ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips responds to Notre Dame AD’s criticism

Like a Karen in a restaurant where they didn’t get the dish they ordered, Notre Dame is lashing out at everyone around them over their College Football Playoff snub in the hopes that someone will give them the apology they feel they deserve.

The CFP committee appears to be standing its ground on the controversial decision to put Miami over the Fighting Irish, despite ND being ranked ahead in previous rankings. So the school is shifting its complaints to the ACC, which it feels was part of the smear campaign that led to their snub.

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua told Dan Patrick that the ACC did “permanent damage” to their relationship, which includes a football scheduling agreement and membership in 24 non-football sports, in an attempt to help Miami make the CFP.

“We didn’t appreciate the fact that we were singled out repeatedly and compared to Miami,” Bevacqua said. “Miami has every right to do that. But it raised a lot of eyebrows here that the conference was taking shots at us. That’s just not something that we chose to do, we wouldn’t choose to do in the future. Some people might disagree with us, but that’s just not something that we’d be comfortable with.”

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips released a statement Monday to mitigate the fallout.

“The University of Notre Dame is an incredibly valued member of the ACC and there is tremendous respect and appreciation for the entire institution,” Phillips said. “With that said, when it comes to football, we have a responsibility to support and advocate for all 17 of our football-playing member institutions, and I stand behind our conference efforts to do just that leading up to the College Football Playoff Committee selections on Sunday.

“At no time was it suggested by the ACC that Notre Dame was not a worthy candidate for inclusion in the field. We are thrilled for the University of Miami while also understanding and appreciating the significant disappointment of the Notre Dame players, coaches and program.”

Notre Dame’s independent status makes it unique in how much a CFP bid benefits them and how missing the playoffs affects their bottom line. The ACC arrangement was part of their way to increase the odds in their favor (one of many ways they’ve done that). If the school feels the arrangement no longer serves them in that cause, or, in this instance, hinders them, they might just follow through on the veiled threat Bevacqua laid out.