“MON! SEC! SEC!”
These chants won’t just come from the chant leaders at Kyle Field when Notre Dame travels to take over Texas A&M at the opening of the season, but throughout the Southeast.
In college football’s first season with expanded playoffs, SEC fans will be rooting against Notre Dame even harder in week one. Either way, that’s not a real surprise, but especially not a surprise in this one.
USA TODAY NETWORK’s Blake Toppmeyer recently wrote about why a Texas A&M win that week would be very important not just for the Aggies, but for the entire SEC.
The Irish are the biggest threat to the SEC to earn an extra bid. Notre Dame’s schedule is lenient. In the first two months of the season, the Irish will feast on Northern Illinois, Purdue, Miami (Ohio), Stanford, Georgia Tech and Navy.
Alabama should be very lucky. On the day Alabama faces Tennessee and a hostile crowd of 100,000 at Neyland Stadium, the Irish will defeat the Yellow Jackets. No wonder Notre Dame protects its independence. -Blake Toppmeyer
It’s very convenient for Toppmeyer to mention who Notre Dame can beat (which includes three Power Five teams on its list), but he doesn’t mention it Alabama can feast on traditional powers Western Kentucky, South Florida and Mercer this fall.
Or how Tennessee could face bluebloods Chattanooga, Kent State, UTEP and Vanderbilt.
But only the SEC plays tough teams and doesn’t have off weeks, right?
Interesting omissions, certainly.
