Cam Newton Is Doubling Down On Controversial Notre Dame Opinion

Originally posted on The Spun | By Chris Rosvoglou | Last updated Jan 29, 2026 10:56 AM ET

You can make an argument that college football's biggest rivalry at the moment is between Cam Newton and Notre Dame.

During last Friday's episode of "First Take," Newton accused the College Football Playoff of giving Notre Dame preferential treatment. He then claimed the Fighting Irish haven't been relevant in years despite being a season removed from making it to the national championship game.

"They haven’t been relevant for years," Newton said. "You take that one national championship game with Coach [Marcus] Freeman out of the equation, they haven't been relevant for years."

Countless fans put Newton on blast for that take about Notre Dame. They found it to be ignorant and flat-out wrong.

Feb 7, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Cam Newton on Radio Row at the Super Bowl LIX media center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Doubling down on the Notre Dame criticism.

During the latest episode of his "4th and 1" podcast, Newton made it clear that he's not backing down from his initial take about Notre Dame.

"Just because you went to the national championship doesn’t automatically qualify you to be relevant," Newton said, via Awful Announcing. "Being relevant to me is year-in and year-out, you’re a top team that has beat quality opponents. To me, Indiana’s not even relevant. They just won a national championship."

Unfortunately for Notre Dame fans, Newton wasn't done criticizing the program.

"They’re on TV, they have an NBC deal. But if NBC does their numbers and says, ‘Hey, how does Notre Dame fare compared to SEC teams, to Big 12 teams, to ACC teams?’ They’re not in the top percentile. That’s what I mean by relevant. So don’t come for me saying, ‘Cam’s just talking about the side of his neck.’ No I’m not. Someone has to really tell truth to power … it has everything to do with the program."

If Notre Dame needs bulletin-board material next season, Freeman and his coaching staff can just pull up these quotes from the former MVP of the NFL.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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