Notre Dame Fallout: AD Pete Bevacqua Blames The ACC, But Laughably Uses 'Dominant Run' Argument For CFP

Notre Dame athletics director Pete Bevacqua is obviously upset about the CFP's decision to exclude the Fighting Irish. But, trying to blame the ACC might actually be missing the mark, as he tried to explain on Tuesday afternoon. 

In what some thought would be a gathering to potentially announce some type of ramifications for the ACC moving forward, this turned out to be Notre Dame trying to make the case on why it was just upset and expected better. 

Pete Bevacqua essentially hopped on his soapbox to argue why a conference they are not involved in from a football standpoint was openly lobbying for an actual football member. 

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Sure he was mad about how the ACC put together a social media campaign for Miami to make the final rankings, but this was more of Bevacqua trying to set up capital for the future. 

He sure wasn't looking for an apology right now, though he did mention there would be a very open conversation with the ACC down the road. But, not right now.

"We haven't given all that a ton of thought. Are we looking for an apology? I don't think that an apology does anything or unwinds anything that has happened," Bevacqua explained. "But, at the right time, we'll sit down with the ACC leadership and, I think hopefully, have a very frank, honest, hopefully productive conversation. 

"And, I'll tell you that time is not right now."

"One Of The Most Dominant Runs" For Notre Dame? Come On

But, one of the more interesting quotes came from Bevacqua when he was discussing the run Notre Dame went on after starting 0-2 on the season. 

"We were shocked, mystified by what happened Sunday," Pete Bevacqua explained. "We had one of the most dominant ten-game runs in the history of college football."

Excuse me? I'm sorry, but it's not as if Notre Dame was competing against top-25 teams on a bi-weekly basis. Heck, I would say USC and Pittsburgh were the only two really competitive teams they faced during that stretch. 

What was that actual stretch of games?

• Purdue
• @ Arkansas
• Boise State
• NC State
• USC
• @ Boston College
• Navy
• @ Pittsburgh
• Syracuse
• @ Stanford

I'm sorry, but if Notre Dame is trying to make a case, because it won ten-straight games that the Irish should have been in the playoff, that reasoning is going to fall flat. I understand where the CFP committee had them ranked, and I give them that excuse, but save me with the strength of schedule conversation. 

"We were told we were in. Rankings can change, I'm not naive," Bevacqua mentioned. "But, based on what happened around the country, and based on what we did , what Marcus and that team did, there's nothing I could say we could've done differently from early Sunday morning after the Texas A&M game. We could not have done anything better.

"If you're getting a ranking, that's a hollow ranking, you can't make decisions to improve it, if it's a moving target. 

Notre Dame Is Upset, I Respect That. But Join A Conference Then

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand why Notre Dame would be upset about how this transpired, given where the Irish were ranked heading into the final weekend. 

But, all of this talk about being upset with the ACC is getting a little shaky. I did not take away anything from that press conference that made me think the Irish are looking for an exit. Why would they?

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Notre Dame does not have a football tie with the conference, even though the Irish are competing in the ACC in 24 other sports. The Irish also signed an MOU that will have them in the CFP if ranked within the Top-12 starting next season, and they still get the opportunity to have their games broadcast on ESPN, which goes along with their $50 million deal with NBC. 

A lot of this is the school being upset with how things played out on Sunday. But, stop acting as though you're above others in the sport. Sure, the committee was reckless with its rankings process, along with explanations. 

"Do I think Miami should be in the CFP? One hundred percent," Bevacqua noted. "Do I think Alabama deserves to be in the CFP? Yea, they deserve it. They had a tough schedule, they played great, had a tough championship game.

"But, we deserve to be in the CFP. And, if I was at Texas, I'd have a strong argument, or the season Vanderbilt had. But for us, we need to have some protection in there to say that if we prove it on the field over the course of the season, and if we're in the top-12, we need to know we have a sure-fire route to get into the playoffs."

This was all for show, which was in addition to the media rounds made on Monday where the Irish proclaimed how upset they were that the ACC would prop up a school that actually represents them in football. 

Ok, then: Join a conference already. If not, you won't get further sympathy by college football fans who watched Notre Dame lose to Miami on August 31st.