SEC has some seriously good defenses. Bama plays against them all year long.
Notre Dame played one team with a decent defense and rushing attack, and that was Stanford. Stanford is not quite on par with a top tier SEC team. Notre Dame barely won that one in overtime.
Bama also has what most consider the best offensive line in college football.
I think you'll see a low scoring game. Notre Dame has been able to stop the run with 7 man fronts all year long except against Stanford, where they were forced to bring an 8th man in the box. The same will happen against Bama, who has an even better rushing attack than Stanford. With Notre Dame stacking 8 man fronts to try to take the run away it will be McCarron who will be counted on to win the game, like he did against L$U for the title last year.
On the flip side, Notre Dame like to line up their tailbacks and TE's out wide. They represent a missmatch against LBers and corners. Saban will have to figure out how best to defend that option. I feel he has some fairly athletic and physical safeties that could match up against these, and that will allow his defense to defend against these missmatches. The other key is that Notre Dame has a pretty good offensive line and therefore Bama will be challenged to stop the run as well. Their D-line must hold their ground, which they did not do too well against Georgia, who also has a pretty good offensive line.
I'd give the advantage to Bama, due to the difficulty of their schedule. They are deeper too, allowing them to stay fresher for the 4th quarter.
