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Everything Notre Dame athletics director Pete Bevacqua said in Pat McAfee Show appearance

Kyle Kellyby: Kyle Kelly2 hours agoByKyleKelly

Two days before the College Football Playoff committe decides which 12 teams will have the chance to win a championship, Notre Dame director of athletics Pete Bevacqua joined the Pat McAfee Show on Friday. Bevacqua fielded questions from McAfee and cohosts Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN College Football analyst) and AJ Hawk (former Ohio State linebacker).

Here’s everything Bevacqua said in his appearance with questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity. Bevacqua’s answers are as stated.

Q.  (FROM McAFEE) OK, so let’s dive into it. You just heard University of Miami Hurricane fan, Gumpy, talk about how the conversation is head-to-head matchups. Obviously, Miami says Miami did beat you guys first week of the year in the head-to-head matchup. Now you guys are clustered together.

What is your takeaway on the entire conversation right now about Notre Dame, and what is your guys’ perspective on why or how it should turn out? 

BEVACQUA: “Yeah, no, I appreciate it. I start — and, Kirk, you’ll appreciate this more than anybody, being an Ohio State grad — Hats off to Ohio State and Indiana. To have undefeated seasons like they’ve had this year in 2025 is such an accomplishment. 

“But I think with the exception of those two teams who are undefeated, we’re the hottest team in the country. I don’t think anybody’s playing better than Notre Dame. You think about this 10-game streak of dominance we’ve had, some of the best football I have ever seen here. And I’ve been a huge Notre Dame fan literally since the day I was born, Notre Dame grad. I think we’re firing on all cylinders, Pat.

“And, you know, for us, when you hear the committee, and you hear (College Football Playoff committee chair) Hunter [Yurachek] talk, the comparison has always been between Notre Dame and Alabama. I mean, he even said that as recently as Tuesday. We’ve been clustered with Alabama. Who deserves to be higher, Notre Dame or Alabama? So that’s really what we’ve been focused on. 

“In my opinion, the committee has really spoken about the Notre Dame-Miami issue as I see it. Hey, it was the first game of the season. Miami is a really good team. But quite frankly, as I said to somebody here today, nobody wins the race at the starting line. And I really think, right now, there’s not a team in the country playing better football than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.”

Q. (FROM HERBSTREIT) I just wanted to ask you, when you’re with (SEC commissioner) Greg [Sankey] and (Big Ten commissioner) Tony [Petitti] and all the conference commissioners, are we ever going to get to a place where we have a system where Notre Dame and Miami aren’t sitting here sweating it, trying to, you know, it’d be great if they were both in it. 

Do you ever see us getting to an expansion that everybody can agree on, especially Tony and Greg, to try to make some sense out of the future of college football in the postseason? 

BEVACQUA: “Yeah, it’s a great question, Kirk. And I have the privilege of being in that room due to my role here at Notre Dame. And I think there’s almost unanimity in that room that we should be at 16 teams with five automatic qualifiers and 11 at large.  And I think if we were at 16 teams right now, I think it would be perfect, right? It would be absolutely perfect. 

“These conversations are great, they’re interesting, but you think about a Notre Dame team, again, I’m biased, right, but I think we have absolutely the best player in the country in (running back) Jeremiyah Love. I haven’t seen somebody this electrifying — I go back to Reggie Bush and before that, the Rocket (Raghib Ismail) here at Notre Dame.

“But yeah, 16 is the answer, five automatic, 11 at large, and I hope we get there sooner than later.” 

Q. (FROM HERBSTREIT) And I think, Pete, fans of the sport, I don’t think they want politics on the selection of the teams. They just want to see the best. Whatever system we use to evaluate, you have the five, and then the next best 11, wherever their affiliation is, just let’s give us the fans and the players the next best 11. Because I think right now we’re in a position where it’s just, it seems like we’re trying to make everybody happy. 

BEVACQUA: “Also, Kirk, when you think about it, and you think about the conference championships, and hey, that’s, we know our role. We’re an independent.

“But even think about the conference championships this year. I mean, you think about Miami. We’re talking about Miami. They had two tough losses deep into the season, but Miami should be playing in their conference championship for a chance to win that conference with as talented as a team they are. 

“So I think corrections can be made, but as it relates to the CFP, I think 16 teams is the answer. And I think, I don’t want to speak on anybody’s behalf, but being in that room, I think that there’s an overwhelming momentum to try to get that done.”

Q. (FROM HERBSTREIT) And you have an extension, right, to try to come to an agreement by next season? Didn’t that get pushed back? 

BEVACQUA: “It got pushed back with your company, ESPN. Will we get there for next year? I’m not sure. I think a lot of people in the room are certainly fighting for that, but hopefully, if it’s not next year, it’ll be the remaining years after that, because to me, that’s the right answer, Kirk.”

Q. (FROM McAFEE) I assume you have to hear a lot of arguments against you guys being independent, and an independent potentially taking up a College Football Playoff spot versus teams that have to play a conference schedule. What do you kind of say about that, and what do they say to you that you think, like, is fair or not fair whenever it comes to you guys being independent? 

BEVACQUA: “Well, you think about it, Pat, the regular season is more important for us than anybody because we don’t have the opportunity to play in a conference championship. We can’t play in the SEC championship or the Big 12 or the Big 10 or the ACC championship.

“And like you said in the lead into this conversation, there’s teams that are playing in these conference championships, particularly in the SEC and the Big 10, that regardless of the outcome, they’re both going to get a spot in the CFP. There’s comfort in that. 

“And a lot of people talked about last year, that magical run we had to the national championship, and they talked about the CFP economics and the money that Notre Dame earns through that. But they didn’t talk about the other side of the coin, whereas if we don’t make it in, we don’t get any money. 

“We eat what we kill. And so we’re kind of out there dangling on our own and trying to schedule the best teams we can. When you look at our future schedules, we have Texas and Alabama, and hoping to get something done here with USC. And an annual series with Clemson. So we feel really bullish about our independence. It’s something that’s part of the DNA of Notre Dame. 

“And when you have alignment like we do at this university, when you have a coach like Coach [Marcus] Freeman, and I joke with people, if we went into a laboratory and had to create the perfect coach for Notre Dame, you’d walk out with Marcus Freeman. 

“And he’s not just a football coach. He has become such a part of the fabric of this university. You go to a women’s basketball game, a hockey game, you walk around campus, you see Marcus with his wife, Joanna, you see him with his kids. We’re blessed to have him here at Notre Dame. And he’s a big part of why we can stay independent.

“Because you got to be relevant when you’re independent. If you’re not winning, you become irrelevant in a second. And we’ve got to keep winning, and we’ve got to keep these seasons going like they have here the last few years.”

Q. (FROM HAWK): Yeah, Pete, you mentioned some of those big games you guys have on the schedule. When you look into the future, how do you balance that, especially with Marcus Freeman on it?  Like, OK, we want to have these big games and play in these giant primetime games against top 10 teams, but also it doesn’t ultimately, you lose one or two of those, it doesn’t help you when it comes to the CFP. How do you balance that with Marcus? 

BEVACQUA: “We don’t make a scheduling decision without talking to Marcus and bringing him into the conversation. And Marcus is wired in a way where he’s not looking for the easy way out. He’s like, ‘Come one, come all. Let’s prove it on the field.’ He’s wired that way. It makes the team wired that way.

“And AJ, one of the blessings we have here at Notre Dame is when we go on the road, think about that Pitt game this year, right? We went on the road to Pitt. The place was sold out. [College] GameDay was there. I bumped into Pat [McAfee] there. They retired (former Pittsburgh defensive lineman) Aaron Donald’s jersey. I mean, that was like a Super Bowl for the University of Pittsburgh.

“So every game we play in — we’re fortunate, and that’s not because of me. It’s because of a hundred-year-plus history at Notre Dame. So we’re used to big games and we want to play the best teams in the country each and every year.”

Q. (FROM HERBSTREIT) Hey Pete, I just want to ask you one last question, just to leave this. For Notre Dame fans watching this weekend’s games, what are you watching? What are you personally watching based on knowing the committee and how they’ve ranked these teams?

I’m a little nervous for Notre Dame with the move of Miami. If BYU were to maybe get beat again by Texas Tech, you wonder if they would go underneath Miami, and then Miami and Notre Dame are side by side. Could the head-to-head then give Miami the nod? What are you watching? What are you most concerned about? What are you most excited about? 

BEVACQUA: “Yeah, I would say, Kirk, again, I come back to Alabama. Certainly, we’re interested in watching the Georgia-Alabama game. Two great games. You know, SEC, great conference. 

“I think everybody in the Notre Dame nation is a Texas Tech fan this week. I have great admiration for Texas Tech and BYU. But no secret, we want Texas Tech to win that game. 

“And then, we’ve been ninth. We think we should still be ninth, quite frankly. We’ve made that known to the committee. But we got to watch these games with great interest for sure. And I just think we went from nine to 10, having not snapped the football.

“I don’t see any way where we can drop two spots, and Miami can go up two spots. Neither of us have played a game over the course of these two weeks. The committee has always had us ahead of them. The committee has admitted that it’s always been a conversation, a fierce conversation, if you listen to Hunter [Yurachek], between who deserves to be ahead of each other, Notre Dame, Alabama.

“Our feeling, our hope, is if Texas Tech can beat BYU, we’re in. Question is, are we going to be 10th or ninth? That’s what we’re going with. And again, I come back to the fact, hats off to Indiana and Ohio State. Amazing seasons. Other than that, I would go toe-to-toe with anybody in saying that we are the hottest team in the country right now.”