Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark says Notre Dame athletics director Pete Bevacqua has crossed the line with his criticism of ACC commissioner Jim Phillips following the Fighting Irish’s snub from the 2025 College Football Playoff.
Bevacqua said in a Monday appearance on the Dan Patrick Show the ACC had done “permanent damage” to their relationship with Notre Dame after supporting Miami’s push to make the CFP.
“I think Pete’s, his behavior’s been egregious,” Yormark said Tuesday. “It’s been egregious going after Jim Phillips… I think he’s been totally out of bounds in his approach. And if he was in the room, I’d tell him the same thing.”
Most Notre Dame sports are affiliated with the ACC, although the football program has remained independent.
Bevacqua said on the Dan Patrick Show the ACC had decided to “attack their biggest business partner in football” by sharing social media posts supporting Miami’s push to get into the playoff over Notre Dame.
“We didn’t appreciate the fact that we were singled out repeatedly, and compared to Miami… it raised a lot of eyebrows here that the conference was taking shots at us,” Bevacqua said.
When asked if Notre Dame planned to “reevaluate” its relationship with the ACC, Bevacqua said, “I would just say it’s been strained.”
Notre Dame would have made $4 million just for making the CFP, per Front Office Sports’ David Rumsey. There was another $25 million on the table for making it to the national championship game, per Rumsey.
Phillips said in a statement that Notre Dame is “an incredibly valued member of the ACC.”
He went on to write that the ACC has “a responsibility to support and advocate for all 17 of our football-playing member institutions,” and that by supporting Miami’s bracket push the league had never suggested Notre Dame wasn’t “a worthy candidate for inclusion in the field.”
Yormark went farther by pointing out the ACC “saved Notre Dame during COVID” by allowing the Fighting Irish to join the league as a full member during the pandemic in 2020.
Notre Dame and Miami both finished the regular season with a 10-2 record, although one of those Notre Dame losses came against Miami.
The Fighting Irish were consistently ranked above the Hurricanes in the CFP rankings ahead of Selection Day. Notre Dame was listed in the penultimate rankings at No. 10, two spots between Miami at No. 12.
Things changed when BYU, ranked No. 11 in those second-to-last rankings, lost the Big 12 championship game to Texas Tech.
Yormark argued Tuesday that CFP selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek had been “transparent” in the week leading up to Selection Day by saying Notre Dame and Miami’s head-to-head record would matter more if BYU wasn’t ranked between them.
“We all knew, and it was very transparent… that as Notre Dame and Miami got closer together, head-to-head would be a factor,” Yormark said.
Yormark said he felt the CFP committee had “overall” made the right decisions, even if he wasn’t happy to see BYU drop out of the bracket.
“It’s progress over perfection,” Yormark said.
The clash between Notre Dame and what appears to be both the Big 12 and ACC comes while the CFP remains uncertain as to how many teams will make the next bracket. CFP leadership recently pushed back a decision deadline to format the 2026 playoff until Jan. 23.
