Since the introduction of the 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024, bowls have lost relevance. But that still doesn’t justify the Notre Dame Fighting Irish declining their invitation to play in one.
On Sunday, the CFP selection committee excluded 10-2 Notre Dame from the bracket, a controversial choice. Hours later, the Fighting Irish confirmed that they would not be playing in a bowl. Had the school accepted its invitation, it would’ve faced the BYU Cougars in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 27.
“A farce and total waste of time,” Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua told ESPN about the CFP rankings ahead of the final one.
But two other high-profile teams accepted bowl bids and didn’t whine about their exclusion from the CFP.
Why Notre Dame should’ve played in a bowl
Like Notre Dame, the Texas Longhorns (9-3) didn’t make the CFP despite boasting a strong resume. This season, the Longhorns beat two teams in the CFP (Oklahoma Sooners 23-6, Texas A&M Aggies 27-17).
After the news broke that Texas would play the Michigan Wolverines in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian expressed disappointment that his team didn’t make the CFP. But he didn’t consider skipping a bowl.
“We all have goals and aspirations of winning conference championships and being national champions,” he told the media Sunday. “But I also think there’s an experience factor in all this. There’s growth. There’s a development in all this. There’s camaraderie. There’s so much that goes into this that sometimes a bowl game is about celebrating a season and finishing the right way.”
Vanderbilt Commodores HC Clark Lea — who guided his team to a 10-2 season — echoed a similar sentiment.
“That’s no one’s fault except our own,” the coach said of not making the CFP. “We are not victims in this process. Our ownership is in coming up short. We’re going to celebrate the [heck] out of going and playing in the [ReliaQuest Bowl against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Dec. 31] in Tampa.”