Why Was Notre Dame Snubbed for Miami? CFP Committee Chair Explains Bracket Decision

College Football Playoff selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek said the decision to put Miami into the playoff over Notre Dame was made after BYU lost the Big 12 title game to Texas Tech.

"Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, then we had that side-by-side comparison that everybody had been hungry for," Yurachek said (h/t Adam Lichtenstein of the South Florida Sun Sentinel).

He continued, "The one metric we had to fall back on, again, was the head-to-head."

Yurachek added he had told members of the selection committee to rewatch Notre Dame's season opening loss to Miami.

Getting an ACC team into the bracket after Duke won the conference championship over UVA "had absolutely no impact" on Miami's bid, Yurachek said (h/t Sports Michiana's Angelo Di Carlo).

Both Notre Dame and Miami finished the 2025 season with 10-2 records. Notre Dame's losses both came to ranked opponents, but one of those was the head-to-head defeat.

Notre Dame's season could now end in a bowl game, while Miami is set to take on Texas A&M in the first round of the playoff.

The ACC was at risk of not getting any teams into the playoff after Virginia, which would have made it into the bracket as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions with a win over Duke, lost to the Blue Devils in Charlotte.

Missing out on the CFP altogether would have meant the ACC would not have been able to cash in on any of the $116 million available in CFP revenue distribution, per Front Office Sports' David Rumsey.

The ACC will now receive $4 million as a payout for Miami making the bracket, per Rumsey. The Hurricanes could earn the conference another $4 million with a win, and there's $12 million on the table for a trip to the national championship game.

Notre Dame had been listed above Miami since the first College Football Playoff rankings dropped in Week 10.

The penultimate rankings posted last Tuesday listed the Fighting Irish at No. 10, two spots ahead of Miami at No. 12.

BYU sat between the two programs at No. 11, which Yurachek said last week made it difficult for the selection committee to consider head-to-head results.

"The head-to-head is one datapoint that the committee will use. It's obviously easier to use that datapoint when the teams are back-to-back as opposed to when they're separated by a team or two or three, as has been the case," Yurachek said Wednesday.

BYU then suffered a 34-7 loss to Texas Tech in Saturdays' Big 12 title game.

Yurachek said "the way BYU performed" influenced the committee's decision to move the Cougars out of the bracket entirely, which apparently allowed the selection committee to give more weight to Miami's win over Notre Dame.

The decision to take BYU out of the playoff raises some questions, however, considering that Alabama did not take a similar hit for following a 28-7 loss to Georgia in Saturday's SEC title game.

Yurachek said on Tuesday's ranking show that the committee had been closely debating Alabama and Notre Dame, and he added Saturday that Alabama hadn't necessarily locked up a playoff spot.

The Crimson Tide ultimately remained in the same No. 9 seed before and after the conference championship loss, a lack of change Yurachek said was due in part to Alabama's strength of schedule.

"Regardless of Alabama's performance yesterday, their body of work over 12 games... we felt they were deserving to stay in the No. 9 spot," Yurachek said, per Chase Goodbread of the Tuscaloosa News.

Alabama will open the playoff on Dec. 19 against Oklahoma, while Miami is set to play Texas A&M on Dec. 20. CBS Sports' Brad Crawford reported Saturday that Notre Dame is "likely" to finish the season with a Pop-Tarts Bowl matchup against BYU.