“He’s been a motor mouth”: Paul Finebaum detonates on Pete Bevacqua over Notre Dame’s playoff complaints

College football analyst Paul Finebaum has criticized Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua for his incessant complaints in the wake of the Irish's playoff snub. Notre Dame will miss this year's college football playoff after ranking outside the bracket in the final CFP rankings.

Bevacqua has reacted to this by calling out the CFP selection committee and its process, prompting the Irish to opt out of bowl consideration. Finebaum didn't hold back in his criticism of the Irish athletic director on Wednesday's episode of Get Up. He said:

“I mean, I don’t like to give Pete any more advice than I already have, but go down to the library and get out a book of Shakespeare and read Macbeth because it says a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, and that’s what he’s been doing all week. He just has been a motor mouth. And yesterday, as you have eloquently pointed out, he stepped in it. It’s to the point now where we’re just tired of hearing it.”

Finebaum is not the only one tired of Pete Bevacqua's tantrums, as Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark also cautioned him earlier on Tuesday. Yormark said:

“I don’t like how Notre Dame has reacted to it. I think Pete, his behavior to it, has been egregious. It’s been egregious going after Jim Phillips when they saved Notre Dame during Covid.”

Pete Bevacqua and Notre Dame's bone of contention with the Selection Committee

Notre Dame ranked in the top 10 on every CFP ranking, except the final one that came out Sunday. Miami had ranked below it in each of these rankings, except the final ranking when the Hurricanes jumped over the Irish.

This has formed the basis of Pete Bevacqua and Notre Dame's discontent with the selection committee. However, Finebaum argued the position of the committee, noting:

“It just doesn’t make any sense. You played on the field, you lost to Miami on August 31. Whatever this committee did, which never has made any sense anyway, they may have gotten it wrong for a while, but they got it right in the end. So Pete, thank you. Go back to the back of the class and find somebody else to scream and holler at.”

Bevacqua was hired as the Irish's athletic director in 2024. He was previously CEO of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America and later President and chairman of NBC Sports.