“Who the hell is Pete Bevacqua to be b***hing and moaning?”: Stephen A. Smith nukes Notre Dame for complaining while refusing to share ACC money

Stephen A. Smith ripped into Notre Dame for its reaction to being excluded from the College Football Playoff. After finishing with a 10-2 record, the Fighting Irish were the first team outside the 12-team field. In light of this, the program has opted out of a bowl game altogether.

In his appearance on “First Take” on Tuesday, Smith seized the moment to unload on Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua for the entitled reaction to the playoff exclusion. The Irish, which are not part of the ACC in football, finished 11th in the final ranking, but conference champions took the final two spots.

“When you’re looking at the ACC, what are they supposed to do? Miami getting into the postseason was not a guarantee; it was up in the air,” Smith said.

“And so what ACC was doing everything it could to ensure that one of its own got in, because they knew it wasn’t going to be Virginia, it wasn’t going to be Duke with their five losses, okay, they had a shot to get Miami in there, and they took it. Which means millions.

“And Notre Dame already made it clear, we ain’t a part of y’all and we’ll be dead and we gonna share that revenue. So who the hell is Bevacqua to be bitching and moaning about it?”

Starting next season, Notre Dame’s path to the playoff gets a whole lot smoother. A newly signed memorandum of understanding guarantees the Irish an automatic berth if they finish in the top 12. Had that rule been in place this year, they would have been in the playoffs.

Stephen A. Smith won’t mind an extended CFP amid Notre Dame snub

In his words on First Take on Tuesday, Stephen A. Smith wouldn't be against further expansion of the CFP. The postseason competition was expanded to accommodate 12 teams last season from four, and amid Notre Dame’s exclusion, a larger number seems to be the way out.

“Personally, it wouldn’t bother me if the top 20 teams had a playoff system,” Smith said. “I’m not gonna lie to you, it wouldn’t bother me at all, because there’s an inordinate amount of teams in college football. When you’re talking about the top 20, everybody got a chance.

“And so you can look at it like that. And if you can’t make it in the top 20, I don’t want to hear about you … I don’t want to hear a word. But in the end, it comes down to the dollars.”

There's been a lot of discussion on further expansion of the CFP since the 12-team playoff started. However, quite a lot is yet to be agreed upon by the stakeholders regarding the format and automatic bids. The current CFP agreement expires at the end of the season.