There's something about Alabama that makes media personalities abandon all rational thought. There's a deep-rooted anti-Alabama sentiment out there from years of Crimson Tide domination, and it rears its head at every possible opportunity.
You've no doubt seen plenty of it in the aftermath of the "controversial" decision by the College Football Playoff committee to keep Alabama in the College Football Playoff field despite a 21-point loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.
They wanted Alabama punished for playing an extra game while teams like Miami and Notre Dame sat at home. These are, by and large, the same people who argued vehemently in the other direction a year ago to ensure inclusion for ACC Championship Game loser SMU.
It is amazing to see how quickly so many switched up once it was Alabama in the position of last year's SMU.
ESPN's Dan Orlovsky was one of the more vocal voices this week, arguing against Alabama's place in the CFP field and instead propping up a Notre Dame team that won 10 straight games to finish the season after an 0-2 start.
“Notre Dame should be in over Alabama…Alabama got whooped.”
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) December 9, 2025
ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky resolutely stood up for the snubbed Fighting Irish on @FirstTake.
“There’s no question about it that they’re a team that can win the national championship.” pic.twitter.com/bMYKAb3vAp
Dan Orlovsky believes Notre Dame should be in the CFP over Alabama
Notre Dame is a quality football team, there's no doubt. They are easily one of the 10-12 best teams in the country this year. But the problem with the Fighting Irish is that they lost the two toughest games on their schedule this season against Miami and Texas A&M. They earned a nice win over USC over the final 10, but for the most part played an easy schedule where they weren't seriously challenged down the stretch.
If you are only going to play two or three tough games every year, you can't lose two of them and expect to get the benefit of the doubt.
Alabama's playoff case was obvious. The Crimson Tide played a much tougher schedule than the Irish and finished with identical 10-2 regular season records. The difference? Alabama had to play one of the two or three best teams in the country last week while Notre Dame sat at home. And the committee was expected to punish the Crimson Tide for that?
That's silly. There's no merit to that argument, but the anti-Alabama bias runs deep in the national media. That's nothing new for Tide fans; it's been something that has been obvious for well over a decade now.
It's not going to change anytime soon, either, and that's okay for Alabama fans. We enjoy watching the collective meltdown of the media, who spend all their time whining and crying over the team that has them all in a chokehold for a long time.