Social media reacts to Notre Dame’s CFP snub and bowl opt-out
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Notre Dame football had a Sunday that will go down in college football history, as the Irish were denied a spot in the College Football Playoff, then decided to opt out of the postseason completely.
It was a series of moves that sent waves across all of college football, and could reverberate over the next few seasons as well. With expansion of the playoff, there was bound to be teams getting turned away that are worthy, but the style in which Notre Dame had it happen didn’t seem justified.
Social media was quick to react to the news, as you can see below, some of the best reactions to Notre Dame not making the CFP and opting out of a bowl game.
The worst College Football Playoff committee ever? It could be
This is the worst selection committee we’ve ever had.
Cannot believe Alabama didn’t even drop one spot after the SEC title game blowout. Cannot believe they waited until the final reveal to flip Miami-ND. Could have done it at ANY point.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 7, 2025
Yup, this is what most are complaining about. It’s the timing of these moves that just doesn’t add up. Why did the committee wait so long to make these moves?
Brady Quinn weighs in
There wasn’t any logic waiting to move UM ahead of ND if Conf championship game outcomes are inconsequential. If Head to head was a factor, you had it all year. This isn’t a serious committee. It’s a made for TV event. Expand and get rid of the committee. BCS was a better…
— Brady Quinn (@Brady_Quinn) December 7, 2025
While Quinn’s last statement might not be exactly true, he is main correct about everything else. The BCS wasn’t biased, and would have had Notre Dame in because they were one of the twelve best teams in the country. Expansion could be on the way as well.
Why didn’t Alabama move down?
This is the most corrupt thing ever. How does EVERY conference championship team fall except Alabama? A team that went 2-2 in the final 4 games.
— Bryan Driskell (@CoachD178) December 7, 2025
Ohio State, moved down. BYU, moved down. Alabama? Stayed the same. Please, make it make sense.
Notre Dame was indeed, not happy
First team out.
That stings. pic.twitter.com/dRJpnQL3E5
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) December 7, 2025
This more than stings, it hurts. The pain will be there for years, as this Notre Dame team was more than good enough to win a championship.
How Notre Dame lost ground is a great question
Notre Dame was ahead of Miami in EVERY CFP RANKING prior to today.
And NOW, all of a sudden, the Hurricanes leap the Irish? Last year’s National Champion runner up is out.
How!?
— Kyle Kelly (@ByKyleKelly) December 7, 2025
Neither Notre Dame nor Miami played this past weekend, but for some reason the committee decided the Hurricanes were more worthy. No new data points for either team, so it should have been the status quo?
Pretty weak to leave Notre Dame out
The committee had no backbone
They left out a top 3 team by almost every metric/power rating and rewarded an Alabama team that has looked absolutely miserable for a month straight right now.
Well done CFB
— Todd Fuhrman (@ToddFuhrman) December 7, 2025
The “eye test” really didn’t apply to Alabama, it was the name test. I don’t know if I’d be as angry about this if Nick Saban was still around, but now that he’s retired, I think there’s more than a legit gripe that the Tide got a “bump.”
Former Notre Dame basketball star Jordan Cornette
This committee is a joke.
Bama didn’t move.
Clown show.
— jordan cornette (@jordancornette) December 7, 2025
While basketball is his expertise, Cornette clearly has been following the Irish football team. It’s safe to say that his assessment that this was a clown show is correct.
Notre Dame doesn’t need a conference
Today’s precedent:
Notre Dame, get your butt in a conference.
— Brooks Austin (@BrooksAustinBA) December 7, 2025
This has absolutely nothing to do with conference affiliation, it has to do with terrible inconsistencies within the committee’s ranking process. The right thing to do what to include the Irish, and they didn’t which has zero bearing on being in a conference.
Kirk Herbstreit wasn’t happy with Notre Dame dropping
Good on Kirk Herbstreit for calling this ESPN production (weekly rankings shows) a mistake and misleading. You rarely see that kind of candor from inside the house.
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) December 7, 2025
You don’t often see a member of the network criticizing what is happening, but this was so egregious that Herbstreit had to say something. It’s true, the committee misled everyone.
Notre Dame and Miami weren’t the same teams at the end of the year
Hunter Yurachek says BYU losing opened the door for Miami to jump them.
“Then we had that side-by-side comparison that everybody had been hungry for.”
“The one metric that we had to fall back on was the head-to-head.”
Says he charged the committee members to go back and watch… pic.twitter.com/Qv66zi8BEJ
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) December 7, 2025
Why watch old data? Just watch the most recent losses, oh yeah, Notre Dame didn’t have one.
Group of 5 schools shouldn’t be included
We’re all arguing about Miami, Alabama, Notre Dame and overlooking that TWO groups of 5 schools are occupying spots when they have zero business playing in it this year.
Tulane lost 45-10 to Ole Miss.
JMU only played ONE P4 school and lost by 14.
What a mess
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) December 7, 2025
Look at least year, Boise State deserved to be in. This year, Tulane and James Madison don’t, which took a potential spot away from Notre Dame.
The SEC bias is real and hurt Notre Dame
Ohio St lost and fell.
BYU lost and fell.
Virginia lost and fell.
What happened when Alabama got dominated while racking up -3 rushing yards?
— Exposing SEC Bias (@overrated_sec) December 7, 2025
After Saturday, it just didn’t seem like Alabama was one of the top twelve teams. The committee clearly had other plans, keep them at the same spot, while dropping others with similar results.
Was this all the ACC’s fault?
See below. The irony of the ACC actively campaigning against ND when they created a mess that led to two Group of 6 teams getting in. https://t.co/GNFtit8bpo
— Brady Quinn (@Brady_Quinn) December 7, 2025
This was not a good look for the conference at all, as unranked Duke was the winner. It put the committee in an odd place, which forced two Group of 5 teams in.
Was the fix in for Alabama over Notre Dame?
In the 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons, only one conference championship game loser did not move down at least one spot in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Alabama this year.
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) December 7, 2025
It sure seems like it, as the committee just wasn’t consistent with its rankings. If there was precedence, sure, but there just isn’t.
Is Notre Dame and the ACC on the verge of ending?
I really, really, really, really hope the leadership at Notre Dame is as pissed at what ESPN and the ACC did to them the last month as I am and fans are.
I’d go to war with the ACC.
Find any legal reason to get out of that deal and if you can’t, make sure the world knows…
— Bryan Driskell (@CoachD178) December 7, 2025
The ACC actively campaigned against Notre Dame, while propping up Miami. I think it might be time to rethink the relationship with them.
Notre Dame is changing the bowl game’s process
“The bowl system we know now is offically dead,” a bowl executive told @On3sports. “RIP. It was a nice run while it lasted.” https://t.co/2ucqdsmCfW
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 7, 2025
Teams previously have opted out of bowl games, but not after a scenario like this one. Notre Dame has once again become a catalyst in the sport.
Where the bowls done already thought?
Good. Let it burn.
It died when the 12-team playoff began. https://t.co/LDTQsV4prj
— Mike Singer (@MikeTSinger) December 7, 2025
It very well could have been, but now it is for sure. Notre Dame knew it needed to make a stand, and it did.
Notre Dame sent a clear message to the ACC
Am told directly that @NDFootball’s ultimate decision to NOT participate in Bowl Season is why the @theACC is still ironing out its matchups. I’d say there’s a message in that message: https://t.co/LbCzyaVE8j
— John Brice (@JohnDBrice1) December 7, 2025
At this point, anything to stick it to the ACC if well worth the time. Why make it easy on them, when their goal wasn’t to make it easy on the Irish?
Did Notre Dame make a mistake opting out of a bowl game?
I’m torn on Notre Dame opting out of the bowl.
On the one hand, if you want to blow up the system, sometimes you gotta pull the pin yourself. Notre Dame just did that.
On the other, how does skipping 15 bowl practices help Notre Dame make next season a title contending one?
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) December 7, 2025
There will always be two sides of a coin on a decision like this, and the Irish had to know the fallout they’d be creating. The extra practices and game would have been nice, but the statement is nicer.
Notre Dame is making them pay for no CFP
The ACC and ESPN get to lobby against Notre Dame for three weeks and the committee can deliberately mislead them and then those entities get to benefit from Notre Dame’s bowl participation? https://t.co/r9s6SVBtgwpic.twitter.com/tf55XECWYo
— Greg Flammang (@greg2126) December 7, 2025
You can’t expect for a team to be teased for multiple weeks that they’ll make the playoff, only to shed them away at the last minute and expect them to do your bidding. Notre Dame has every right to be angry about this situation from all angles.
Making a mockery of Notre Dame didn’t play out as they wanted it to
I honestly think if the CFP Committee did what was right from the beginning — ranked Miami ahead of Notre Dame — the Irish would be playing in this game. They just spent the last month telling ND it was in and it was shocked when it wasn’t. This is the result. https://t.co/aooERFuGeP
— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) December 7, 2025
This very well could have been the case, as Notre Dame probably didn’t make a decision until after it heard the news. Sure, it was an emotional one, but it was the right one at the time.
Goodbye Jeremiyah Love
Hottest team in the country, team that none of the top-ranked teams wants to play, was 9 or 10 for the last month.
Committee caved to public pressure. Weak. https://t.co/FsAM2t5gYA
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) December 7, 2025
Love most likely would have opted out of a bowl game, but not a playoff game. The early exit from Stanford win an injury very well was the last time we will see Love in the Blue and Gold.
Notre Dame’s bowl decision made sense
This might be a controversial and unpopular take, but good for Notre Dame. If more of these universities don’t stand for something, & just keep letting #eSECpn ruin this sport for their own financial gain without taking a stand that hits that network in the wallet, CFP will die.
— SEC Exposed (@SEC_Exposed) December 7, 2025
Not controversial or unpopular, Notre Dame needed to put its foot down after the way this played out. If they didn’t, the committee could continue to string along teams that won’t make it.
Notre Dame’s added benefits by opting out of a bowl game
Usually I don’t approve of this behavior but why go to a game owned by Disney/ESPN and make them a bunch of $$$?
-Many top players would sit out including RB Love.
-Get a jump on the portal while everyone else is prepping for a game.
-Try to get a new contract done with Freeman. https://t.co/3nxFzCK49W— Brad Powers (@BradPowers7) December 7, 2025
Powers makes multiple good points, but the biggest are the portal and extending Marcus Freeman. Sure he signed one last fall, but Notre Dame needs to put a ring on that.
Not savvy at all by ESPN with handling Notre Dame
ESPN was clearly hoping to profit big off a BYU vs. Notre Dame ‘first two out’ matchup. Hard pass. If you think ND owes ESPN a damn thing after they spent the entire weekend campaigning against them, you’re out of your mind and probably not very business savvy.
— Robby Toma (@rtoma9) December 7, 2025
It think it was pretty clear that ESPN had some say in how this all went down and Notre Dame must have felt that way as well. As an independent, they have the option to do as they please, and not playing a bowl game was the choice.
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Social media reacts to Notre Dame’s CFP snub and bowl game opt-out
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