With the unfortunate news that came this morning in the CFP ranking show, our Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s season has come to a controversial end. While certainly we all have some hard feelings, and rightfully so, all is not lost. This is not an unknown feeling to the Irish community, with an almost identical situation happening just a few years ago in 2022 under even more controversial circumstances involving the then #4 ranked Irish men’s lacrosse team.
If I had a nickel for every time there was a hugely controversial Selection Sunday decision involving Notre Dame, I’d have two nickels
Which ain’t a lot but weird it’s happened twice!
— The Crosse Commission (@College_Crosse) December 7, 2025
What is the lesson? There is hope.
The 2022 Notre Dame Lacrosse snub fueled a 2-year complete domination by the Irish that yielded two national championships. The team resolved to the one thing that would prevent a playoff committee from controlling their fate. They would leave no doubt. The best players led from the front with grit and determination. The coaching staff brought in a transfer class like none seen before. They developed inspired leadership within the team, and the second half of the roster committed to becoming a scout team that was itself worthy of a NCAA playoff selection. The let the snub fuel them but not define them.
This commitment won them the 2023 National Championship in convincing fashion. But they did not take their foot off the gas. There was enough fuel to bring them to the highest pinnacles of the sport of lacrosse itself, a second National Championship in 2024 playing as arguably the greatest team that has ever played.
Coach Kevin Corrigan said after the final whistle in 2023:
Did last year motivate us and really kind of galvanize this team? Absolutely. Revenge is not the right word, though. It was not about revenge. From the moment we didn’t get into the tournament last year we said, ‘Hey, two things. One, we think this is unfair, but life is not fair. And two, the only reason this happened is we left ourselves vulnerable to this happening, and that’s on us. We’re not going to bitch and moan. We’re not going to call people names. We’re not going to blame other people and everything else. We’re going to say ‘From this moment forward, let’s do what we can do to make sure this doesn’t happen to us again next year.’ I don’t think that’s revenge. I think that’s accountability and owning up to what you had control of, and that’s what our guys did.
The blueprint to move beyond the schemes and politics of a playoff committee exists just a hundred yards from the football practice facility. That being said, it is on the players of the Notre Dame football team to make it happen. The aforementioned lacrosse seasons were built on one simple goal: leave no doubt. And that they did through domination each and every game, and through sheer will when things got rough (namely late in the 2023 semi-final versus Virginia). This off season will be a big turning point for the football program. Will they take up the same mentality as our lacrosse team did, or will they sit around and feel sorry for themselves? They have a returning roster to make something great, and an enviable recruiting class. The tools are there, they just need to decide they have the will.
If there was one man we would choose to lead this team in a time like this it would be Coach Freeman. All of the guys very obviously love being coached by him, and his mentality towards the game is great for situations like this. With the brother Faison and Matt Jeffrey being on both rosters, the link between these two programs is strong, as is the knowledge of their shared experience.
2026 will be a big year for our Irish. They will leave no doubt.
Go Irish.
ND-Atl 2.0
18Stripes lacrosse correspondent
I remember nd getting left out in 2022 and the accompanying outrage, can you share the argument for leaving the number 4 team out? And then why should they have been included?
Either way good article and thanks for sharing. I think, more so than any public pissing and moaning they could do, how they attack the transfer portal will be an indicator of how serious they are. Like if 2026 david bailey becomes available they better go get him
There wasn’t a coherent on, which was part of the outrage. Similar to ND 2025, they had early season losses that put them under pressure, but by the end of the season they had recovered in the polls and in RPI (as did Duke), which at the time was their chief metric. In the end the circular excuse was that ND (and Duke) had less wins against teams they picked to be in the tournament.
i remember reading one of the committee members comments after the situation blew up. They admitted to not knowing much about lacrosse and that affected their ability to gauge the differences between teams.
As an aside is there any chance of us opening the NIL bag this offseason in response? I think our team lines up very nicely next year regardless but I do want to go full scorched earth at the same time.
Anger can be a great motivator, and I’d say the entire fanbase, from the highest net worth booster to the message board commenters, is furious.
Just tell me where I send my check
Dear ND-Atl,
What can I say? Many, many thanks !! Of all the great posts you’ve done to help us non-lacrosse savvy fans be aware of what’s going on, this is the one I will treasure the most. Terrific cross-fertilization, and you’re right, the Faisons and Jeffrey will help.
Yeah — Leave No Doubt !!! Works for me !!!
Excuse all the exclamation marks — I’m struggling to work my way back out of a dark 24 hours and so I’m indulging myself. Anyway — merci beaucoup!