Notre Dame’s absence from this year’s College Football Playoff has stirred plenty of debate-and not everyone is offering sympathy. One voice that didn’t hold back?
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire. Speaking candidly on Monday, McGuire delivered a message that cuts to the heart of one of college football’s longest-running debates: “I’m gonna make Notre Dame mad, but be in a conference and you’re in the playoffs,” he said.
“If they’re in the ACC, they’re in the playoffs. ... I’m just talking about, let’s make it, across the board that everybody is measured the same.”
It’s a sentiment that’s been bubbling under the surface for years. Notre Dame’s independent status gives the program plenty of perks-chief among them, a lucrative TV deal and the flexibility to build a national schedule.
But there’s a tradeoff. Without the week-in, week-out gauntlet of a conference slate, the Irish often face criticism when it comes time to stack résumés in December.
And in a year where conference championships played a decisive role in CFP selection, it may have finally caught up to them.
McGuire didn’t say anything revolutionary-but he said it plainly. And coming from a coach who’s had a front-row seat to the grind of a Power Five conference, his words carry weight.
Texas Tech is fresh off a statement season under McGuire, who’s in his fourth year at the helm in Lubbock. The Red Raiders finished 12-1, their lone blemish a mid-October road loss at Arizona State.
Since then, they’ve been rolling. They capped off their Big 12 campaign with a dominant 34-7 win over BYU in the conference championship game, locking up a No. 4 national ranking and a spot in the Orange Bowl, where they’ll face No.
5 Oregon.
McGuire’s journey to this point is a testament to his coaching chops. Before making the leap to college football, he was a Texas high school legend.
At Cedar Hill, he posted a 141-42 record from 2003 to 2016, capturing three state championships and seven district titles. That success earned him a spot on Matt Rhule’s staff at Baylor in 2017, where he started coaching tight ends before shifting to defense and becoming associate head coach in 2019.
"I don't wanna make Notre Dame mad, but, be in a conference and you're in the playoffs."
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 22, 2025
Joey McGuire shares his thoughts on the structure of the CFP. pic.twitter.com/EJYvnUopdQ
He stayed on under Dave Aranda in 2020, and a year later, Texas Tech made its move-hiring McGuire on November 6, 2021.
The climb hasn’t been linear. McGuire’s first season in 2022 ended at 8-5.
A slight dip followed in 2023 at 7-6, before the Red Raiders bounced back to 8-5 in 2024. But this year?
This year, they’ve put it all together. The offense clicked, the defense tightened up, and the team has played with the kind of edge that reflects its coach’s personality-tough, disciplined, and unafraid to speak its mind.
That’s what made McGuire’s comments about Notre Dame resonate. He’s not just tossing out hot takes from the sidelines-he’s living the grind of a conference schedule, week after week, and proving his team belongs on the national stage. And in a college football landscape that’s shifting rapidly-with realignment, expanded playoffs, and TV contracts reshaping the sport-his message is clear: the time for independence might be running out.
Notre Dame has long prided itself on doing things its own way. But as the postseason stakes rise and the margin for error shrinks, McGuire’s challenge isn’t just a jab-it’s a question the Irish may soon have to answer.