Cam Newton claims ‘Notre Dame hasn’t been relevant in years!’

Notre Dame might not be the best college football program in its state thanks to Indiana’s historic surge, but Cam Newton is attempting to claim they’re not even relevant.

During a Friday morning discussion about the College Football Playoff opting to remain at 12 teams for the 2026 season, Newton used it as an opportunity to taunt one of the program’s that felt they were snubbed from the field in 2025. You may have forgotten about them, because apparently they’re irrelevant, but it’s Notre Dame.

Cam Newton: “Notre Dame hasn’t been relevant in years.”

Shae Cornette: “They were just in the national championship game one year ago” pic.twitter.com/E59b7FaiAr

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 23, 2026

“Bump Notre Dame!” Newton ranted on First Take. “When you start to think about all these different things that the preferential treatment that Notre Dame has gotten, will get, and will continue to get. That’s why I’m like, bump Notre Dame!”

Newton knows his rant will come across to some fans as another example of him just trying to defend the SEC, but he insists that’s not the issue here.

“Notre Dame hasn’t been relevant in years,” Newton continued.

First Take host Shae Cornette, who is probably the most knowledgeable college football regular on the show, immediately pushed back on Newton’s ridiculous claim.

“They were just in the national championship game one year ago,” Cornette said almost before Newton was able to finish his point. “One year!”

“They haven’t been relevant for years,” Newton maintained. “You take that one national championship with coach Freeman out of the equation, they have not been relevant for years.”

Why would you remove that from the equation? Especially while Marcus Freeman is still Notre Dame’s head coach, for now.

I don’t want to be a gate-keeper for college football. I generally hate that approach. Everybody is welcome.

But generalist sports media is mostly really bad at talking about college football.

— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoATH) January 23, 2026

First Take has built its brand on prioritizing takes and opinions over valuable analysis, and Cam Newton often seems more than happy to oblige. For his latest trick, Newton either completely forgot or just ignored the fact that Notre Dame was in the national championship game last season to make his point that they haven’t been relevant in years.