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Another list, another debate — though this one should again have Notre Dame fans pleased following the Irish's 2012 campaign.

The Sporting News' Matt Hayes released his list of college football coach rankings this week, one week after AthlonSports delivered a list of its own. Athlon had Brian Kelly ranked fourth. Hayes has Kelly fifth.

His reasoning:

5. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame: How impressive has Kelly been at ND? The weight of the program hasn’t crushed him like it did every other coach since Lou Holtz retired. The Alabama loss in last year’s BCS National Championship Game was brutal, but he somehow managed to get a team with significant flaws (freshman quarterback, tight-end-oriented passing game) all the way to the big game. He won championships at the NCAA lower divisions, won conference championships at the non-BCS and BCS levels, and will win a national title at Notre Dame.

The usual suspects top this list: Alabama's Nick Saban and Ohio State's Urban Meyer. After that? The debate really begins.

Boise State's Chris Petersen is No. 3, followed by Oklahoma's Bob Stoops.

Athlon's list, meanwhile, had Kansas State's Bill Snyder at No. 3.

There really are no right or wrong answers with any of these, depending on your view. Program-builder? Hard to argue with Snyder, Petersen or Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, who comes in at No. 8 on Hayes' list. Length of success? Few can doubt Stoops' mark in Norman, though consecutive BCS-bowl-less campaigns have not made him the most popular guy among the die-hards lately.

Then there are the real head-scratchers, guys like Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer, who comes in at No. 34 on Hayes' list but is No. 9 on Athlon's. Les Miles is another one who seems to draw opposing reactions, as the LSU coach is ninth on Hayes' list but 24th on Athlon's.

Most can agree with Saban and Meyer at the top. After proving this past season that Notre Dame can succeed at the highest level, Kelly is making a case for himself to be right up there, too.

Former Notre Dame coaches Charlie Weis and Bob Davie check in at Nos. 57 and 87, respectively.

Much of college football debate is based on lists and rankings. Notre Dame fans know this as much as anyone after a 2012 regular season that did not see the Irish rise from fourth to first in all of the major polls until the three teams ahead of them dropped games.

Those same fans will have a hard time being upset with the list that AthlonSports released this week: College football head coaches, Nos. 1-125.

Brian Kelly's spot? No. 4.

Steven Lassan writes:

Not many coaches in college football can rival Kelly’s resume in four stops as a head coach. Kelly’s first head coaching gig came in 1991 at Grand Valley State, and he stayed in that capacity until 2003. During 13 years with Grand Valley State, Kelly went 118-35-2 and won two Division II titles. After his success with the Lakers, Kelly went 19-16 with Central Michigan, which included a MAC championship in 2006. Kelly moved on to Cincinnati at the end of the 2006 season and guided the Bearcats to back-to-back Big East titles in 2008 and 2009. After back to-back 8-5 seasons with Notre Dame, Kelly led the Fighting Irish to an appearance in the BCS National Championship game at the end of the 2012 season. Despite the blowout loss to Alabama in the title game, Kelly clearly has the program back on track to be an annual top 10-15 team.

The three men ahead of Kelly? Alabama's Nick Saban, Florida's Urban Meyer and Kansas State's Bill Snyder. Few can make a legitimate argument right now against the first two, as each is the owner of multiple national championships at college football's highest level. The Snyder spot could be up for debate, but when you take into account his longevity -- and remember just how bad the Wildcats were before his arrival -- it is tough to top what he has done in his 21-year career, ring or no ring.

How about some of the names above whom Kelly is ranked? South Carolina's Steve Spurrier (No. 5), Oklahoma's Bob Stoops (No. 7), LSU's Les Miles (No. 24) and Texas' Mack Brown (No. 28) are title-winners who finished behind Kelly on the list, though Miles is the only of that quartet whose best years have been among his most recent ones.

Other names of note to Notre Dame fans are UCF's George O'Leary (No. 68), New Mexico's Bob Davie (No. 89) and Kansas' Charlie Weis (No. 106).

MIAMI -- Alabama became the first team to repeat as BCS champions, as the Tide rolled through Notre Dame on Monday night, 42-14, to win the Discover BCS National Championship, their third title in four years. Here is how it went down.

It was over when: Following a three-and-out from Notre Dame, officials blew a call on Alabama's punt return, ruling that Christion Jones was hit by an Irish player. He was hit by a teammate. Instead of an Irish fumble recovery and some early momentum, the Tide marched down the field for a 14-0 lead and never looked back.

Gameball goes to: The offensive line paved the way for Alabama's run game and protected AJ McCarron all night. Alabama scored touchdowns on its first three drives and made it look easy, taking any chance away from the Irish early. This was an historic group.

Stat of the game: The longest drive against Notre Dame in the regular season was 75 yards. On Monday, Alabama had drives of 82, 80, 97 and 86 yards.

Best call: We'll change this to worst call: The Jones fumble that wasn't. It looked like a pivotal play at the time and ended up not mattering in the grand scheme of things, but it was an awful, awful call.

Second guessing: Not to take away from Alabama's defense, but Notre Dame's No. 1 scoring defense look disheveled throughout the night, missing tackles left and right, blowing assignments and getting the ball taken to it all night.

What Alabama learned: The Tide are a dynasty. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Nick Saban has his third national title in four years, and his fourth overall. The scary part? Alabama may be even better next year.

What Notre Dame learned: Everyone who said the Irish were lucky to be here feels a little validated. It was an historic season by almost any measure for Notre Dame, but one has to wonder just how far this program is from being the best of the best after a demoralizing Monday night.

MIAMI -- Greetings from Sun Life Stadium, where we're roughly two hours from kickoff of the last game of the college football season, and the most important one.

Great scene outside all day, as both Notre Dame and Alabama fans braved the heat and were up and running early. I figured the lots wouldn't be too crowded when I arrived shortly after 1 p.m., but I was sadly mistaken.

Notre Dame players have made their way to the field out of uniform for some tossing around and sightseeing. Coach Brian Kelly did as well, even bro-hugging Jon Bon Jovi on the sideline. Vince Vaughn is here and decked out in Irish gear, too.

Alabama coach Nick Saban made a brief tour of the field and exit for reasons I'm not quite sure of, other than to perhaps take in the biggest ovation he has ever enjoyed inside this stadium.

"Roll Tide" and "Let's Go Irish" went back and forth among the slowly increasing number of fans here early, but both piped-in music and the Alabama band have begun playing. I'm actually seated behind Notre Dame's band, which has been pretty rowdy so far.

We'll be back throughout the night with updates, so don't go anywhere. We'll also be tweeting and chatting on CoveritLive throughout the night, so look forward to enjoying this little tilt with y'all.

Can Notre Dame defy any and all expectations one final time?

When Alabama has the ball: When push came to shove in the SEC title game against Georgia, the Tide ran, ran and ran some more. They piled up a ridiculous 350 rushing yards and, to cap it off, hit Amari Cooper for a 45-yard touchdown pass that proved to be the game winner. Cooper has slowly but surely become one of the better receivers in the country. He cannot be overlooked when talking about this matchup, as the Irish will certainly try to keep the Tide from establishing a rhythm on the ground and aim to rattle quarterback AJ McCarron, who has had tremendous protection from his offensive line all season long. If Notre Dame can get to the MVP of last year's title game, it will put itself in great position to pull off the win.

When Notre Dame has the ball: Everett Golson and the offense cannot play tentative, not on this stage and not against an Alabama defense that ranks in the top 10 nationally in six different categories. The redshirt freshman has come a long way in a short time, and he will have to make some plays through the air and on the ground in order to win this game. Tyler Eifert could play a huge role in that, too, as the tight end is unlike anything Alabama has faced this season … even in the SEC.

Intangible: Notre Dame has won five games by seven or fewer points this season. Like Auburn in 2010, which won five games by three or fewer points en route to the title, these Irish have been tested over and over again, and they have withstood every challenge. Brian Kelly said he doesn't believe in teams of destiny, but the Irish have looked the part during this unexpected, remarkable journey. If the game is close late, they have every reason to think they can and will win this game. Alabama, meanwhile, has pulled off two for-the-ages victories of its own, against LSU and Georgia, while falling to Texas A&M. But the Tide do have Nick Saban, who has mastered the process of a long layoff and is going for his fourth national title, and third with the Tide.

Prediction: Alabama 21, Notre Dame 17. In an epic championship clash between two titans, Alabama's defense makes one final stand as time expires.

No. 1 Notre Dame (12-0, independent) vs. No. 2 Alabama (12-1, 7-1 SEC)

Who to watch: Keep an eye on Alabama All-American center Barrett Jones, who injured his left foot in the SEC title game against Georgia. If Jones is not close to 100 percent, Louis Nix and the rest of the Notre Dame defensive line likely will reveal that early and often. For Notre Dame, watch how quarterback Everett Golson handles the stage and the Tide's dominant defense. He has grown throughout this season, and how well he improvises could prove to be the difference Monday night.

What to watch: The key matchups will come in the trenches. Jones and Alabama's offensive line have been talked about in legendary terms; Notre Dame's defense leads the nation in scoring. The Irish likely will try to pressure quarterback AJ McCarron in a way that has not been done yet this season. If they can knock him around and force some errant throws early, they will have a strong chance at pulling off the upset.

Why to watch: This is the final game of the college football season, and it is for the crystal football trophy. It is also a matchup of two of America's most popular and historic programs. Will the SEC extend its national title stretch to seven straight years, or will Notre Dame solidify its return to the top of the college football world? No team has won consecutive BCS titles, and Tide coach Nick Saban will try to make it three in the past four years -- and four overall for him -- when he faces Brian Kelly and the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Brian Kelly did not enter his new job at Notre Dame three years ago and think that his new program would be playing for a national championship by the 2012 season. But he also did not, as he said Saturday, think that the Fighting Irish could not reach this point this soon.

If his Monday counterpart, Alabama coach Nick Saban, is the curator of The Process -- which has guided the Crimson Tide to their third national title game under him, the first coming in his third season -- then Kelly can be considered a distant disciple.

Kelly has taken the same blueprint for success that the SEC has set in dominating the college football landscape for the past seven years and adapted it to Notre Dame. The elite defense, unbending high bar and mental tests are the hallmarks of the Irish's rise from the depths of mediocrity to the Discover BCS National Championship, and they have Notre Dame in position to remain elite in the years to come.

They are why, despite consecutive 8-5 seasons coming into 2012, athletic director Jack Swarbrick extended Kelly's contract two more years through the 2016 season, saying that that the coach was on the coolest seat in America.

"He knew how to build a program and he could explain it," Swarbrick said in the minutes after Notre Dame beat USC to clinch a berth in the title game. "He could articulate every element of it. He could tell me exactly what all those elements were and how he was going to address them, and that's what we were missing: the program elements.

"As you could see, we had some really talented kids, great leaders. It wasn't our problem with the approach to the game; it was the other stuff. And he knew how to build that stuff. He demonstrated it, and that compelled me."

To read the full story, click here.

Notre Dame football is big business.

How big? The Irish netted $43.2 million in profit in 2011-12, according to NCAA data.

That figure was good for the eighth-most nationally; Texas led the way after turning a $77.9 million profit this past year.

Notre Dame generated $69 million in football revenue and $25.8 million in expenses, good for seventh and fourth nationally, respectively.

Alabama football is even bigger business, as the Irish's national title game opponent generated a $45.1 million profit in the past year, fifth-most nationally. The Crimson Tide topped the nation in football expenses, with $36.9 million. Such is the price of paying a coach with three national titles on his resume, as Nick Saban collected $4.8 million from the school for the 2011-12 season.

Alabama's $82 million in football revenue ranked third behind Michigan and Texas.

To read more from Kristi Dosh, click here.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Following the official announcement of his team's postseason destiny, and following a preliminary title-game conference call with opposing coach Nick Saban, Brian Kelly stepped to the podium of the Gug Auditorium on Sunday night and issued somewhat of a challenge.

"OK, fire away," he began. "I'll try to answer the questions that have been asked a different way for the eighth time. So let's be creative."

Turns out an undefeated regular season and chance to play for the sport's highest prize comes with its challenges, too.

All of which are welcomed by a Notre Dame program that has not seen heights like these in 24 years.

There's the issue of seniors with another year of eligibility remaining. There's the issue of underclassmen debating early entry into the NFL draft. There's the issue of getting everyone healthy for one more game. And there's the issue of assistant coaches becoming targets to lead other programs.

The last issue may be the biggest one as it relates to Notre Dame's prep for the Jan. 7 title game against Alabama. Reports indicate that defensive coordinator Bob Diaco will interview for the head-coaching job at Boston College, following a regular season that saw the Irish lead the nation in scoring defense (10.33 ppg).

"First of all, it doesn't surprise me if they want to talk to Bob Diaco," Kelly said. "I think he's the finest defensive coordinator in the country, so I think Bob is a bright football coach. We have conversations about it, and all I can tell you is that it doesn't surprise me that he's part of it. I won't get into the specifics about conversations with particular schools out of respect for them and their process, but it wouldn't be a surprise to me that they'd be after Bob Diaco."

"I'm not a guy that's going to run down his office and give him the top-10 list of questions you're going to get asked on the interview," Kelly later added. "But if he asks me for some input I've been happy to help him with that. But I will tell you this: Bob Diaco is an incredible coach, and he knows he fits so well here at Notre Dame, and that's why we haven't had a ton of conversation about it."

As it relates to health matters, Kelly said that Louis Nix (wrist) and Zack Martin (ankle) should both be ready to go during Notre Dame's first bowl practice Friday.

DaVaris Daniels, who broke his left clavicle in a Nov. 10 win at Boston College, should be full-go in two weeks.

"He's doing really well. He started moving his shoulder the first week after Chris Brown caught a couple of passes out there," Kelly said. "It was really quick medicine for him and he's been on the fast track ever since. Week 5 will be full contact for him, so that's the date for him. He's running already. We will have non-contact with him starting on Friday. So you'll see him in 1-on-1 without anybody shadowing him, getting in and out of his routes. We want to get to specific route running and some change of direction stuff. He's making great progress."

The rest of the issues will sort themselves out over these next five weeks, in between preparation for a Tide team that is going for its third national title in the last four seasons.

For an Irish program aspiring to reach that level of consistent greatness, no one is complaining.

"The preliminary conversations have already taken place with those guys that have another season of competition," Kelly said. "We haven't made any decisions but a lot of that is a lot of our guys know where they're moving. I think that we have some guys that want to look at the NFL opportunity and we filled out the paperwork for guys to be evaluated by the NFL. And then we have coaches that will be targeted by other programs. That's a good thing.

"All three of those things, that means good things are happening in your program. Those are the kind of problems that I want to be able to deal with on a day-to-day basis, because that means you're developing your program in a manner that's putting you in position to compete for championships. Those are all things that really good programs have to deal with, and we'll deal with that appropriately in the same manner."

The next time a Big Ten fan base gets excited about a MAC coach likely will be the first.

Big Ten fans want big names, even if they're more hyped than proven. There's a sense that Big Ten programs should be able to reach further than the MAC, even though the MAC has produced some excellent major-conference coaches, many of whom have done well in the Big Ten. Some are known only by their first names: Woody, Bo and Ara. All three succeeded at Big Ten programs after coming from a MAC school, Miami (Ohio).

Still, coaching searches are often the time when fan perception meets program reality. It happened this week at Illinois.

The rumor mill began buzzing Tuesday that Illinois was close to a deal with Houston coach Kevin Sumlin. Regarded as a rising star in coaching, Sumlin is one of those names that gets fans excited, even if his track record doesn't quite match the hype around him. He runs an exciting offense at Houston, led by quarterback Case Keenum. He's a Big Ten guy (Purdue product) who had great success as a Big 12 assistant. Perhaps most important, he's wanted by others.

I never bought the Sumlin-to-Illinois talk. With a vacancy at Texas A&M, it makes too much sense for Sumlin to eventually move up the road to College Station. Illinois wanted him, but he didn't want Illinois. Predictably, the Sumlin buzz died down and Toledo's Tim Beckman became the target for Illinois first-year athletic director Mike Thomas.

Beckman will be introduced as Illinois' coach at a 4 p.m. ET news conference Friday in Champaign, Ill. He comes to the Illini after recording a 21-16 record in three seasons with Toledo.

There's a lot to like about Beckman. He's an Ohio native who knows the Big Ten and has recruited well, particularly in his home state. He has worked for successful programs (Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Bowling Green) and for successful head coaches (Mike Gundy, Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer). He took over a Toledo program dealing with a point-shaving scandal and led the Rockets to 8-win seasons in each of the past two years. He's known as a tireless worker with a fiery personality.

I have a feeling Illinois fans will feel better about the hire after Friday's news conference.

But some still will only see "MAC coach." And that's fine. Beckman will have to win them over by winning. If he mirrors what former Toledo coach Gary Pinkel has done at Missouri, or what former Toledo coach Nick Saban did at Michigan State, or what Bo, Woody and Ara did at Michigan, Ohio State and Northwestern, respectively, no one will remember where he came from.

When Thomas announced Ron Zook's firing, he noted that his track record shows he hires coaches with previous experience leading programs. He didn't add that he hires them from the MAC, as he brought both Brian Kelly and Butch Jones to Cincinnati from Central Michigan. Kelly had historic success at Cincinnati before moving onto Notre Dame, while Jones has the Bearcats at 9-3 this season. The Beckman hire follows the pattern for Thomas, who also reportedly expressed interest in two other MAC head-coaches: Eastern Michigan's Ron English and Temple's Steve Addazio.

If Beckman succeeds at Illinois, Thomas will be hailed as strong evaluator of under-the-radar coaches. If Beckman fails, Thomas will be seen as an AD who couldn't reel in the big fish. While Illinois reportedly was willing to spend big bucks for Sumlin, Beckman likely comes as a bargain, as he made $400,000 at Toledo.

Beckman inherits some talent at Illinois. Talent never was the problem for Zook, who recruited well. But Beckman will need to develop players better than his predecessor.

There are some potential concerns with Beckman, namely that he's a defensive coach whose defenses didn't exactly rank among the nation's best.

Here's a look:

2011 (Toledo): 76th in total defense, 89th in scoring defense
2010 (Toledo): 56th in total defense, 73rd in scoring defense
2009 (Toledo): 95th in total defense, 116th in scoring defense
2008 (Oklahoma State): 93rd in total defense, 73rd in scoring defense
2007 (Oklahoma State): 101st in total defense, 79th in scoring defense

To be fair, fielding a decent defense in the MAC is no easy task. But Toledo also surrendered 63 points in back-to-back games, including a 63-60 loss to Northern Illinois in which Beckman's timeout decisions came under heavy scrutiny.

Beckman could win points with many Illini fans by retaining Vic Koenning as his defensive coordinator. Koenning has done a masterful job with Illinois' defense, which boasts an All-American in defensive end Whitney Mercilus and ranked No. 7 nationally in yards allowed, No. 4 against the pass, No. 5 in tackles for loss and No. 9 in sacks. Whether their defensive philosophies match remains to be seen, but Beckman certainly should consider keeping Koenning.

His bigger task will be establishing consistency with an Illinois program that hasn't seen nearly enough in the past two decades. Although Illinois has reached back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 1991-92, the team has too often been a tease, arguably never more so than this season when it started 6-0 and finished 0-6. The talent has been in Champaign, but Illinois has been too fragile of a team. Beckman must change the culture.

Some coaches create buzz just by showing up (see: Meyer, Urban). Others create it by what they do on the field.

Beckman must show he can do the latter at Illinois.