Notre Dame slammed for 'cowardly' and 'immature' decision by college football analyst

Rodney Knuppel

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Notre Dame slammed for 'cowardly' and 'immature' decision by college football analyst image

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Notre Dame thought it was making a statement. Instead, it lit the college football world on fire.

Hours after the Fighting Irish announced they would not play in a bowl game following their College Football Playoff snub, FS1 analyst and former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho unloaded on them. He didn’t mince words. He didn’t soften the edges. He called the decision “absolutely unacceptable” and said he felt bad for Notre Dame fans who were ready to watch their team play one more time.

For a program known for its tradition and pride, getting hit with “cowardly” and “immature” isn’t exactly the review anyone in South Bend was hoping for.

Notre Dame walks away stunned

The Irish woke up Sunday expecting to earn the final at-large playoff spot. They entered the day ranked No. 10 and had stayed ahead of Miami in every CFP poll of the season.

Then the committee flipped everything upside down.

Miami jumped Notre Dame in the final ranking, grabbing the playoff spot after both teams finished 10-2 and the Hurricanes held the head-to-head win from Week 1. That one result, eight games ago, suddenly became the deciding factor.

Notre Dame was stunned. Athletic director Pete Bevacqua said the team felt the playoff “was stolen” from them and blasted the entire ranking process as “a joke.”

It didn’t take long for emotions to turn into action.

Irish decide to shut it down

Instead of accepting a bowl game, Notre Dame announced it would “withdraw its name from consideration” and end the season entirely. No Gator Bowl. No Holiday Bowl. No nothing.

Just a hard stop.

The statement thanked fans, looked ahead to 2026 and tried to frame the decision as one made together as a team. But to many, including Acho, it looked like a frustrated program choosing to quit.

And in college football, quitting is a dirty word.

Why analysts are angry

Acho didn’t hold back. To him, this wasn’t leadership. It wasn’t a protest. It wasn’t unity.

It was embarrassing.

He pointed straight at the fans, who buy tickets, travel, invest emotionally and expect their team to show up. He argued that those fans deserved better, and that Notre Dame, a program that prides itself on doing things “the right way,” had done the exact opposite.

To critics, the Irish didn’t send a message to the CFP committee. They just denied their players another chance to compete and denied fans the postseason trip they’d been waiting for.

Chaos across the Big 12 didn’t help the optics

Notre Dame wasn’t the only school to opt out. Kansas State and Iowa State both declined bowl bids earlier in the day due to coaching changes, and the Big 12 slapped them each with a $500,000 fine.

But Notre Dame wasn’t dealing with a retiring coach or a departing staff. This was purely frustration, and that’s why the reaction was so much sharper.

A program this big, with this much tradition, choosing to sit out rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

MORE: College Football Playoff committee's bracket for 2025 became a just ending for a contrived controversy

Notre Dame’s confusion is real, but so is the criticism

Bevacqua and the Irish genuinely don’t understand how they were passed over. The committee admitted they didn’t even consider Miami’s head-to-head win until BYU’s Big 12 title game loss changed the order of teams. The shuffle opened the door, and Notre Dame fell through it.

That explanation didn’t satisfy anyone in South Bend.

But even if the frustration is justified, analysts around the sport continue to hammer the same point. There are better ways to send a message than refusing to play.

Notre Dame felt betrayed by the system. Analysts like Acho feel the Irish betrayed their supporters.

Where it leaves the program now

The Irish finished 10-2, spent every week of the season in the top 10 until the final ranking, and still say they’ll chase a national title in 2026.

But right now, the conversation isn’t about next year’s optimism. It’s about a team that chose not to take the field one more time.

Notre Dame wanted to make a statement. It just wasn’t the one its fans were hoping to hear.

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Staff Writer