Pete Bevacqua calls out ACC for ‘attacking’ Notre Dame in social media campaign
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Pete Bevacqua held court with reporters on Tuesday during a press conference where the Notre Dame athletic director aired more frustration 2 days after the Fighting Irish were shockingly left out of the upcoming College Football Playoff.
One day after appearing on The Dan Patrick Show and proclaiming that the ACC has “done permanent damage in the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame,” Bevacqua was back on the attack toward the conference. He told reporters on Tuesday that he believed Notre Dame was the victim of a smear campaign by the ACC on social media, and that helped result in Notre Dame being on the outside looking in for the Playoff despite its 10-2 record with 10 straight wins to end its season.
Bevacqua said that he didn’t mind Miami going on the attack toward a longtime rival football school like Notre Dame in its pursuit of a Playoff spot, citing the “spirit” of that rivalry. It was the ACC he was truly upset with.
“What we were really surprised by and disappointed (with) was how the ACC conference went on a social media campaign, in my opinion, attacking our program,” Bevacqua said.
He was shocked that the ACC “chose to go down that road” of being on the attack toward Notre Dame in the leadup to Selection Sunday.
“This raised a lot of eyebrows. We made our feelings known that we didn’t particularly understand it,” Bevacqua said.
All Bevacqua can do now is air that frustration on behalf of the university he represents, and all Notre Dame can do now is looking toward next season, with the Fighting Irish declining a bowl bid after being denied a Playoff berth on Sunday.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
