Notre Dame rushed for more yards in the SEC Championship game than Alabama did

Billy Heyen

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Notre Dame rushed for more yards in the SEC Championship game than Alabama did image

Notre Dame ran for more yards in the SEC Championship Game than Alabama did. So did you, and your coworker, and your neighbor, and all of us who weren't there in Atlanta taking on the Georgia Bulldogs.

But just like the Fighting Irish, we'll all be on our couches when the College Football Playoff kicks off. And the Crimson Tide will be playing in it.

It's just one way of looking at the biggest controversy of Sunday's CFP reveal.

Notre Dame was left out, leapfrogged by Miami after five weeks of the selection committee's pre-rankings showing the Fighting Irish ahead of the Hurricanes.

But there at No. 9, staying ahead of both of them after a one-sided loss to Georgia, was Alabama.

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The committee acted as if it didn't want to punish Alabama for playing another game on conference title weekend while other teams sat idle. That's the same committee, of course, which dropped BYU a spot after the Cougars lost a one-sided Big 12 title game to Texas Tech.

No decision would've made everyone happy.

But if a conference title game was ever going to matter, how about the one where Alabama ran for negative-3 yards?

Notre Dame had a weird season, scheduling its two toughest games right out of the chute and losing both by narrow margins.

Alabama lost three times, though, including to a Florida State team that finished 5-7. The equation was already tricky before  the Crimson Tide got boatraced by Georgia.

None of this makes it better for Notre Dame fans, who won't even watch their team in a bowl after the Fighting Irish opted out. It's tough to blame them, though. This is a tough pill to swallow.

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Editorial Team