Alabama Football may have a bye week in the CFB Playoff First Round in late December 2024. The Alabama Crimson Tide would love a bye. The next best thing would be to host the game at Bryant-Denny Stadium and participate in the First Round of the Playoffs.
For the weekend of December 20–21, there is a third option for the Playoff schedule. For their first-round match, the Crimson Tide are visiting a team with a higher seed. If Alabama wasn’t playing a long-standing foe, fans would be less excited about an away First Round match.
Eleven Warriors, the Ohio State site, exudes a lot of excitement for an Ohio State quarterfinal match. The prediction made by Bruce Feldman, which ranks Ohio State as the top seed, is the source of the buzz. The 8-seed vs the 9-seed winner would play Ohio State following a bye for the Bucks. According to Feldman, Alabama will be ranked ninth and Notre Dame will be ranked eighth.
Notre Dame and Alabama are not conventional rivals. There have only been eight performances of the two shows. The inaugural game was the Sugar Bowl in 1973. Alabama suffered a heartbreaking 24-23 loss against the Fighting Irish. Soon after, Notre Dame won two more games: the 1976 regular season and the Orange Bowl in 1975. The Irish won the Orange Bowl Game 13–11. It was a slugfest. The Irish prevailed 21–18 in the 1976 match, which took place in South Bend.
In 1980, Alabama eventually defeated Notre Dame at home. The game in November at Legion Field concluded with a 7-0 victory for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame made a repeat visit to Birmingham in October of 1986. Ray Perkins defeated the Fighting Irish 28–10, accomplishing what Bear Bryant was never able to. It was the contest in which Steve Beurlein, the quarterback for Notre Dame, nearly lost his football career due to a hit by Cornelius Bennett. During the game, Alabama never trailed after Greg Richardson’s 66-yard punt return touchdown set up the first score. The following season, Alabama traveled to South Bend, when the No. 11-ranked Crimson Tide was soundly defeated 37–6.
The hatred that some Alabama supporters have for Notre Dame dates back to the years before the two teams’ inaugural meeting. It dates back to the season of 1966. In 1966, Alabama finished the season 11-0. Despite failing to win a national championship, several Crimson Tide historians think that the 1966 squad was among Bryant’s best. The Crimson Tide would have completed a three-peat with a 1966 national championship. That never happened because Michigan State and Notre Dame were selected as co-champions by poll respondents. In November, the game ended in a 10–10 draw between the Irish and Spartans. Notre Dame played for a tie rather than a victory.
The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated Notre Dame in January 2013 and January 2021, exacting revenge for their 1966 defeats. It would be sweet indeed if Alabama defeated Notre Dame once more, this time at South Bend in a CFB Playoff game. Perhaps even sweeter than a home playoff game or a first-round bye.
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