The controversy surrounding Notre Dame’s exclusion from the 2025-26 College Football Playoff continues to generate debate months later, with a prominent NBC Sports executive now joining the growing list of critics who believe the Fighting Irish were unfairly left out.
Jon Miller, President of Acquisitions and Partnerships at NBC Sports, recently voiced strong objections to the CFP selection committee’s decision to award Alabama a playoff berth over Notre Dame. Miller, who has maintained a long-standing relationship with Notre Dame football dating back to NBC’s landmark television partnership with the university in 1990, argued that the committee made a significant mistake that negatively impacted the sport.
According to Miller, Notre Dame had earned a place in the playoff field and should not have been bypassed in favor of an Alabama team that entered Selection Sunday with three losses, including a decisive defeat in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia.
While Miller acknowledged that other playoff participants deserved their spots, he questioned whether the committee’s evaluation process was influenced by the SEC’s prominence within college football. He suggested that some committee members may have been reluctant to leave Alabama out due to potential backlash from influential figures connected to the conference.
Miller praised Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua for how he handled the situation, applauding his willingness to publicly defend the university and challenge the selection process. Following the playoff omission, Bevacqua took a firm stance by withdrawing Notre Dame from consideration for non-CFP bowl games and later advocating for changes that would provide greater protection for independent programs in future playoff selections.
Those efforts eventually contributed to the adoption of a new rule designed to ensure Notre Dame receives fair consideration if it finishes among the nation’s top teams during the regular season, despite not participating in a conference championship game.
Miller is far from the only notable figure connected to Notre Dame who remains frustrated by the committee’s decision. Former Fighting Irish legends Joe Theismann and Jerome Bettis have also questioned the process that resulted in Alabama securing a playoff berth.
Theismann, drawing on his extensive broadcasting experience, argued that media coverage leading up to the selection announcement appeared to favor Alabama’s inclusion. He suggested that public narratives surrounding the playoff race seemed to create momentum for the Crimson Tide even before the committee revealed its final rankings.
Bettis echoed similar concerns, arguing that there was substantial pressure to ensure Alabama reached the playoff after widespread debate over the program’s exclusion from the previous year’s field. In his view, influential voices within college football were determined to avoid another controversial omission involving one of the SEC’s marquee programs.
The fallout from the decision extended beyond on-field competition. Notre Dame supporters have long argued that the program lost a significant financial opportunity by missing the playoff, with potential postseason revenue estimated in the millions of dollars. The Fighting Irish also missed the chance to compete for a national championship despite many believing they had assembled a playoff-worthy résumé.
Although the debate is unlikely to be settled anytime soon, criticism from high-profile figures such as Miller continues to fuel questions about the playoff selection process, conference influence, and whether college football’s most important postseason decisions are being made on merit alone.
For many within the Notre Dame community, the 2025-26 playoff selection remains one of the most controversial decisions in recent college football history—and one they are unlikely to forget anytime soon.
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