I mean, what do you expect Kelly to say, "Yeah Bama are notorious cheaters and scumbags"?
He's not going to lay into Alabama and their exploits. It's not his place to and any attempt to would just come off as envious and being a sore sport anyways. It wouldn't benefit him or ND to call them out. They cheat. They do, period. To say they don't, not only ignores the landscape of powerhouse SEC football programs, but ignores Alabama's entire football history, which is saturated in cheating and scandal. They are one of the dirtiest programs in the history of the sport.
That being said, Alabama just plays the game the way many football factory programs do. They have the bag men, they have the non-existent academic curriculum, etc. This isn't any different than what other big-time programs do, they just do it better than anyone else. They've got the best combination to succeed in today's CFB world. They're a program willing to do any means necessary for the sake of winning. They'll pay the best coach above top dollar to come to Bama and pay him a king's ransom to stay forever; They'll invest hundreds of millions of dollars on top of the line facilities and equipment; They'll pull strings to make sure their athletes are able to invest most, if not all of their time in the day to football-related functions; And yes, they'll do all the devious things to land the best recruits in the nation.
Nick Saban may be honorable, but Alabama is certainly not. On the flip side, what major football factory is honorable these days? It's a very dirty business and ND is one of very VERY few that play the game as cleanly as remotely possible.
