ATLANTA — Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, on the verge of seeing the football program’s 36-year national championship drought end in his first calendar year at the helm, called the new 12-team College Football Playoff format “a wonderful success” on Saturday.
Seventh-seeded Notre Dame (14-1) is more than a touchdown underdog against No. 8 seed Ohio State (13-2) on Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The independent Irish got there with a regular-season schedule crafted by Jack Swarbrick, Bevacqua’s predecessor, and a postseason gauntlet that has included three top-10 victims: ninth-ranked Indiana, No. 2 Georgia and fourth-ranked Penn State.
“We always want to play (and) I think it’s always been Notre Dame’s style to play the best teams available,” Bevacqua said at the Georgia World Congress Center. “Now, you can’t play Murderer’s Row every year, but you never know what you’re going to get.”
Notre Dame opens 2025 at Miami, plays at Arkansas, Pittsburgh and Boston College; and has home dates with Texas A&M, USC and Boise State. The remaining opponents are Purdue, Navy, N.C. State and Syracuse, all at home.
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“We have an unbelievably great schedule next year,” Bevacqua said. “We’ll continue to schedule as aggressively as we can.”
A 12th regular-season opponent has yet to be announced, but Bevacqua expressed confidence that puzzle would be resolved to Notre Dame’s satisfaction.
“We’ve had some good conversations,” he said. “We feel like we’re going to be in a good spot. Nothing ready to announce yet, but we think we’re going to be in a good spot.”
Notre Dame secured the No. 7 seed with the fourth-best strength of record, according to ESPN, after going 6-1 against teams that finished the regular season above .500. The 2024 Irish ranked 58th in strength of schedule,
That placed Notre Dame ahead of just four CFP qualifiers: ACC runner-up Southern Methodist (60th in schedule strength), Big 12 champion Arizona State (62nd), Indiana (68th) and Mountain West champion Boise State (81st).
Bevacqua again praised ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and said the school’s football scheduling arrangement and 24-sport membership in the league “is incredibly important to us.”
“We love being independent,” Bevacqua said, “but also that ACC relationship for Notre Dame is very important.”
Making Clemson an annual rival on the ACC slate for Notre Dame would carry appeal as well.
“That has become such a great rivalry in such a short amount of time,” Bevacqua said. “That’s the type of game I would love to play every year.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua notes delicate balance in schedule difficulty
