Notre Dame AD, ACC commish hold ‘productive’ meeting over CFP spat
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In an effort to smooth over tensions between the two sides, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips met with Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua in New York City on Thursday, according to a report from ESPN’s Andrea Adelson.
The meeting was described as “highly positive and productive,” according to ESPN. Bevacqua and Notre Dame had previously been irked by the ACC’s social media posturing that Miami deserved its spot in the College Football Playoff. The ACC’s position, according to ESPN, was that it was simply advocating for a full-time ACC member.
According to the report, both parties hope to “move on with their productive relationship.”
All’s well that ends well. For now.
In the wake of its selection day snub, Notre Dame lashed out at the ACC and the CFP selection committee in a very public way.
Bevacqua, particularly, did a string of interviews during which he shredded the ACC for advocating for Miami. Within a few days of the bracket being revealed, Bevacqua said on a radio show that the ACC had done “permanent damage” to its relationship with the Irish.
“We were mystified by the actions of the conference to attack their biggest, really, partner in football and a member of their conference in 24 of our other sports,” he said on The Dan Patrick Show.
The Irish were seemingly put off by a graphic posted by the ACC’s main football account on social media that compared Miami’s résumé to Notre Dame’s while captioning it, “No hypotheticals, just facts.”
Never mind that Miami beat Notre Dame on a field to begin the season. The Irish responded to their drop from the bracket by declining an invitation to a bowl game.
Notre Dame’s public posturing was seen by many as whining, and the Irish have spent the weeks since watching what goodwill they had with college football fans erode. The news, reported by Yahoo Sports, that a memorandum signed last spring guaranteed the Irish a spot in the CFP field if they were ranked in the top 12 only furthered the animosity directed at Notre Dame.
In the end, it looks like cooler heads prevailed.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
