
And I am sad — truly sad — that something I have loved for over 50 years, has come to this.
But sadness isn’t weakness.
It’s clarity.
And with that clarity, Fighting Irish Preview turns the page to 2026.
We’ll be here.
And so will Notre Dame.