I’ll go ahead and say right out that I am no authority on college football whatsoever. So why is it even someone like myself has a gut instinct that Alabama will triumph over Notre Dame in the BCS Championship?
I recently attended the Fiesta Bowl, a showdown between my Oregon Ducks and Kansas State University. It was because my girlfriend’s dad doubted his own team, a devout Notre Dame fan true to the Irish Catholic creed, that I acquired these tickets.
The tickets I received were purchased before the BCS rankings finalized, a process that placed Notre Dame in the championship game thanks to an undefeated season and an impressive routing of powerhouse Oklahoma. Despite all of this, even fervent Notre Dame fans like my girlfriend’s dad did not foresee their university of choice touting a number 1. Thus, my lady friend’s father figure, doubting Notre Dame would achieve anything more grande than a Fiesta Bowl bid, would relinquish the tickets to me and his other kids. Go Ducks.
The game itself was pretty decent. Although the Fiesta Bowl was flirting with the possibility of becoming a blowout, there’s too much to love about the insane fandom occurring all around you to really care about such trivial things like score. Yet the game carried shades of a sobering ‘what could have been’, both teams believing they were wronged of a chance at a title – partly attributed to a debatably worthy Notre Dame.
Let’s take a slightly more scientific approach to this. The one thing Notre Dame shared in common with Alabama this year was a Michigan opponent. Notre Dame narrowly scraped by with a win over Michigan, final score 13 – 6. It was described as an ugly win by critics and it’s clear a play or two in the wrong direction would have ended the Irish perfect season prematurely. Alabama on the other hand completely leveled the no.8 Wolverines, 41 – 14. Despite allowing more points than Notre Dame’s stifling defense, the offensive display was enough to suggest the Irish would struggle to contain Alabama in the title game.
As an Arizona Cardinals fan, I can’t help but draw comparison to when by some act of god Kurt Warner slung our way into the Super Bowl. We were described as the ‘worst Super Bowl team ever’ prior to even taking the field. The Cardinals actually made an impressive showing that year, only dropping the game in the final minutes. I fear Notre Dame, similarly capable of a strong exposition, will succumb to overwhelmingly forecast tragedy in the end.
Like many other of you sporting enthusiasts around the world, I too will be watching the game. I just won’t be too surprised should Alabama hoist another trophy as the Irish slink off the field, especially with Notre Dame fans already sensing the thrashing to come.
