After fourteen weeks of the 2012 season, we’re now down to two.
The No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the only eligible unbeaten left standing, versus the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide, the one-loss defending champion, in a winner-takes-all matchup for this year’s BCS championship Jan. 7 in Miami.
Both programs will bring storied traditions into what will be one of the most anticipated title games in the BCS era, armed with a record eight Associated Press titles apiece. The Irish will be playing for its first national championship since 1988, the Tide gunning for its third BCS title in four years.
Notre Dame will be looking to become not only the first non-SEC team to win a BCS title since the 2005 season, they will be looking to become the first non-conference team to beat an SEC team in the title game -- seven appearances, seven wins. Meanwhile, Alabama will be charged with extending its league’s unprecedented streak of BCS titles to seven in a row.
North vs. South. Catholics vs. Christians. Whatever trite tag gets slapped on it, this game is shaping up to be a true Game of The Century. Not because of the massive hype that will surely spiral out of control over the next five weeks, either; rather, it will pit a pair of evenly-matched teams whose strengths -- and weaknesses -- are eerily similar once you strip the invincible SEC veneer off the Tide and remove the Irish-colored glasses.
So, there you have it. Notre Dame vs. Alabama for all the crystal.
Now, who ya got? A back-to-[blank]-to-back-to-back extension of the SEC’s dominance over the college football world, or a program dripping with tradition returning to what they believe is their rightful place in the heirarchy of the sport?
Vote below and, God help us all, let your feelings be known in the comments section below that.
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