Notre Dame drew a line in the sand and has decided not to participate in any bowl game after being the first team excluded from the College Football Playoff. FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt does not agree with that decision.
In the most recent episode of the “Joel Klatt Show,” Klatt agreed with the committee’s decision to include Alabama and Miami (Fla.) over Notre Dame for the final two at-large spots in the CFP, even if he feels that the Fighting Irish “would beat half of this field.” But as Klatt expressed sympathy for Notre Dame, he believes that skipping a bowl game isn’t the right way to show their for it to go about it.
“Notre Dame, you are better than this. You are,” Klatt said. “Urban Meyer has talked about this … it’s kind of like an event happens and then there’s your response to the event and then that’s going to equal the outcome. So Urban used to talk about E plus R equals O — Event plus Response equals the Outcome. In this case, I feel like that applies.
“I’m hesitating with using the word quit, but they’re just going to artificially end their season and not go to a bowl game. I think that’s the wrong decision. And I think that that decision was born out of an emotional reaction rather than a disciplined response.”
Notre Dame ops out of playing a bowl game following CFP snub 😲
When it announced that it wasn’t going to participate in a bowl game this postseason, Notre Dame said it had made that decision as a team and it was shifting its focus toward the 2026 season. Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua added in a conversation on “The Dan Patrick Show” that, after a discussion with the team’s captains, he and the rest of the program felt it was right to give the players a break with final exams and the holidays. Bevacqua said that Notre Dame also likely would’ve been without some of its top players for its bowl game as they would’ve opted out to prepare for the NFL Draft.
“Nothing against Pop-Tarts,” Bevacqua added as Notre Dame would’ve played in the Pop-Tarts Bowl had it not opted out of bowl season.
But Klatt disagreed with Notre Dame’s stance not to play in a bowl game for three reasons. One of them was that he felt that the Fighting Irish are actually hurting next season’s team by not playing in a bowl game.
“If you want to win your 12th national title and bring it back to South Bend in 2026, you know what would be beneficial to you? The extra practices during bowl season,” Klatt said. “How does throwing 15 practices to the wind and saying, ‘We don’t need those, don’t worry, we don’t need all those practices to develop young players who maybe didn’t get a lot of playing time in this season. [We don’t need] to develop players that are going to need to play huge roles, filling the shoes of players that are leaving.’
“Bowl practice is where you develop for the next season. I just don’t understand how just saying, ‘No, we’re done with that,’ helps you for next year.”
The second reason why Klatt disagreed with Notre Dame’s bowl stance was more non-football related.
“No. 2, this does feel a bit petty, to be honest with you,” Klatt said. “It feels like they’re very mad at the other network for the show and the weekly rankings reveal. That’s ultimately what they’re mad at.
“That feels a little bit like petty in my estimation. I think Notre Dame is above that. There are competitive ramifications for next season in the development of your young players. So, don’t love that idea either.”
The third reason Klatt disagreed with Notre Dame’s bowl opt-out was a bit more personal.
“This one’s more just like from me to the players: You’ll regret this, and I don’t want you to regret this,” Klatt said.
Standouts like Jeremiyah Love likely wouldn’t have played in Notre Dame’s bowl game following its CFP snub. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Klatt, who played college football at Colorado, added that he and many other athletes who’ve competed at the college level and didn’t make it in the pros would love to have one more chance to participate in whatever sport they played in college. He doesn’t want some of Notre Dame’s players to regret possibly throwing away their last chance at putting on the pads and the golden dome just to make a statement.
“There are players on that roster at Notre Dame that will never play football again, and you are artificially putting the finish line in front of you. Don’t do that,” Klatt said. “You have a finite number of times as an athlete to go and compete at the highest level. Take advantage of those opportunities. That’s just from like, human to human.
“I think that those players will regret this decision. End on your terms, not their terms. This is an emotional response. You’ve got development in there. It looks petty and you’re going to regret it at some point. Go play.”
Klatt said that he could understand why the majority of Notre Dame’s players might have decided not to play in a bowl game in the hours after the CFP reveal. But that’s why he also doesn’t believe that the decision should’ve been one made by the players.
“Marcus Freeman is an incredible football coach and leader of men, and he just put together one of the best recruiting classes that Notre Dame has had in a long time. They’re going to be good next year and as long as Marcus Freeman stays in South Bend, they will be good,” Klatt said. “This is not in their character. It’s not. I wouldn’t have asked the players what they wanted to do because they feel hurt. They’re young. What are they going to want to do? Respond emotionally. You don’t want to respond with your emotions. You want to respond with your reason and logic.”
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