Alabama Football: A deserved hat tip to the Irish and Brian Kelly

Alabama Football: Whatever the semi-final outcome, college football is better with a strong Notre Dame Fighting Irish program.

Any Alabama football fan who is also a fan of college football history respects the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The long history of Notre Dame football success is too deep to discount. It matters little the program has not won a National Championship since 1988. The Irish football history leading up to 1988 was sensational.

Notre Dame claims 11 National Championships. They could claim several more and should claim at least two more. It does not matter the Irish shared a 1966 National Championship with Michigan State – a Championship Alabama Football deserved. The back to back, Crimson Tide bowl losses in the 1970s were great, close games and heart-breaking for Crimson Tide fans. In both cases, the Fighting Irish were the slightly better team.

The history motivates me to defend Brian Kelly for bristling at the suggestion Notre Dame has something to prove today. As a program that aspires to greatness, it does. But Notre Dame’s players don’t need that added burden. They certainly don’t need their head coach agreeing with any presumption of the Irish being out of their league.

Brain Kelly is a winner. In 14 Notre Dame seasons, his teams have won almost 73 percent of their games. He won at Cincinnati before that and at Grand Valley State at the start of his head coaching career.

There is a gap between Notre Dame and the recent National Champions. Alabama Football and Clemson have shone the gap can lead to blowouts. In Kelly’s last four recruiting classes, the Irish (per the 247Sports Composite) have finished No. 10; No. 10; No. 15 and No. 18. The talent gap between Notre Dame and the Crimson Tide and Clemson has narrowed. It has not gone away.

The annual angst over what teams were unfairly omitted from the final four clouds a more important reality. Most seasons since 2015, the old two-team BCS format would have matched the best teams. Usually, there are three teams worthy to make the Playoffs, but rarely four. Ohio State in 2015 and Alabama Football in 2018 are the exceptions.

The tipping point in the BCS ‘not enough’ argument was the 2012 National Championship mismatch between the Crimson Tide and the Fighting Irish. That season, consensus polling opinion overvalued the Irish. The program has paid a tarnished reputation price, every season since.

Brian Kelly was correct when he recently said,

"I don’t know why this narrative continues to pop upNo, we haven’t won a national championship. That’s correct. I’m not changing the record. But we are there every single year and we’re grinding it out just like everybody else. And only one team gets to celebrate at the end of the year."

Alabama football as a program and a fanbase understands an ‘all or nothing’ mentality. Every Crimson Tide season is measured by a Championship – and not an SEC Championship. The expectation is beyond reason and frankly too much for most other programs. It is not a standard by which Notre Dame should be measured.

Over seven seasons, there have been 28 College Football Playoff Bids. The Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson have devoured 12 of them. Some say that is bad for college football. I strongly disagree but that is another story. The 16 ‘other’ Playoff slots have been shared by nine teams. Only two of the nine have been chosen more frequently than the Fighting Irish.

Demanding or hoping for more Irish Playoff success is legitimate. Slamming Brian Kelly for what his program has achieved is not.

Like all Alabama football fans, I want the Tide to roll big in Texas. Notre Dame appears to have little chance for an upset win. But if it does shock the college football world, for me the disappointment will not be nearly as great as losing to Auburn or Tennessee or Georgia or LSU.