Based on the whole season I believe Johnny Football and his crew should be the national champion. They won at Bama and I have no doubt they would put the Irish away. Anybody else agree?

Not with the 'should be the national champion' part.

It's not just about how you are playing right now. It is the entire body of work. A&M lost 2 home games to LSU & Florida.

Notre Dame went undefeated & obviously deserves to be there.
Alabama had a better conference record including defeating that same LSU team on the road.

I won't argue that A&M has been impressive of late. If there was a playoff right now, they (along with Oregon) would be very dangerous.

Massachusetts is better than ND:

Div I - FBS Massachusetts beat Akron 22 - 14
Div I - FBS Akron beat Morgan St 66 - 6
Div I - FCS Morgan St beat NC A&T 21 - 18
Div I - FCS NC A&T beat Norfolk St 30 - 9
Div I - FCS Norfolk St beat Liberty 31 - 24
Div I - FCS Liberty beat Stony Brook 28 - 14
Div I - FCS Stony Brook beat Army 23 - 3
Div I - FBS Army beat Boston College 34 - 31
Div I - FBS Boston College beat Maryland 20 - 17
Div I - FBS Maryland beat Temple 36 - 27
Div I - FBS Temple beat Connecticut 17 - 14
Div I - FBS Connecticut is better than Notre Dame because Connecticut beat Pittsburgh 24 - 17
while Notre Dame only beat Pittsburgh 29 - 26

The team that wins a playoff should be the national champion. Since there isn't such a thing, the OP's opinion is as valuable (or worthless) as anyone elses.

Div III Maranatha Bap is better than Crown MN because Maranatha Bap only lost to Macalester 49 - 6
while Crown MN lost to Macalester 53 - 6
Div III Crown MN beat MacMurray 35 - 28
Div III MacMurray beat Eureka 29 - 14
Div III Eureka beat Knox 62 - 55
Div III Knox beat Lawrence 63 - 42
Div III Lawrence beat Grinnell 24 - 14
Div III Grinnell beat Monmouth IL 21 - 7
Div III Monmouth IL beat St Norbert 31 - 9
Div III St Norbert beat Carroll WI 28 - 21
Div III Carroll WI beat Illinois Col 49 - 14
Div III Illinois Col beat Hanover 51 - 28
Div III Hanover beat Bluffton 40 - 13
Div III Bluffton beat Kenyon 20 - 0
Div III Kenyon beat Oberlin 30 - 13
Div III Oberlin beat Wabash 31 - 16
Div III Wabash beat Carnegie Mellon 54 - 28
Div III Carnegie Mellon beat Catholic 35 - 17
Div III Catholic beat Hampden-Sydney 41 - 28
Div III Hampden-Sydney beat Chris Newport 42 - 20
Div III Chris Newport beat Maryville TN 45 - 31
Div III Maryville TN beat Sewanee 24 - 17
Div III Sewanee beat Austin Col 31 - 10
Div III Austin Col beat SW Assemb God 25 - 17
NAIA SW Assemb God beat Texas Col 24 - 13
NAIA Texas Col beat Concordia AL 31 - 20
USCAA Concordia AL beat MS Valley St 20 - 19
Div I - FCS MS Valley St beat Southern Univ 6 - 0
Div I - FCS Southern Univ beat Florida A&M 21 - 14
Div I - FCS Florida A&M beat Hampton 44 - 20
Div I - FCS Hampton beat Norfolk St 28 - 14
Div I - FCS Norfolk St beat Liberty 31 - 24
Div I - FCS Liberty beat Stony Brook 28 - 14
Div I - FCS Stony Brook beat Army 23 - 3
Div I - FBS Army beat Boston College 34 - 31
Div I - FBS Boston College beat Maryland 20 - 17
Div I - FBS Maryland beat Temple 36 - 27
Div I - FBS Temple beat Connecticut 17 - 14
Div I - FBS Connecticut is better than Notre Dame because Connecticut beat Pittsburgh 24 - 17
while Notre Dame only beat Pittsburgh 29 - 26

Therefore, Maranatha Bap is better than Notre Dame in 2012
as shown in 38 rounds by a combined score of 1283 - 773.

Brent Musberger just said if this was a prize fight they would call it off.

"Brent Musberger just said if this was a prize fight they would call it off."

At least he didn't say Honey Badger.

I am not sure about that but it would have been nice to see Oregon vs Texas A&M. Offense at it's best.

yeah.....a and m beat bama....but lets face it...chaminade beat a ralph sampson led uva basketball team 30 years ago....teams have bad nights....just like tonight...i dont really think nd is 25 points worse than bama....they came out tight and bama did their thing....i think bama beats the domers 8 out of 10....my point is...bama has the talent in droves.....they are definitely the best team this year....i think oregon could score on em....but man...that tide OL is tough....mccarron doesnt turn the ball over and yelden and lacy are beasts....bama is the best team in college football....and it aint close

I don't think Bama's OLine is as good as people are saying. They're good, but people are talking like they're the best OLine ever and they got pressured a lot by DLines semi-equal or better. They're an average champ. Every team that was of similar talent and coaching level was either fairly equal (LSU losing by 4 and Georgia losing on a last play by 4?) and obviously Texas A&M got the best of them.

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--- scotlandheel wrote:

yeah.....a and m beat bama....but lets face it...chaminade beat a ralph sampson led uva basketball team 30 years ago....teams have bad nights....just like tonight...i dont really think nd is 25 points worse than bama....they came out tight and bama did their thing....i think bama beats the domers 8 out of 10....my point is...bama has the talent in droves.....they are definitely the best team this year....i think oregon could score on em....but man...that tide OL is tough....mccarron doesnt turn the ball over and yelden and lacy are beasts....bama is the best team in college football....and it aint close

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I agree that Alabama is the best team.

However, I disagree that 'it aint close'. LSU nearly beat them. Georgia nearly beat them. A&M beat them at home. I think they were vulnerable this year vs elite competition with all the losses on defense to the NFL. Unfortunately, Notre Dame isn't really 'elite competition'. They were frauds who got by in a few close games & didn't play as tough of a schedule as it looked on paper. Oklahoma & USC weren't that great either...and neither was Michigan.

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--- TarHeel2012 wrote:

I don't think Bama's OLine is as good as people are saying. They're good, but people are talking like they're the best OLine ever and they got pressured a lot by DLines semi-equal or better. They're an average champ. Every team that was of similar talent and coaching level was either fairly equal (LSU losing by 4 and Georgia losing on a last play by 4?) and obviously Texas A&M got the best of them.

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Prior to the game the talking heads on ESPN were pooh-poohing Bama's defense, saying they were nowhere near as good as last year. Well, they looked pretty dang solid to me.

Bama's D is good but ND's O was their weak link, so it's hard to make comparisons...

when it became clear, early on, that ND's D could not stop Bama's O I knew this would not be much of a game because ND got there in the first place on the strength of that D...

Notre Dame finished with more points than Stanford. They did not beat Stanford, the replay official did. Stefon Taylor scored on that play. Then Stanford was the beneficiary as they robbed Oregon.

As for A+M, they were the best team I saw play this year and just happened to have the best player. The early loss to Florida (after LaTech was hurricane out) was the real killer. Had they found a way to win that then beat Bama we'd be crowning them right now, even with the LSU loss.

I do not agree with this at all, although A&M played great at the end of the year.

A&M caught Bama one week after Bama's highly emotional win at LSU. Bama was beat up and emotionally flat for the A&M game. Fully healed and prepared, Bama is 2 touchdowns better than A&M....or anybody else for that matter.

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--- RJP658 wrote:

I do not agree with this at all, although A&M played great at the end of the year.

A&M caught Bama one week after Bama's highly emotional win at LSU. Bama was beat up and emotionally flat for the A&M game. Fully healed and prepared, Bama is 2 touchdowns better than A&M....or anybody else for that matter.

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+1.....i agree....and it aint even up for argument

A+M played good to great all year long. Thats how you lead the SEC in rushing. As in most tight games they had some bad second half possessions against LSU that cost them the game.

Saban has won all these titles in close succession, but he can't get his team up for a highly ranked opponent? That game was in Tuscaloosa. They looked mortal against LSU, A+M and Georgia, the only good teams they played.

Alabama, A&M, LSU, Georgia... any of those teams, SEC teams, would have crushed ND last night.

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--- scotlandheel wrote:



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--- RJP658 wrote:

I do not agree with this at all, although A&M played great at the end of the year.

A&M caught Bama one week after Bama's highly emotional win at LSU. Bama was beat up and emotionally flat for the A&M game. Fully healed and prepared, Bama is 2 touchdowns better than A&M....or anybody else for that matter.

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+1.....i agree....and it aint even up for argument

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Bama wasn't 2 TD's better than A&M in Tuscaloosa, Alabama not-too-long ago. In fact, as I recall, they were 5 points worse.

You can say Alabama is better...they might be. But, it is certainly up for argument...and I really don't think they were 2 TDs better than the A&M team I saw in the last half of the season.

I would have liked to see Oregon play Alabama, but I guess if they had gone undefeated it would have been the Ducks thumping the Irish last night.

Talent-wise, I think the Alabama offense was as good as any I've ever seen - with the caveat that I didn't see any of the games where they were struggled against an opposing d-line (as noted here).

I wonder if the loss of their OC last year kept them from reaching their full potential.