Notre Dame Football: How Would Irish Fare in SEC in 2014?

"Yeah, but they'd finish no better than fifth in the SEC."

Versions of the above statement frequently pop up on Twitter and in online message boards, usually by critics who scoff at the success and attention that schools outside the SEC get instead of a team from college football's top conference. It's mostly hyperbole, since actually being able to quantify such claims would prove almost impossible.

Challenge accepted.

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly's jab at teams ranked above the Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff Top 25 play schedules that include what he called "glorified byes"—a thinly veiled jab at SEC schools that frequently line up FCS or low-level FBS teams in November—provides the perfect opportunity to discuss how Notre Dame would fare playing a similar slate.

In other words, how would the Irish do if they were in the SEC?

Ask those down south and you'll get a very firm answer, and it won't be pretty. The opposite goes for Notre Dame's many supporters, who no doubt feel no less than a conference title is the likely outcome. This, despite the fact that Notre Dame's limited recent history against the SEC is...well, let's just say it's not a subject that gets discussed much at Irish fan club gatherings.

That infamous 42-14 loss to Alabama in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game is the last time Notre Dame played an SEC opponent. Before that was in 2007, when the Irish were clubbed 41-14 by LSU in the Sugar Bowl.

The lack of commonality between Notre Dame and the SEC makes direct comparison difficult, as the only common opponent this year was Rice. Both the Irish and Texas A&M handily beat the Owls, but that was early in the season before the defending Conference USA champions righted the ship and are now on a five-game winning streak.

Because of this, most comparisons are hypothetical and based on assumptions, which depending on the source can be biased. Chris Alderson of FootballNation.com took a stab at figuring out how Notre Dame would do if they were in the SEC West, the best division in the country:

"I feel Notre Dame would go 4-4 or 5-3 at best if they played in the SEC West this season. I feel this is a combination of an over ranked team in Notre Dame, but more importantly how dominant the SEC West is this season."

That's an ambitious prediction, though it doesn't factor in which crossover teams the Irish would face from the East. Being on that side of the conference might prove to be far easier, based on how this season has gone for the East's teams and the fact that division is currently led by a school (Missouri) that lost at home to Indiana.

Indiana is 0-4 in the Big Ten, a conference that Notre Dame has gone 2-0 against this season, including a shutout of a Michigan team that just blew out Indiana. A perfect example of the transitive property in action.

Looking at how Notre Dame has performed this season against a schedule that computer ratings guru Jeff Sagarin ranks 49th (NOTE: Sagarin rates every SEC team's schedule as 46th or better), the results don't look like the kind that would translate into success down south. A pair of 16-point neutral-site wins over Purdue and Syracuse, both of whom are 3-6, aren't anything to write home about. Nor is a victory at home against 4-5 North Carolina, a game in which Notre Dame gave up 43 points.

There's been one true road game for the Irish, one pure hostile environment, which also happened to be their only loss. Yet the 31-27 defeat at Florida State stands as their best result because of the atmosphere, the overall effort and the style points they gained for hanging in there with the defending national champs.

"Notre Dame now joins the ever-growing ranks of elite but once-beaten teams, but it may have seen its stature grow by taking FSU down to the wire, on the road," wrote Bleacher Report's Tom Weir.

In that respect, Notre Dame compares favorably to Ole Miss, who despite losing for the first time at LSU found itself in the initial CFP's final four, then after losing in heartbreaking fashion the following week at home to Auburn is still ranked higher than several one-loss teams (and just behind the Irish).

Maybe that means the Irish would do better against tougher competition, that to this point it has played up or down to the opponent's level. Presumably, this would translate to better efforts against SEC foes, but that's as much of an assumption as anything else.

Unless Notre Dame gets paired up with an SEC team in the postseason this year, the next chance to accurately compare it to that conference will be in 2017 when it hosts Georgia. It might be easier to gauge how the Irish would finish in the ACC, thanks to its long-term scheduling agreement with that conference.

Simple answer on that: Notre Dame would essentially be the Duke of the ACC, maybe the Clemson. In other words, good enough to lose to Florida State.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.