Vanderbilt's James Franklin votes Notre Dame fourth in coaches poll | al.com
For all those who think Notre Dame would have taken more than one loss this year if it played in the SEC, Vanderbilt coach James Franklin agrees with you.
Franklin voted Notre Dame fourth behind three SEC schools on his USA TODAY coaches poll ballot this week. Franklin voted Alabama No. 1, Georgia No. 2 and Florida No. 3.
"This is what you have to understand: it's an opinion," Franklin told the Tennessean on Monday. "But it's an educated opinion. I've coached in the ACC. I've coached in the Big 12. I've coached in the Pac-10. I've coached in the SEC. I've coached in the NFL. So I think I have a pretty good understanding of what these conferences are like and what our conference is like.
"The other thing is we've played Florida. We've played Georgia. We've played South Carolina. We also played Wake Forest, who played Notre Dame the week before (Vanderbilt). So I've studied all these teams on film, and that's my opinion. I don't mean it to be disrespectful to anybody else. I have tremendous respect for Notre Dame, what they've done this year -- great year. But it's just an opinion. They can prove me wrong the day after the (BCS championship), but that's just how I feel."
Franklin placed six SEC teams in the top eight, with LSU at No. 5, Texas A&M No. 7 and South Carolina No. 8.
The final poll had a top five of Notre Dame, Alabama, Oregon, Florida and Georgia, in that order.
Only two other coaches who voted in the poll did not have Notre Dame No. 1 -- Middle Tennessee's Rick Stockstill and Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville, each of whom had the Fighting Irish No. 2 behind Alabama.
The 12-1 Crimson Tide and the 12-0 Fighting Irish will meet in Miami on Jan. 7 in the BCS championship game.
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