The BCS rankings finally came out Sunday and after a week long of ramblings that Alabama might take a serious hit, they didn’t.
While Alabama has been as dominant this year as the same team who won the National Championship last year, the BCS takes every factor into account, and when it comes to strength of schedule, Alabama has been a borderline dud.
It’s not all ‘Bama’s fault. Who would have thought going into the season that victories over Arkansas and Michigan would mean so little? Coming into the season, the two were top 25’s and Michigan should have had made a run for the top.
Instead, both teams have significantly underachieved, and with them went any victories of worth for the Crimson Tide, but the streak of victories and the magnitude of the victories keep them at the top.
The time is coming when Alabama is going to rack up those victories that prove they deserve another shot at being national champions, and that time comes at the end of October when they host Mississippi State, head to LSU a week later and then host Texas A&M.
Three dominant victories for the Crimson Tide will all but seal it for another year, but by the time they get a chance, most teams will have already been playing the heart of their schedule for the better part of a month.
Sometimes being the best doesn’t mean you should just be rewarded for it, though Alabama seems to be getting that treatment right now.
In fact, the team that probably deserves to be number one, regardless if they are the most talented on the field, may very well be Notre Dame.
While Alabama was steamrolling Missouri on Saturday, the Irish were being taken to the limit by No. 17 Stanford, and only with a goal line stop in overtime did the Irish stay undefeated and prove it’s time to give them consideration.
With their victory over Stanford, the Irish now have three victories over top 25 opponents, including the same Michigan team Alabama has as one of their two top 25 victories. They also had an impressive victory over Michigan State the week before.
It has only just begun for the Irish. After playing BYU this weekend, they head to Oklahoma to compete with the No. 9 Sooners and end their year at archrival, No. 10 USC.
As an independent program, Notre Dame has a lot more flexibility than their competition, but considering they handle it the right way gives the Irish a chance this year at seeing themselves in the National Championship game.
It won’t be easy, and even if they win out there are no guarantees — if Alabama does happen to falter once along the road, chances are they will still be brought back. That’s not to mention both Oregon and Florida also look like major contenders this year.
A gutsy win like the Irish had on Saturday goes a long way in showing the makeup of that squad, and if at the end of the year they are undefeated, why shouldn’t they get a shot?
The computers have them at No. 5, and with strength of schedule, the number should only rise. Then a team like Alabama, whose strength of schedule rested on the low side, can get a wakeup call.
Jacob Dyer can be reached at [email protected]