Is the Notre Dame BCS Bowl ad aimed at dissing Alabama?

Fighting Irish fans prep for game day

With ESPN predicting a record all time viewership for a college game, all eyes will be on the Irish and the Crimson Tide on Monday night.

The undercurrent in the game however, is the rivalry between two colleges whose student athlete graduation rates and the type of degrees they achieve could not be more different.

Notre Dame football team graduates 97 per cent, first in the nation indeed. Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick has stated that he is at least as proud of that figure as he is of the team reaching the national championship game -- and rightfully so.

Alabama is in the low 70s percentage in the past few years and have been improving steadily but there is little comparison in the quality of degrees earned or the entrance test.

Some cynics have dubbed  the BCS Bowl the ‘Catholics Vs Cousins’ stand off.  During a game Alabama played in, rival supporters held up a blown-up picture of a library and  a comment that  essentially said “Hey SEC this is a library.”

All of which is the reason why the prime time ad is so interesting that Notre Dame have put together.

It shows a bunch of Notre Dame students gathering, walking across campus lighting candles and you think it is leading to a scene at the grotto or the church. There is even a shot of Touchdown Jesus.

It eventually fades into a shot at what looks like Notre Dame stadium and the candles held aloft by the students, standing in a narrow circle of lights together spelling out the words
“#1 in student athlete graduation”

Interesting focus that, given who they are playing don’t you think?