The article is an opinion piece by a Notre Dame Fighting Irish fan who is still emotional about the team's 2025 season and their exclusion from the College Football Playoff. The fan suggests that Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek, a member of the playoff selection committee, used his power to favor Alabama and exclude Notre Dame, despite the Irish dominating most of their games. This year, the fan lists their picks for the best college football names by position, including players like Stephen Cannon (QB), Turbo Richard (RB), and Legend Journey (DL). The article's primary focus is on the perceived corruption in college football rather than providing a neutral report on the 2026 season or the listed players.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-28,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee is led by Hunter Yurachek, the athletic director of Arkansas. However, the 2026 season's rankings are still a concern for some fans, including those of Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who have not fully recovered from their disappointing start to last season's games against Miami Hurricanes and Texas A&M Aggies. The Irish dominated their remaining 10 games, but lost a game 56-13 to Arkansas. In an ironic twist, Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek was on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee when they selected teams for this season, which included Notre Dame's humiliating loss to Arkansas last year. The controversy arises because of Yurachek's involvement in selecting teams that ultimately led to Notre Dame's defeat by his own school.
Written for “College Football Recruiting” on 2026-08-31,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted
verbatim and was checked against the article text before being
stored, so you can find it in the original.
Leaning score -0.60 for article 2974 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-08-28
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know if I am emotionally ready for the 2026 college football season.
asserted
I → know → season
Despite not attending the school or even being Catholic, I’ve been a Notre Dame Fighting Irish fan my entire life, and I’m still not over the first two games of last season.
The Irish started the 2025 campaign with back-to-back, heart-wrenching, last-second losses, first to the Miami Hurricanes and then to the Texas A&M Aggies.
asserted
Irish → attend → Aggies
After their 0-2 start, the Irish dominated their remaining 10 games, including a 56-13 humiliation of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
asserted
Irish → dominate → Razorbacks
The Irish beat the Southeastern Conference Razorbacks so badly that the school fired its head coach literally the next day.
asserted
school → beat → coach
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But Arkansas would get its revenge.
asserted
Arkansas → get → revenge
When the season began, Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek was just a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, the body responsible for selecting the 12 teams that make the College Football Playoff each year.
asserted
that → begin → Playoff
But Baylor Athletic Director Mack Rhoades stepped down as the committee’s chairman last November, meaning that when it was time to choose between the Alabama Crimson Tide, Brigham Young University Cougars, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Yurachek — the same man whose team Notre Dame had humiliated earlier in the season — was in charge of the process.
asserted
Dame → step → process
And Yurachek used his power to make a very public case for Alabama and against the Irish.
asserted
Yurachek → use → Irish
Yurachek flat-out told committee members to go back and watch Notre Dame’s loss to Miami, the first game of the season, before they voted on who made the playoffs “because it was so far back.”
asserted
it → tell → playoffs
Never mind that the game was freshman quarterback CJ Carr’s first-ever college game, or that Alabama was blown out by Florida State, a team that ended up going 5-7, that same weekend.
asserted
that → mind → State
Yurachek instructed committee members only to watch Notre Dame’s 27-24 loss, not Alabama’s much worse 31-17 loss.
asserted
Yurachek → instruct → loss
And it worked.
asserted
it → work → ?
Alabama got in.
asserted
Alabama → get → ?
Notre Dame didn’t.
asserted
Dame → do → ?
It is hard to trust a sport as corrupt as college football, an institution where Yurachek, after his blatant bias against Notre Dame, was allowed to remain chairman of the playoff committee and will again help select playoff teams this year.
asserted
Yurachek → trust → teams
But now Notre Dame knows to leave no doubt.
asserted
Dame → know → doubt
The Irish are going to be a hungry team with something to prove, one hoping to get revenge against Yurachek and the corrupt SEC in the playoffs.
asserted
Irish → go → playoffs
