Marcus Freeman has no answers on Notre Dame missing CFP after being led to believe they'd be in

ESPN reporter Jen Lada watched as Notre Dame players hung their heads as they filed out of the team facility Sunday afternoon after learning the No. 11-ranked Fighting Irish had been left out of the 2025 College Football Playoff field. She described the “utter disbelief, shock and sadness” from everyone inside the program, including both athletic director Pete Bevacqua and head coach Marcus Freeman.

“I did talk to Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua just a few moments ago, and he said … it was intense during the Playoff bracket reveal, he said it was ‘utter disbelief, shock and sadness.’ He said this is a team that feels that it had the rug pulled out from underneath them,” Lada said Sunday afternoon during a live hit during ESPN‘s College Football Playoff Selection Show. “(Bevacqua) said Marcus (Freeman) did get up and speak to the team immediately afterwards. Marcus, as we know, is so eloquent and often such a great orator. He said that usually he has answers or reasons for why these things happen, and he has none, and that’s unusual. (Freeman) said he’s got no answers: ‘it doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t add up why Notre Dame is not in this Playoff field.'”

A week after falling from ninth to 10th in last Tuesday’s penultimate rankings reveal, Notre Dame dropped again, this time to No. 11 as Miami leapfrogged the Irish for the No. 10 seed and the Playoff’s final at-large bid on Selection Sunday. CFP chairman and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek pointed to Notre Dame’s 27-24 loss to the Hurricanes in Week 1 of the regular season for the flip-flop.

Notre Dame declines bowl invitation after missing College Football Playoff

After learning its Playoff fate, the 11th-ranked Fighting Irish announced it was declining any bowl game invitations and ending its 2025 season at 10-2.

“As a team, we’ve decided to withdraw our name from consideration for a bowl game following the 2025 season,” the program said 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.”

After being idle on Championship Weekend, Notre Dame had the proverbial Playoff rug pulled out from underneath it when the Hurricanes leapfrogged into the No. 10 spot due to the Week 1 head-to-head win, bumping the Irish out of the CFP’s 12-team field on Selection Sunday.

Now, the Irish’s season is over. On3’s Brett McMurphy reported they were due to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against BYU. Notre Dame is the latest team to opt out of a bowl game this season. Iowa State and Kansas State announced they would not play in bowl games after both programs underwent coaching changes. They each received fines from the Big 12, as well.

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.