Tough few weeks for the Irish!

PublishedJanuary 3, 2026 9:30 AM EST•UpdatedJanuary 3, 2026 9:30 AM EST

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The classy Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who bitched and moaned about the college football playoffs and eventually quit on the season, are NOT going to love the ratings for the Pop-Tarts Bowl. 

Quick, someone say a prayer for Marcus Freeman and that insufferable AD who cut a deal with the NCAA to basically reserve a playoff spot for the Irish starting in 2026. They’re gonna need all the #Thoughts&Prayers they can get today. 

With #BowlSZN sadly coming to an end, ESPN is starting to pat itself on the back now that the numbers are rolling in. And, frankly, I don’t blame them. 

The Pop-Tarts Bowl reeled in 8.7 million viewers last month, making it the most-watched non-NY6 bowl game since 2019. Notre Dame allegedly declined the invite to the Pop-Tarts Bowl, along with other bowl games, before opting out of the season altogether. 

Obviously, that was a childish move by the Fighting Irish, and it opened them up to plenty of mocking in this very scenario. The bowl game they deemed themselves too good for was the most watched in years on ESPN, and it outdrew all but ONE Notre Dame game from this season. 

One!

Tough spot here for Notre Dame

I mean, what a miserable month for Notre Dame. It’s all self-inflicted, so literally nobody feels bad for them, but still. A tough month. 

They rightfully got leapfrogged by Miami in the playoffs. That was the right call, evidenced by the fact that the Hurricanes are now among the favorites to win the whole damn thing. The Irish should’ve gotten in over Alabama, so I get it, but not Miami. 

Anyway, that was just the start. Notre Dame then threw the world’s biggest tantrum in the days after the “snub,” with Marcus Freeman and AD Pete Bevacqua being just the most insufferable people on the planet. 

They cried and whined and, ultimately, took their ball and went home. Or to Cancun. Either or. 

In their absence, the Pop-Tarts Bowl selected BYU and Georgia Tech, and outdrew pretty much every single Notre Dame game from this season – by A LOT. 

What a moment. What a month. Justice for college football bowl season. Justice for Pop-Tarts!