If you want to learn what the words “targeted,” “permanent damage” and “attacked” mean, then stay away from the press conference held by Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua today. Words have actual meaning, and you can’t just go around making up new definitions for words, in a way that simply suits your own interests.
A classic example would be the idiots who reach out to on Instagram with “DM for collab,” short for “direct message me for collaboration.
These online sales weirdos are inappropriately defining a “collaboration” as a process where you buy an item from them, and then do an IG post about said item, therefore promoting it on social media for them.
A collaboration isn’t one party selling something to the other; it’s both parties working together. “Ebony and Ivory” was a collaboration.
Stevie Wonder did not charge Paul McCartney any money for that! Or vice versa!
The ACC stumping for their own team to get into the College Football Playoff is not “attacking” Notre Dame. They were promoting Miami, not “targeting” Notre Dame.
The Atlantic Coast Conference was simply acting in its own best interests.
Just like Notre Dame is doing with their agreement that guarantees they get a CFP berth if they finish in the top 12.
Again words really do have actual meaning and you must respect how they are defined.
If only Notre Dame would have accepted that Pop Tarts Bowl bid, then we could have used this logo:
Also that agreement reveal today seems to be the only newsworthy item of Tuesday’s press conference. It was the classic press conference that could have been a press release.
Or as they like to say “a meeting that could have been an email.”
Pete Bevacqua did not announce anything major about Notre Dame athletics on Tuesday.
As of now, they are not leaving the ACC in the 24 non-football sports for which they are a member school.
As of this time, they are not joining a conference either. And while there are legitimate reasons for opting out of a bowl game, but the Notre Dame AD did not really make a strong case for that today.
Additionally, getting left out of the College Football Playoff can make a team/program a sympathetic figure. However, Pete Bevacqua and Notre Dame squandered any real potential for that, almost immediately.
It really does just boil down to this- you want to make sure you get in the dance, well, then you got to take care of business on your own end.
Yes, it was early on in the season, at home, and they only won by three, but Miami beat them. Miami beat Notre Dame, head to head, plain and simple.
You need an example? Look to the other end of the state. The Indiana Hoosiers are ranked #1 in the polls, the top seed in the CFP.
As pointed out on Ratings.org, head coach Curt Cignetti and quarterback Fernando Mendoza have led a complete turnaround in Bloomington, IN.
They’re the leading contenders to win the whole tournament. As the #1 seed in the CFP, the Hoosiers will play the winner of Alabama/Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1, 2026
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.