Paul Finebaum reacts to Notre Dame's outrage at ACC, reveals league's biggest mistake

Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua made some very serious comments yesterday about the future of the Fighting Irish’s relationship with the ACC, after what the conference that they’re loosely affiliated to did to try to get Miami into the College Football Playoff. Paul Finebaum is now interested to see what that leads to after what was said between the two sides.

Finebaum, alongside a panel with Josh Pate and ESPN’s Heather Dinich, discussed the dispute between Notre Dame and the ACC on ‘Get Up’ on Tuesday morning. He wonders if the Irish will back up those words in any way, as he agrees with what was said in the sense of what was done by those with the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“I think the permanent damage part of what Bevacqua said is very interesting,” said Finebaum. “So, are they going to drop out of the ACC? I mean, if you’re going to make those type of threats, I’m very interested in seeing what you do.

“As far as the ACC is concerned, I mean, they’ve made a mess out of this. They could have corrected the tiebreaker system, but they didn’t. But the real mistake they made was not only to advocate for Miami, but to rub it in. They have their own network, the ACC Network. Last week on the ACC Network, the only thing you saw was Notre Dame and Miami. That was a shot across the bow.”

After Miami got in the CFP over Notre Dame on Sunday, Bevacqua said on Monday that they were “mystified by the actions of the (ACC)” in “attack(ing) their biggest business partner in football” in the Irish, with him adding that “permanent damage” was done to the relationship between them and the ACC. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips has since responded with his own statement, noting that those within their league “have a responsibility to support and advocate for all of our football-playing member institutions.” Again, Notre Dame is not among those, despite competing in the conference in several other spots, as their football program, still as an independent, only has a five-game scheduling partnership with the ACC.

It remains to be seen what exactly that permanent damage means, or how permanent it is between Notre Dame and those at the ACC. It’s very much worth following, though, considering the recent history of their relationship and the beneficial nature of it for both sides – at least before the last few days, it seems.

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Josh Pate and Heather Dinich also reacted to this topic this morning on ‘Get Up’. Pate didn’t blame either side for their position on the matter, while Dinch agreed with him in the sense that these two sides have more important things to argue about than a problem between just themselves.

“Pete Bevacqua? A lot of what he said yesterday was accurate, and that’s coming from me, a guy who thinks the committee got the rankings right. But, as far as the shots at the ACC, or his take on the way the ACC handled their duty as a conference, Jim Phillips’ response there was pretty spot-on. Far be it for me to defend the decision-making in the ACC, because it’s been a disaster recently as their own tiebreaker system led to a lot of this mess, but Jim Phillips is right. He looks back and says, wait a second now, you guys kind of have this make-good relationship with us, but you’re not in this conference. Miami is. Like, we’re going to stump for members of our conference. It’s our duty. It’s my duty as the commissioner of this league,” said Pate. “And, to push back on that, again, it just gets you one step further removed from what the real mess is in this, and it’s the process overall. Pete Bevacqua did a really good job yesterday of putting the crosshairs on the committee’s process a whole lot. That’s what the focus should be. The rest of this just loses the focus on where it should be, to me.”

“Well, in my mind, what it all adds up to is more public discourse that pushes college football fans away from all this. I feel like a lot of people are already disenchanted by this process. And people need to realize that Pete Bevacqua and Jim Phillips are part of the group who determines the College Football Playoff, and, instead of being against each other right now, everyone needs to act like adults and fix the College Football Playoff for the future,” added Dinich. “They have to make it the best they can for college football fans, coaches, and players. And Notre Dame’s athletic director, and the ACC Commissioner, all 10 FBS commissioners? They are responsible for the future of the playoff. So, if you don’t like it, fix it.”