Freeman wants his players to learn from what happened while allowing it to motivate them for 2026 and beyond.
Sure, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was disappointed with being left out of this season’s College Football Playoff.
He also believes the Fighting Irish must ensure they don’t suffer the same fate in future years.
A little more than a month after Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua repeatedly criticized the selection process publicly, Freeman tried to set a different tone Wednesday by dialing back the emotions and acknowledging the Irish leave that decision in the selection committee’s hands.
“As we look at the moment, it was obviously disappointing, right? But you have to move forward,” Freeman said. “That’s what we’ve done as a program, that’s what I’ve done as a leader and as I reminded the group at our team meeting on Sunday, it’s our responsibility to make sure we leave no doubt, right? And moving forward we can’t blame it on someone else.”
The Irish thought they would make the 12-team field when the committee’s second-to-last rankings had them sitting at No. 10. They had won 10 straight games and were ranked two spots ahead of Miami for the final at-large spot.
But even though neither Miami or Notre Dame played that weekend and ninth-seeded Alabama lost the SEC title game, the committee kept the three-loss Crimson Tide in the No. 9 slot and moved the Hurricanes up to No. 10 with Notre Dame sliding to No. 11 — the first team left out. Bevacqua’s suggestions for a fix including expanding the field to 16 and a tweak to the selection process.
Miami responded by winning at No.
