From Vols to LSU, why SEC football fans should detest Notre Dame in 2024 season | Toppmeyer

Make those chants of “S-E-C! S-E-C!” loud, and make them clear on the final Saturday in August. Give your snide remarks about the Texas A&M Aggies Yell leaders a one-weekend moratorium.

Fans from Knoxville to Oxford to Tuscaloosa to Baton Rouge ought to embrace their inner Aggie for a few hours, anyway.

Why?

Because Notre Dame opens its season at Texas A&M on Aug. 31.

Subscribe to SEC Football Unfiltered
iTunes | Google Play | Spotify

And why, you might wonder, should the Big Orange and Roll Tiders unite in a disdain for the Irish that day? Because the outcome of that game in College Station could carry outsized weight in determining whether the SEC receives five versus four bids to the 12-team College Football Playoff.

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.

Notre Dame’s road opener against the Aggies ranks as its stiffest test within its first eight games. The Irish rolling into November undefeated is the last thing an SEC team sitting on the playoff bubble needs.

That’s where the Aggies come in. If Notre Dame absorbs a Week 1 loss, then another Irish loss in November against either Florida State or Southern Cal could knock the Irish from the playoff field.

I’m sure some Irish fans would trumpet that a 10-2 record plus Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen ought to equal a playoff bid, instead of the final spot going to the SEC’s fifth-best team, but that argument rings hollow if the Irish get whacked by the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/vols-lsu-why-sec-football-100152158.html

Author : Knox News | The Knoxville News-Sentinel

Publish date : 2024-05-26 10:01:52

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.