College Football Playoff omitting Notre Dame, ranks legendary QB

The College Football Playoff bracket was revealed Sunday, and officials sparked controversy when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were left out despite having just two losses — one to the Miami Hurricanes and the other to the Texas A&M Aggies.

Both the Hurricanes and Aggies made the field as No. 12. Miami leapfrogged Notre Dame in the final rankings despite the Fighting Irish being in the field when the penultimate rankings were released. Neither team had a conference championship to play for before the official field was released.

The Notre Dame vs. Miami debate was one that should have been over the past few weeks. Who would make the playoffs? Miami had the head-to-head overall advantage.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist

Former Notre Dame star quarterback Joe Theismann told Pakinomist Digital he was in “disbelief” when he saw the Fighting Irish outside the bracket. He added that pundits talking about the College Football Playoff are missing one question: How does a three-loss Alabama Crimson Tide team get into the postseason?

“How could they be so wrong? I just have a hard time believing that you would put a three-loss team in the playoffs,” he said. “Miami goes in? Okay. Notre Dame should have been in. Now you suddenly want to turn the conversation into head-to-head competition in the first game of the year? Well, what about Alabama getting beat by Florida State in the first game of the year? Did nobody bring that up? Wasn’t that part of the conversation? I just think it’s so wrong.”

Ultimately, Theismann felt bad for head coach Marcus Freeman and the players he coaches, pointing out that Notre Dame didn’t have a bad loss.

The Fighting Irish lost to the Hurricanes and Aggies by a combined four points. Alabama, on the other hand, was throttled by Florida State in the first game of the season and then lost to the Oklahoma Sooners by two.

Notre Dame QB Joe Theismann (7) in action vs. USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles on November 30, 1968. (Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

INDIANA GETS TOP BILLING IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF AS MIAMI SNEAKS IN THE FIELD

Alabama made it to the SEC Championship, but lost by 21 points to Georgia.

“I feel like I’m someone who really tries to be objective when it comes to analyzing situations,” Theismann said. “Alabama being in this makes no sense.”

College Football Playoff Committee Chairman Hunter Yurachek, who is also the athletic director at Arkansas, which also plays in the SEC, defended Alabama’s spot as the No. 9 ranked school during the selection show. He said the Crimson Tide’s “work” was enough to get in.

“Despite their performance yesterday in the conference championship, they deserved to say in the nine spot,” he said.

Yurachek added that the committee flipped Miami over Notre Dame after BYU lost to Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship, 34-7.

“When we moved Miami ahead of BYU, then we had the side-by-side comparison that everyone had been craving, Notre Dame and Miami,” he said. “And when you look at the two teams on paper, and they’re almost equal, on their strength of schedule, common opponents, results against common opponents, but the one metric we had to fall back on was head-to-head.”

Tulane and James Madison were the other conference champions entering the field. Duke, the ACC champions, was not selected.

Notre Dame decided to forgo an opportunity to play in a bowl game after being left out of the College Football Playoff. Theismann said he had no problem with the decision.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman (center) leads the team onto the field to play the Pittsburgh Panthers at Acrisure Stadium on Nov. 15, 2025. (Charles LeClaire/Imagn Images)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pakinomist APP

“Not at all,” he told Pakinomist Digital. “I respect and admire the decision.”