Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua upset with ACC: 'They have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship'

The relentless lobbying was impossible to miss.

Forget the social media graphics from the official ACC Football account, which argued for Miami’s inclusion to the College Football Playoff and Notre Dame’s exclusion. Forget the snarky language and constant comparisons. No, what really gets you is the ACC went so far as replaying Notre Dame’s Week 1 loss to Miami on its in-house TV network eight times on Thursday and Friday to drive its point home.

Irish athletics director Pete Bevacqua noticed the ACC’s commitment to tearing down his school, which has a scheduling agreement with the conference and is a full member in 24 other sports, including men’s and women’s basketball. And suffice it to say, he did not appreciate it.

“We were mystified by the actions of the conference, to attack their biggest business partner in football and a member of their conference in 24 other sports,” Bevacqua told NBC’s Dan Patrick on Monday morning on the Dan Patrick Show. “And I would tell you, Dan, I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t say they have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame.”

Bevacqua said he has no issue with Miami itself or any of the ACC’s 17 member schools, whom he called “wonderful universities.” But the conference’s behavior on social media and otherwise throughout the past five weeks was alarming to Notre Dame’s athletics director.

“We didn’t appreciate the fact that we were singled out repeatedly and compared to Miami,” Bevacqua said. “Not by Miami. Miami has every right to do that. But it raised a lot of eyebrows here that the conference was taking shots at us.”

On the other hand, Notre Dame did not engage in much public lobbying throughout the CFP process, save for Bevacqua appearing on the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN and head coach Marcus Freeman joining Fox’s Big Ten Championship pregame show. It certainly did not take shots at any of its competitors on social media, which Bevacqua made sure to point out.

“That’s just not something we chose to do,” Bevacqua said. “We wouldn’t choose to do that in the future. People might disagree with us, but that’s not something that we’d be comfortable with.”

Patrick then asked if Bevacqua would re-evaluate Notre Dame’s relationship with the ACC. His response:

“I would just say it’s been strained.”

After a long pause, Patrick asked if that strain was irreparable.

“You never say irreparable, but it’s opened our eyes and it caught our attention,” Bevacqua said. “We’ll move past this, like we are. As you know, we’re already focused on next season.”

Bevacqua is a pragmatic person and instant, emotional action from Notre Dame is unlikely. But it’s clear that he and the Irish are hurt, dismayed and upset at the ACC for its actions throughout November and early December.