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Post being replied to

One element of the Bama model that ND can't match that by btd

matters a lot is the grey shirting. Bama in effect gets 15-25 extra players every 4 years. It allows them to replace injured or ineffective players much like the NFL has free agency, practice squads and trades.

It works at Alabama because their tuition is so dramatically lower than ND's tuition. In state tuition is below 10k per year. Out of state is in the 30k range -- and they give a lot of academic scholarships to what ND would consider to be bottom half academically within any class -- lowering that to 15 to 20k for out of state.

Someone can carry the cost to grey shirt at Alabama for a year and hope it works out and then accept a scholarship somewhere else if it doesn't. At ND that one year will cost you 75-80k all in, so it is virtually impossible for ND to match that aspect of the Bama machine.