Why Did Notre Dame Opt Out of Participating in Any Bowl Games After tge 2025 Season?

Just Me | 12/13/25 | BradyLS

[BradyLS]

I’ve learned that Notre Dame has decided to opt out of any post-season bowl games this year. They finished the season with a 10-2 record, losing to Miami and Texas A&M. I know they are an independent program/not a part of any conference.

Is this a reasonable decision? Unreasonable? If they played a strong schedule or have a record of beating teams that made it to the 12-team cut-off, I can see understand their POV. (Not saying it’s right. Just that I understand it.)

[God luvs America]

Notre Dame
Kansas State-> coaching change
Iowa State-> coaching change
Baylor-> 5-7 record/3-6 in conference
Rutgers-> 5-7 record/2-7 in conference
Florida State-> 5-7 record/2-7 in conference
Auburn-> coaching change & 5-7 record
Temple-> 5-7 record/3-5 in conference
Central Florida- 5-7 record/2-7 in conference
Kansas-> 5-7 record/3-5 in conference

As per your “expectation” half the bowl games will cease to exist in the near future- the number of bowl games has increased at the CFP has grown....

[catnipman]

“Because the university is run by petulant children!!”

who are totally contemptuous of their fans and alumni ...

[castlebrew]

If the players are good enough to earn NIL $, they don’t need a scholarship.

They should be paying all their own costs.

[Fledermaus]

Any bowl comes with money

[Fledermaus]

Don’t forget pro scouts

[Fledermaus]

LOL

Even at 2-10

[Fledermaus]

The SEC is adding 1 conference game next year

[fastrock]

ND played well last year and played for the Natty as well. But they are not selected this year.
I’m a Bucks fan, but Marcus Freeman does exceptionally well w the ND academic restrictions when recruiting.
So YES this is an injustice

[whitney69]

“...stop thinking money based football is purely based on competition and rivalry...”

Unfortunately, it still is. The driving factor for the players is execution and exception. That’s what makes it to the promised land of multi-million dollar contracts in the top level of pro sports, any sport, and is the measuring scale for the immortality they are promised. And the price is paid by them in the destruction of their bodies, personal lives and minds. I was in a business for over 35 years that did the same thing. It was called the military. But we weren’t paid accordingly.

wy69

[DennisR]

Justifiable, because why would JMU (ranked about #24) be in the top 12 instead of ND? Makes no sense.

[political1]

Just be like Auburn and claim this year as a national championship.

[Reynoldo]

Because they are butthurt about losing to Miami and a bunch of entitled pricks.

and pouting feels good

[poconopundit]

Good comment, Alberta.

So the marketplace for Bowl games has changed. Let supply meet demand. Or attend a pro Pickleball game instead :-)

[poconopundit]

I agree with you: 50 years ago when I went to ND as an undergraduate, Notre Dame certainly acted entitled.  Coach Ara Parseghian made sure ND had one of the easiest schedules in the NCAA.

But times have changed. In recent history, ND has played one of the toughest schedules -- and being an Independent has enabled that.  And certainly NBC is demanding that as well.

But this year, I was surprised Georgia, one of the winningest NCAA teams, had a gruesome schedule!  Look at the top 25 ranked teams they played:

Georgia Tech
Ole Miss
Alabama (played 2 times!)
Texas

It's amazing the Dawgs finished 12-1!

[Alberta's Child]

JMU was a conference champion.

Notre Dame doesn’t play in a conference.

[Dr. Franklin]

That’s sure going to draw in the recruits! 🙄 Maybe there should be a playoff system of sorts. Not this pick ‘em game they play every year.

Notre Dame is the last of college footballs major independents. The only other independent at the NCAA Division I FBS is Connecticut. The conferences all get a conference championship game, which is an extra game that independents never get to play, unless Notre Dame and Connecticut play each other for that honor each year. In the past, losing the conference championship game was a great way to drop in the polls, even though its an extra game not played by others. So, the present post-season invitational selection committee won't penalize a team for losing that extra game. That lead to Notre Dame at 10-2 losing out to Alabama at 10-3 for a playoff spot after Alabama lost its conference championship game to Georgia.

There will always be some team unhappy that it missed the playoffs due to the selection committee. If it's a playoff and not an invitational tournament, all conference champions must be invited. As an independent, Notre Dame can't really bitch about that IMHO. Join a conference or stop crying.

[Tell It Right]

It may be that the players themselves don’t want to go to a bowl game and add another game of potential injuries, for a game that few people will watch anyway because the playoff games get all of the attention.

[cnsmom]

This generation post Covid knows everything is a scam and why bother.

[Hot Tabasco]

The Championship Bowl Series is bull crap anyway. How can you expect championship performances from teams whose NFL draft bound players opt out of playing for fear of getting injured and training for the NFL draft combine?

[ARGGHH]

Nobody likes gaslighting. Don’t pee on my head and tell me it is raining.

Alabama was moved ahead of ND because (in the words of the CFP chairman) they showed guts going on a 4th and 2. So Alabama barely beat unranked Auburn while ND smoked unranked Stanford and that was reason to move Alabama up? Because they weee forced into a desperate situation?

Then in the final week, BYU and Alabama get crushed, Ohio Stare loses by 3. Ohio State and BYU get pushed back two spots after a conference playoff. But Alabama, who had -3 yards rushing the day before stayed put because the CFP committee NEVER penalizes a team for losing in a conference playoff unless they are Ohio State or BYU.

And ND would have beat A&M if that flagrant hold on the final touchdown had been called.

The committee members had a lot of Southeners, and their two favorite sports are football and kick the Catholic.