If Notre Dame fans already weren’t happy with ESPN following the Fighting Irish’s snub from the College Football Playoff, just imagine how they feel now.

During Tuesday’s episode of First Take, Stephen A. Smith weighed in on Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua’s comments to Dan Patrick, in which he took issue with the ACC’s role in advocating for Miami to make the 12-team field despite the conference and Fighting Irish being business partners via a scheduling agreement and Notre Dame being a conference member in 24 other sports. And ESPN’s $100 million man didn’t mince words, effectively accusing Notre Dame football of wanting to enjoy the benefits of conference membership while remaining an independent program.

“This is very foul comments by Notre Dame,” he said. “Put on your big boy pants. Grow up and accept accountability for the role you played in all of this.”

Smith proceeded to point to the Fighting Irish’s status as an independent, in which they don’t share any of their revenue the way programs that are in conferences do. According to the ESPN star, if Notre Dame isn’t willing to splits its media rights deal with NBC with the rest of the ACC, then why should the conference treat the football program like one of its own?

“Here you are with your selfish asses, out there being an independent. Sitting up there dictating your schedule, having your own media rights deals, able to dictate so many things,” he said. “And the one thing you can’t control, you want to whine and moan about it because your team lost head up to Miami to open the season. Games in August counted. You wanted to play it, right? You went out there and played it and you lost.”

Smith punctuated his point by noting that the Fighting Irish didn’t just lose to Miami; they also lost to Texas A&M to start the season with an 0-2 record. And while Notre Dame bounced back to end the season with 10 straight decisive victories, its signature wins were lacking, with its lone win over a team that finished the season in the College Football Playoff top 25 rankings coming against No. 16 USC.

Stephen A. Smith on Notre Dame: “Put on your big boy pants. Grow up and accept accountability for the role you played… here you are with your selfish asses, out there being an independent… the one thing you can’t control, you want to whine and moan about it because your team… pic.twitter.com/Tom5OEScVf

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 9, 2025

While many outside of South Bend (and especially in Coral Gables) agree with Smith’s general stance, that’s somewhat besides the point. The bigger story here is that it’s ESPN’s highest paid and most prominent personality attacking the Fighting Irish, whose fans have already taken issue with the Worldwide Leader’s alleged influence over the College Football Playoff selection process.

As Pat McAfee pointed out on Monday, that doesn’t necessarily make sense, as ESPN surely would have welcomed the rare opportunity to host Notre Dame games on its airwaves throughout the postseason. Any chance for Fighting Irish fans to see it similarly, however, likely ended with Smith’s comments on Tuesday morning.