'Cowards.' Notre Dame 'took its ball and went home.' Reaction to Irish skipping bowl

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'Cowards.' Notre Dame 'took its ball and went home.' Reaction to Irish skipping bowl

'Cowards.' Notre Dame 'took its ball and went home.' Reaction to Irish skipping bowl

Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORK · USA TODAY Sports

Sun, Dec 7, 2025 ·

4 min read

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Notre Dame saw its College Football Playoff dreams get surprisingly dashed on Sunday, Dec., 7, with the Fighting Irish getting left out of the 12-team field.

It didn't just mark the end of the team's playoff hopes; it was also the end of its season.

REQUIRED READING: Miami, Notre Dame lead College Football Playoff field winners and losers

Notre Dame has withdrawn its name from bowl consideration, with the program announcing the decision in a statement .

"We appreciate all the support from our families and fans, and we're hoping to bring the 12th national title to South Bend in 2026," the statement, which was signed by "The 2025 Notre Dame Football Team," read.

The Fighting Irish finish the season 10-2, with 10 consecutive victories to end the regular season. It was one of those two losses, a 27-24 Week 1 setback against Miami, that proved to be their undoing, with the 10-2 Hurricanes getting the final at-large playoff berth on the back of that win.

The decision to put Notre Dame behind Miami and Alabama has generated no shortage of blowback, with Fighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua telling ESPN's Jen Lada that the team felt as if it had the rug pulled out from under them and describing the playoff selection committee's weekly rankings ahead of the final selection as "a farce."

REQUIRED READING: Why did Notre Dame miss CFP? Irish head-to-head loss to Miami keeps it out of Playoff

While players have been opting out of bowl games for much of the past decade, particularly as the playoff has diminished their importance, it's rare for an entire team to decline the opportunity to play in a bowl. Notre Dame wasn't the only team to do so this season, with Iowa State and Kansas State doing the same (and getting handed matching $500,000 fines from the Big 12 for doing so).

Unlike the Fighting Irish, though, the Cyclones and Wildcats are undergoing coaching changes.

Not surprisingly, Notre Dame's decision has generated some heated opinions. Here's a sampling of what fans and media members are saying on social media: