Charleston, W.Va. ? West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez lashed out at Notre Dame on Sunday after the Irish earned a spot in the Gator Bowl and denied the Mountaineers a New Year’s Day game.

Fifth-teenth-ranked West Virginia (9-3) will play unranked Virginia (8-4) in the Continental Tire Bowl on Dec. 28 in Charlotte, N.C.

Gator Bowl officials chose Notre Dame rather than West Virginia. The Mountaineers normally would have gone to the Gator – played on Jan. 1 with a $1.6 million payout – as the second-place team in the Big East.

The Continental Tire Bowl has a $750,000 payout, although West Virginia will instead receive $1.85 million from the Big East as its bowl share for finishing second.

Rodriguez said something needs to be changed about the way the Big East’s bowl selections are made.

“I don’t know if slighted is the right word, but I do question sometimes what is Notre Dame’s affiliation with our league,” Rodriguez said.

Notre Dame, an independent in football but a Big East member in nearly every other sport, was added to the league’s portion of the BCS mix after the 1997 season, when the league went 0-4 in bowl games.

“All the athletic directors agreed to this,” Big East spokesman Rob Carolla said.

The contract runs through 2005.

“I know this agreement was made earlier,” Rodriguez said. “I’m just a football coach and our players are just players, but we don’t understand some of the political things. I don’t understand why Notre Dame is getting the best of both worlds.

“I think the Big East is a great league and we can stand on our own. In my opinion, Notre Dame either needs to get in or get out.”