Six months after the 2018 college football season ended, Clemson and Alabama players still haven’t stopped talking about the outcome. Both the SEC and ACC Media Days were full of chalkboard material from both and even had some mention of the Fighting Irish.
LOTS of questions here at Media Day about the Alabama remarks about Clemson/Clemson not getting its credit. John Simpson says Notre Dame -not Bama- was the best team Clemson played.
— Grace Raynor (@gmraynor) July 17, 2019
I would say this shuts the door on all those people (media and UGA football players) who insisted Notre Dame didn’t deserve a playoff spot last year despite being 12-0.
Clemson offensive guard John Simpson played against both Notre Dame and Alabama in the playoffs last year. I’ll take Simpson’s words at the ACC Media Days over which was the best team Clemson played last season over the pollsters and media.
If you don’t remember the final polls came out after the playoffs. For some illogical reason Notre Dame didn’t even finish in the top 4 despite losing only one game to the eventual champs who absolutely throttled Alabama 44-16. If you don’t remember that final National Championship game score we made a shirt for you to remind everybody.
But yet Notre Dame finished 5th despite making the playoffs and losing only one game. They dropped from 3rd because Oklahoma who despite getting throttled by Alabama in the semifinals and finishing the season with two losses and Ohio State who beat a weak PAC 12 team in the Rose Bowl and got throttled themselves by freaking Purdue in the regular season both jumped Notre Dame. It was BS then and it’s still horse shit now.
It’s good to see Clemson players doing the classy thing and give Notre Dame the props and respect they deserve. Look I get it a lot of people hate Notre Dame. You either love them or hate them. There really is no Switzerland in between when it comes to Notre Dame football. But you gotta respect how Notre Dame will schedule anybody, anywhere and go 12-0 while traveling all around the country and making their players actually go to class unlike most other programs.
Alabama players on the other hand spent their media day talking about they were still the better team and are currently the better team.
Alabama linebacker Dylan Moses on loss to Clemson: "It was more preparation. I wouldn't say they were a better team." https://t.co/YCHsTyTf5W
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) July 18, 2019
Paul Finebaum meanwhile has his feathers ruffled over this because of his love of the SEC. Finebaum was quoted as saying that Clemson “still doesn’t know how to win”. Yes they do Paul, they know how to win by freaking 28 points over Alabama.
Think Finey will actually say anything about the Alabama players needing to learn how to lose? Doubtful.
Hey @finebaum when will you start saying Alabama doesn't know how handling losing since their players were busy talking about how they are better than Clemson after getting beat by 28. We won't hold our breath. https://t.co/TarPZN0J0d
— UHND.com (@uhnd) July 18, 2019
Booger McFarland was on the Finebaum show this week though and let Paul have it for he and his audience’s constant excuses for anytime Alabama losses since to them it’s never because Alabama lost to a better team.
“I’ve been listening to your show, Paul, and I kind’ve been a little disappointed,” McFarland said. “OK, and here’s why: Everyone seems to seems to say that when Alabama loses that the kids aren’t focused. ‘OK, Mack Wilson is worried about being the Butkus (Award winner for best linebacker in the country). These players are concerned with their individual accolades.’ How about just saying Clemson was a better team, and they got beat? That’s the one thing that people that call in to your show don’t just say.
At least Booger was willing to let Finebaum have it for his tired antics when it comes to being a SEC apologist.
Here’s the thing…for Notre Dame the only thing that is significant is national championships. yes, you can argue that they should’ve been #2 and clearly they were better than Oklahoma and definitely ohio state, I think there final ranking was just a farewell gift to urban meyer. In the end though. It doesn’t matter, Notre Dame is not about finishing 4th, yes that’s a good showing, but so is #7…who was #7 last year? It doesn’t matter nobody cares at ND only national titles count.
I’m confident ND would have lost to alabama. That said, recruiting success and improved coaching we saw last year by Kelly and his assistants
lead me to believe that in the future ND can compete and win against the likes of Clemson/Alabama. However, 1st let;s exorcise the
demons of 4 straight road losses to Stanford. I bought my tix today for that game and betting that Kelly will finally beat the Cardinal
on the road and end the coming regular season on a high note. Given the schedule, w/ road games at GA and Mich., I’m not quite as
optimistic the Irish will make the playoffs again, but it certainly is doable.
Clemson just wanted to insult Alabama, and used ND as the bait.
Get a clue.
Points to be made; ND outside of the last minutes of first half; throttled Clemson offense forcing several punts.
I think Bama forced 1 each half. Book did not play well, but it is a major leap to get to Mr Finebaum position.
Remember Paul wanted ND to fire BK after the 1 pt loss to Georgia over a 10-2 season.
Georgia and Bama do a great job of recruiting, but this is a team game. Georgia can not be Bama with Saban
Who is the delusional Ohio State fan calling OSU a ND nemesis after 6 meetings in almost 130 years..
Football IQ of 0.
What this really shows is as long as FBS remains a beauty pageant and champions are voted on (voted to have a chance to win); this stupidity remains
I think we were a legitimate 3 or 4 lat year. We have to be on our A game to beat Clemson or Alabama and they have to be on their B or below game. It can be done. As far as our match up with Georgia this year. I like the cool of Book and think it will be another nail biter and an even matchup. Last years vote seems to indicate that all the ballots besides who was number1 and who was number2 were done before the final game. IMO highest possible ranking for us last year 3 lowest possible 4.
Are we really arguing over who the #2 team in the country was last year?? REALLY? We lost 36-3 couldn’t score a TD against CLEMSON!! BAMA scored 16 pts and were stopped on 2 different 4th and goal stands!! I LOVE ND but we wouldn’t have beaten BAMA, we didn’t have the talent at the skill positions ( rb, wr, or QB )! But with the last 2 recruiting classes the gap has closed significantly and the IRISH are on their way back into the top 5 every year!!
The bigger issue is ND not at least being #3. There is no way to justify ND finishing behind Oklahoma. Beyond that, a good argument can be made that ND deserved to be #2. Everything you wrote about ND/Clemson is true. But that only tells us that Clemson is better. Alabama scored 16, we only scored 3? Okay. Alabama gave up 44 to Clemson, ND only gave up 30. ND lost to Clemson by less than Alabama lost to Clemson. It isn’t a ridiculous argument to say ND deserved #2.
When was the last time ND beat Ohio State? That, to me, is the litmus test for this team. Can they beat a program which has been their nemesis for decades?