Why Notre Dame isn’t in the ‘real deal’ tier of college football per FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd
Alabama head coach Nick Saban has a nuanced take on name, image and likeness (NIL) in college football. He loves it for the student-athletes, but he believes the unfettered nature of it will create a caste system in the landscape of the sport.
“At Alabama, we’re one of the ‘haves,'” Saban said. “It’s probably a good thing. For some of the ‘have-nots’, maybe it won’t work out as well.”
FOX Sports radio host Colin Cowherd pushed back on the second part of Saban’s statement.
“It’s been a caste system my entire life,” he said on his show.
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Cowherd cited Oklahoma’s dominance in winning the Big 12 six years in a row until the streak was snapped last season. Clemson’s streak of six straight ACC titles was also stopped. Ohio State won the Big Ten title four years running until Michigan took the crown for the first time since snagging a share in 2004.
The cream rises to the top in college football year after year, and it was that way long before NIL entered the conversation.
Cowherd took that theory and came up with 17 programs he feels are capable of winning a national championship in 2022 and beyond. He broke them down into three tiers; The ‘Real Deal’ Group, The ‘Close’ Group and The ‘Still Waiting’ Group.
Here’s a look at the teams in each of Cowherd’s tiers.
The ‘Real Deal’ Group
- Alabama
- Clemson
- Georgia
- LSU
- Ohio State
- Oklahoma
Colin’s thoughts: “These are the best rosters in college football. They out-recruit people, almost always have the right coach, the best facilities, the passion and the geography. … They’re almost always good. They may hire a bad coach, but they correct it very quickly. They also have four and five-star guys everywhere.”
BlueandGold.com’s context: All of the teams listed have won at least one national championship in the last decade except for Oklahoma. The Sooners have won seven all-time, the last of which came in 2000. There is no arguing against Alabama and Clemson. They have ruled the sport in the College Football Playoff era, with Clemson qualifying for the CFP in six of eight seasons and Alabama punching a ticket in seven of eight. Ohio State and Oklahoma have four CFP appearances apiece. The Sooners are 0-4; the Buckeyes are 3-3. Georgia has two appearances with a 3-1 record, and LSU has one with a mark of 2-0.
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The ‘Close’ Group
- Baylor
- Michigan
- Notre Dame
- Oregon
- Penn State
Colin’s thoughts: “This group can beat the top tier teams. They don’t have the rosters, the passion or the depth, but they are close. … They need breaks, but they could win if they stayed healthy and teams in their division got banged up.”
BlueandGold.com’s context: This is where the exercise might lose Notre Dame fans. This group of five teams has four CFP appearances among them. Notre Dame has half of those. Michigan made it for the first time this past season, and Oregon went in the first year of the playoff’s existence (2014). Notre Dame is 0-2 in the CFP; Michigan is 0-1, and Oregon is 1-1.
Notre Dame is 54-10 overall in the last five seasons, meanwhile. Michigan is 41-18, Baylor is 33-29, Oregon is 42-19 and Penn State is also 42-19. Notre Dame is clearly at the top of the “close” group. It might have behooved Cowherd to create a “closest” group and lumped Notre Dame and Oklahoma in it together.
Notre Dame and Oklahoma have been more productive than the Baylors and Michigans of the sport in recent seasons, for instance, even if those two just captured conference championships last season. Oregon and Penn State aren’t on Notre Dame’s level of sustained consistency either. The overall records speak for themselves.
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The ‘Still Waiting’ Group
- Florida
- Florida State
- Miami
- Texas
- Texas A&M
- USC
Colin’s thoughts: “This group has been dominant before, but we keep waiting for them. They’ve had moments. I’ve seen Florida be dominant. I’ve seen Florida State, Miami, Texas, USC and Texas A&M. A&M just beat ‘Bama. These teams can also beat you when they’re rolling, the first group and the second group. … I feel like there’s either chaos, politics or dysfunction where they can’t get it going. I do think Texas, Texas A&M and USC have the right coach and a lot of recruiting momentum.”
BlueandGold.com’s context: There isn’t much more to say in addition to what Cowherd laid out. All of these programs have won at least one national championship since 2000 except for Texas A&M, which hasn’t won it all since 1939. They’re all backed by big boosters, though, which is the name of the game in the NIL era. These programs will reel in elite recruits. Can they get over the coaching ineptitude or “chaos, politics or dysfunction” that have held them back of late, though? To be determined.
