Did Notre Dame Just Get Passed as the Most Hated CFB Team in 2026?

As the old saying goes, "They hate us, cuz they ain't us!" and that could certainly be applied to Notre Dame football.

Now, you didn't hear that a whole lot when Notre Dame was stumbling over itself to regular three-plus loss regular seasons, but now that Marcus Freeman has the Fighting Irish perenially around the best in college football,

As Notre Dame has risen back up the college football ranks and enters the 2026 season among the favorites to win a national championship, it had an off-season that garnered plenty of disdain across the nation, after it was shockingly kept out of the College Football Playoff.

Notre Dame Turns Down Pop-Tarts Bowl, College Football Erupts

I've said it before and will say it again, the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando is nothing more than the Savannah Bananas of college football. The game is an afterthought, while the whole idea of the thing is to promote an overrated breakfast option.

Despite that, plenty of people lost their minds about Notre Dame daring to skip out on a bowl game, while plenty of other teams decided against it last year as well.

Notre Dame's Independence Always a Bother

Since Penn State ditched independence for the Big Ten starting in 1993, Notre Dame has been viewed as the bad guy for not joining a conference. Forget the fact that everyone else joins one because financially they practically have to, Notre Dame gets the hate for finding a way, with its NBC television deal, to make it work all these years later.

Notre Dame's Deal with College Football Playoff

More dislike for Notre Dame came this off-season when it was disclosed that as long as the Irish make the top 12 of the final College Football Playoff rankings going forward, that they'll be guaranteed a spot in the Playoff.

That supposedly played a part in USC suddenly not wanting to continue the rivalry game with Notre Dame anymore, even though athletic administrators had been notified of that ruling literally a year before.

Whatever the case, Notre Dame went to bat for itself, got that treatment, and others hate the fact it did.

Texas Tech Instantly Passes Notre Dame in Hate Rankings

It seems like anything Notre Dame does, rubs a certain amount of people the wrong way.

That's fair, as it was once said that "they don't boo nobodies!"

However, Monday's news of Brendan Sorsby being ruled eligible for the 2026 college football season, despite having placed several bets involving his team historically, has changed where Notre Dame ranks in that.

All four justices on the Seventh Court of Appeals in Texas are Texas Tech graduates. pic.twitter.com/W6IrmKEhdO

- Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) June 8, 2026

In an instant, Notre Dame went from being the most disliked team in college football, to Texas Tech seemingly taking that over.

In my opinion, the ruling on letting Sorsby play is utterly absurd and embarrassing.



On a different note, I can't help but imagine the amount of hate-watching viewers a potential Notre Dame vs. Texas Tech Playoff game would attract.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/notredame as Did Notre Dame Just Get Passed as the Most Hated CFB Team in 2026?.

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 8:34 PM.