Overview
- Notre Dame fell from No. 10 to the first team out as Miami moved to No. 10 in the final CFP rankings, with chair Hunter Yurachek saying BYU’s title-game flop prompted a rewatch and application of the Hurricanes’ August head-to-head win.
- The Fighting Irish declined a non–CFP bowl invitation, and athletic director Pete Bevacqua blasted prior weekly rankings as “an absolute joke,” saying the playoff was “stolen” from Notre Dame’s players.
- Bevacqua told Yahoo Sports that a memorandum of understanding will guarantee Notre Dame a playoff spot starting next season if ranked in the top 12, and if the field goes to 14 teams, a top-13 finish would secure entry.
- Analyst reaction split sharply: Kirk Herbstreit and Nick Saban urged ending the weekly rankings show, Brady Quinn accused ESPN of exploiting Notre Dame, Paul Finebaum called the school’s response embarrassing, and Dan Orlovsky argued Notre Dame should have been in over Alabama.
- A USA TODAY report on a BCS-style computer simulation indicated Notre Dame would have made the playoff with Miami out, underscoring how different systems yield different brackets.