Notre Dame calls relationship with ACC 'strained' after College Football Playoff snub

Notre Dame's athletic director called the university's relationship with the Atlantic Coast Conference "strained" after being snubbed in the College Football Playoff.

Two days after Notre Dame followed its snub by the College Football Playoff by withdrawing from the postseason entirely, the school's athletic director likened the selection committee's shifting rankings of the Fighting Irish to musical chairs and called the university's relationship with the Atlantic Coast Conference "strained."

There was "no good explanation" for leaving Notre Dame out of the 12-team field," athletic director Pete Bevacqua said at a news conference on the school’s South Bend, Indiana, campus.

"I'm a million percent biased when it comes to Notre Dame, but you ask anybody in college football, we're one of the best teams in the country," he said. "We're one of those handful of teams that could absolutely win the national championship this year and then standing up here today knowing we have zero percent chance of proving that on the field is a bitter pill to swallow."

Bevacqua said he was "flabbergasted" by ACC social media posts in November that used graphics comparing the résumés of Miami and Notre Dame that suggested Miami, which had narrowly beaten Notre Dame in the season's first week, had the stronger case for playoff inclusion. Miami earned the playoff's final at-large bid, while Notre Dame was the first team left out of the 12-team field Sunday.

“All things can be healed, I’m not going to be overly dramatic here,” Bevacqua said. “But it did strain the relationship. It strained the relationship.”