Nick Saban makes case for Alabama to be ranked ahead of Notre Dame

Notre Dame came in at No. 9 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings after Week 12. Alabama moved back several spots to No. 10, causing some to question to committee’s decision on where they ranked these two teams.

Nick Saban pointed toward Alabama’s strength of record and schedule to help boost the Crimson Tide’s arguent. ESPN provided SoR and SoS statistics for teams ranked No. 6-13 in the latest College Football Rankings, which saw a massive difference between that of the Crimson Tide and that of the Fighting Irish.

Per ESPN, Alabama has four top 25 wins with the No. 4 SoS and No. 8 SoR in the country. Meanwhile, Notre Dame has one win over a top-25 team with the No. 27 SoS and No. 13 SoR. Still, the Irish found themselves one spot ahead of the Tide after losing to Oklahoma last weekend.

Notre Dame’s ranking was already controversial to begin with after the Irish came in four spots ahead of Miami. The Hurricanes have a head-to-head victory over the Fighting Irish back in the season opener, so it’s no surprise that Miami fans took exception to this.

Still, fans of both the Crimson Tide and Fighting Irish weren’t sure that they’d be in position to make a College Football Playoff run after the first week of the season. Both Alabama and Notre Dame lost their season opening matchups, though the Irish went on to start the season 0-2 after losing to Texas A&M the following week.

There’s been zero margin for error for Notre Dame since, and they’re on an eight-game win streak. They’re now two wins away from solidifying their spot in the CFP for the second-straight season. The Irish made it all the way to the national championship game last season.

For Alabama, it’s loss to Florida State on the road is a shocking one, and a bad loss looking back. However, they also won their next eight games before falling to Oklahoma at home last week.

During that stretch, the Crimson Tide went on a four-game run where they beat Georgia and Tennessee on the road, as well as Vanderbilt and Missouri in Tuscaloosa. All four teams were ranked when they played Alabama.

Notre Dame has two wins over ranked opponents this season, but just one of those teams are currently ranked (No. 15 USC). The Irish most recently beat a previously-ranked Pitt team on the road, but rounds out its regular season against Syracuse and Stanford, who have a combined 6-14 record on the year.