Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua thinks there's a simple solution to politicking for College Football Playoff spots — expansion.
He was still upset Tuesday about the selection committee's decision to bypass the Fighting Irish from the 12-team playoff field and the ACC's public campaigning to get full-time league member Miami a spot. He then called a 16-team format the perfect number.
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“It should be 16 teams in my opinion, with five automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large teams,” Bevacqua said, fielding questions for nearly 40 minutes. “What I like about 16 is it creates more opportunity, more narratives around schools and yet it preserves the integrity and importance of the regular season.”
Bevacqua did not back off the complaints that have permeated the college football world ever since Sunday's selections were revealed on television.
He still thinks the committee should be more transparent with its selection process to ensure schools, coaches, players and fans know how decisions are made and where they actually stand in the rankings. He also reiterated the notion the ACC's actions have created “real damage” with Notre Dame.
But two days after Notre Dame decided to skip the bowl season altogether, he also tempered his words.
“I would tell you, at this point, we haven’t given all that a ton of thought,” Bevacqua said when asked what he expects the ACC to do next. “Are we looking for an apology? Quite frankly, I don’t think an apology does much of anything or unwinds what has happened. But we'll, at the right time, sit down with the ACC leadership and I think hopefully have a very frank, honest, productive conversation. But that time is not now.
”All things can be healed. I’m not going to be overly dramatic here, right?" he later added. "But it strained the relationship.”
Bevacqua said he was texting with ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips last week after the conference began what he considered a second round of campaigning on behalf of Miami.
The league had been clear it was in steady communication with the CFP committee, supplying data that made the case for its teams leading up to the selection show. The ESPN-partnered ACC Network also repeatedly showed a replay of the season-opening Notre Dame-Miami game last week — including four times on Thursday’s schedule and five more on Friday.
Miami won the game 27-24 on a last-second field goal, a head-to-head result that clearly had an impact on how the final teams were chosen.
“I charged the committee members to go back and watch that game,” CFP selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said. “We got some interesting debate on what that game looked like. With that in mind, we gave Miami the nod over Notre Dame into that 10 spot.”
Phillips made no apologies for what transpired, either.
On Monday, he issued a statement calling Notre Dame an “incredibly valued” member of the ACC while also saying the league had a responsibility to advocate for its 17 football-playing league members. ACC officials declined to make any additional comments Tuesday.
“I stand behind our conference efforts to do just that leading up to the College Football Playoff Committee selections on Sunday,” Phillips said. "At no time was it suggested by the ACC that Notre Dame was not a worthy candidate for inclusion in the field. We are thrilled for the University of Miami while also understanding and appreciating the significant disappointment of the Notre Dame players, coaches and program.”
Bevacqua said there was no ill will between the two schools, noting he congratulated Miami’s athletic director in a text message Tuesday night, while also citing a stat that showed when Notre Dame plays at other ACC stadiums, 90% of the games are sold out compared with 23% of other ACC contests.
What continues to bother Bevacqua and the Irish, though, is that Notre Dame was sitting in playoff position every week — until the final poll — on a weekend neither team played.
“It’s something that has to be fixed," Bevacqua said. “We take this very seriously at Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman takes this very seriously. Like I said, this can’t be a game of musical chairs at a fifth-grade birthday party. That’s what it felt like this was.”
A repeat is not likely to happen in future years because a provision that takes effect next season assuring Notre Dame of an automatic playoff spot if it finishes in the top 12. But to Bevacqua that's not a good enough solution for everyone else.
He thinks it's time for another expansion.
“Sixteen would have been perfect,” he said. "I think 16 teams with that five (automatic qualifiers) and 11 breakdown is the way to go.”
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AP Sports Writer Aaron Beard contributed to this report.
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