“SEC! SEC! SEC!”
Those chants won’t just be coming from yell leaders at Kyle Field when Notre Dame travels to take on Texas A&M in the season opener, but all across the southeast.
In college football’s first season with an expanded playoff, SEC fans will be rooting extra hard against Notre Dame in Week One. That’s not real surprise in any case, but especially not a surprise in this one.
Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY NETWORK recently wrote about why a Texas A&M win that week would be so important for not just the Aggies but for the whole SEC.
The Irish are the biggest threat to the SEC earning an extra at-large bid. Notre Dame’s schedule is forgiving. In the season’s first two months, the Irish will feast upon Northern Illinois, Purdue, Miami (Ohio), Stanford, Georgia Tech and Navy.
Alabama should be so lucky. On the day Alabama faces Tennessee and a hostile crowd of 100,000 at Neyland Stadium, the Irish will swat Yellow Jackets. No wonder Notre Dame protects its independence. -Blake Toppmeyer
It’s very convenient for Toppmeyer to mention who Notre Dame gets to beat up on (which includes three Power Five teams in his short list) but he fails to mention that Alabama gets to feast on traditional powerhouses Western Kentucky, South Florida, and Mercer this fall.
Or how Tennessee gets to take on bluebloods Chattanooga, Kent State, UTEP, and Vanderbilt.
But only the SEC plays tough teams and doesn’t get any off weeks, right?
Interesting omissions, certainly.
Related: Notre Dame’s All-Time Results vs. Each SEC Team
[lawrence-related id=81722]