Some of the Irish fans have thought of that. A lot of them say Alabama isn't very athletic, and Stanford's defense is just as good or better. And since ND beat Stanford, this should be easy. Maybe, but I doubt it. I don't think that ND can play Alabama straight up and win. They are good, but they aren't built like, say, UGA or LSU. They don't have the same mentality either. Look for a good bit of trick plays and aTm-like misdirection.
I don't recall aTm having to resort to a lot of trickery and/or "misdirection" to beat bammer, but I may misremember. Seems like they simply jumped all over bammer quickly, then held on long enough to win.
ND doesn't play that style. They are similar to bammer in style. We'll find out if they're for real or not tonight. They are sho-nuff big across their Def. front 7 starters. Their OL isn't small either. If their defense is for real, it could come down to the 4th Q, or turnovers. Of the 3 best teams bammer played, they lost to aTm, and it took the 4th Q drives in the 4th Q to overcome LSU and UGA, which, they accomplished. IF ND's defense is for real, and bammer trails in the 4th, then I'd lay odds they can't pull that off a 3rd time.