The BCS National Championship Game will be played this week between Alabama and Notre Dame. There is no question that the Crimson Tide and the Fighting Irish are part of college football royalty. Both of these schools have more than 800 wins and claim a combined 25 national championships in football. This is a matchup of football tradition, but there is more to this story.
Notre Dame is one of the sports teams that bring strong feelings associated with its brand. Fans either love or hate the Irish with little room for indifference.
When the Tide meets the Irish, fans that hate Notre Dame must factor something else into which team they are going to rooting for: Alabama has a chance to win its third title in four years and, perhaps more important, the Tide can win the SEC’s seventh straight football championship.
Notre Dame can end unprecedented SEC dominance in college football. The SEC has won eight national championships in the BCS era and lost once (when Alabama and LSU played last season).
No other conference has more than two national football championships since the SEC planted their flag as the best in the land in during the BCS era.
When it comes to playing against each other, SEC fans might seem hateful, but given the chance to beat up on another conference, SEC fans unite in conference brotherhood. Every SEC fan hopes the conference goes undefeated this bowl season just to stick it in the face of the rest of the country. As such, the Irish not only face Alabama fans but every other SEC fan from around the nation who wants to see the conference steam roll another team in the title game.
On the other hand, everyone not in the South (or who isn’t an SEC fan in the South) wants to see the SEC get its comeuppance before a playoff starts for the 2014 season. Breaking the conference’s dominance in football may be the one thing to bring unlikely fans to Notre Dame’s cause.
If the Irish don’t end the SEC’s streak this year, when will it come to an end?
Alabama and LSU are going nowhere as national title contenders, but Texas A&M will be in the hunt every year Heisman winner Johnny Manziel stays on campus. It looks like Florida has righted the ship, and Georgia and South Carolina are ready for a breakthrough. Plus, we could see a team like Auburn come out of nowhere to win it all in a perfect dream season.
Even with a four-team playoff in 2014, most years the SEC is going to be in the mix. If more teams are added to the playoff field, the SEC will get even more chances to play for a title.
Take this year for example: Florida and Alabama would be in a four-team playoff. If eight teams get added to the playoffs, then add LSU and Georgia (if you just consider the BCS standings). That would give the SEC half the field in an eight-team national title bracket.
Will anyone stop the SEC anytime soon?
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